Political Economy and the Land 



wage than has ever been the case in England. 

 I have visited and kept house in the States 

 from time to time over a period of many years : 

 the cost of living has at least doubled. Yet 

 taking the country at large, the people have 

 plenty of money to spend, both in town and coun- 

 try; the money that clerks and the like have at 

 their disposal is quite astonishing and can only 

 be realised by going to places which they fre- 

 quent ; living may be high — double the cost of 

 living in England — but their income is three or 

 four times that of the same class in England. 



I am not in the least trying to gloss over the 

 fact that the increased cost of living in the 

 United States is a very serious matter, and one 

 which will have to be dealt with by the Govern- 

 ment in the near future. But the relevant 

 question here is — how much of this increase is 

 due to Protection, how much to other causes ? 

 I see, in current papers and magazines, that the 

 causes commonly mentioned are: — i. Tariff; 2. 

 Trusts ; 3. Gold output. 



One of the causes mentioned that evidently 

 must affect the living in all countries, irrespective 

 of fiscal policy, is the greatly increased amount 

 of gold in circulation. Everyone feels — even 

 without studying the question — that money does 

 not go so far as it formerly did. Coins are but 

 tokens, the fewer in currency the more articles 

 will they buy, and the higher the proportion of 



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