THE INCREASED COST OF LIVING.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " sescrrroa."] SIR,—Paragraphs in your issue of the 15th inst. thrice draw attention to the increased cost of living in the Protectionist countries, France and Austria ; but is not the increase pro- portionate in this non-Protectionist country? Compare the present values of foodstuffs in England with those ruling a few years ago. All pig products (ham, bacon, lard, &c.) are fifty per cent. higher. Home-fed beef, in spite of the enormous arrivals of frozen and chilled meat, bread, all cereals (with the exception of oatmeal), sugar, coffee, and all dried fruits are from ten to twenty-five per cent. dearer. Further, all rubber, cotton, flax, and jute goods, seed oils, turpentine, and consequently articles in the manufacture of which these products enter, are increased in cost, so that an advance of twenty per cent. in the last year or two would not be an overestimate of one's cost of living. Is the increase in Protectionist countries any greater ? When will it be admitted that values are Is matter of supply and demand (excepting for an occasional " corner "), and that neither Protection nor Free-trade enters into the question of the fluctuations of the world's markets P—I am, Sir, &c.,
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