How many such families can say that they keep within this limit? Of course, as a correspondent pointed out in our columns on Saturday, it is possible for a single individual to exist, but only to exist, on a very much lower scale: than'any of those which we have taken as a basis, but it must be remembered that in our first article we made it clear that we are referring only to families in more or less senior positions who rightly consider themselves entitled to a reasonable standard of comfort and enjoyment. For these the. solute of the marketing question lies in a very much more intensive scrutiny of the daily indents for and prices. of necessities than most of us have been accustomed to exercise in the past, and we have seen several striking examples of saving which have actually been effected in this way only very recontly—savings on this item alone which should more than negative any increase on our general cost of living which may Fesult from the new tariff, One bill which we have seen has been drastically reduced from a monthly average, of, Mex. $180 to an avérage of Mex. $110 m a very short period, and the family found itself living just as well as ever, What the cook has to say about the corresponding reduction in his
matter, squeeze" "is, of course, another Luxuries Overdone We touch upon the borders of some of our little luxuries when we refer to entertainments and month-wine bills, and in this connection we hasten to state that we are anything but prohibitionists. The custom of keeping fairly well stocked wine-cupboard is probably more. prevalent throughout the East than in the West, and hospitable hosts are always ready to provide a flagon of excellent at any time of the day or night, and to entertain with a lavishness possible only to the wealthiest in Occidenta'
dinners and dances and. it pleasant functions are still being indulged in here to an extent permissible only to a prosperous community and, while we should be the last to advocate total abolition of these amenities, we assert that they are being overdone in the present condition of trade and that a very considerable: eduction in the cost of living of an average European in China is possible in this direction.
Wine The value of wines annually im ported into the Treaty Ports of China, as shown in the Customs Returns which we have examined, reaches a very amazing figure and that Wall Street optimists hold him considerable fear, for in the past hho has been the bubble burster par excellence of the Street. able in these hard times, while one has only to visit the various entertainment, resorts on any night of the week! to become convinced that there is "'something' rotten in the state of Denmark." In this connection, however,. we take the portunity to correct a wrong. impression which has been very. widely created in other parts of the 1d, to the effect that Shanghai ight-life and club-life hae reached a standard of luxury equalled by few "other cities in the world.
'There are certain individuals who' have made it their business to traduce the foreign population of Shanghai in this regard for purposes of which we are fully aware, but we have no hesitation in declaring that our -enjoyments are mild and trivial. compared with their "opposite numbers" in other: parts of the world, and that the suggestions of debauchery and loose living in Shanghai which have been made are absolutely baseless, We are probably na better and no eras than any similar commanity elsewhere, Nevertheless, we feel that the pace is too fast and that a halt. must be called, and called immediately, if we are to economize to an extent that will enable the European to meet the competition with which he is faced to-day in China,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.