180 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



months before called for a second conference and 

 demanded a further increase because they were 

 unable to work more than two or three days a week. 

 This was due to a general shortage of cars and the 

 inability of many operator to secure any cars at 

 all. The tribute of the coal barons is a tribute of 

 land monopoly just as is the ground-rent of the 

 city. 



Railway transportation costs the nation nearly 

 $4,000,000,000 a year, or nearly $200 for every fam- 

 ily of five. This is a burden which the worker car- 

 ries. It amounts on the average to one-quarter of 

 the wage of the workers of the country. And 

 transportation costs are ultimately paid by the con- 

 sumer. They come out of the pay envelope of per- 

 sons of small means. For the great bulk of the 

 freight of the country is on staple articles of uni- 

 versal consumption. 



The house in which the worker lives pays tribute 

 to the lumber trust which owns or controls 105,000,- 

 000 acres of timber-land. The worker pays tribute 

 to the steel trust for the apartment in which he 

 lives. Food, fuel, rent, lumber, and lumber prod- 

 ucts; all kinds of clothing, shoes, almost every 

 article of universal consumption has steadily in- 

 creased in price during the past three years until 

 the persons living on a fixed income, teachers, clerks, 

 professional men, are far worse off than they were 

 ten years ago, while the millions of men and women 



