March 16, The high cost of living in Shanghai is pertinently emphasized at this lime of economic depression, Shanghailanders must sometimes [believe that the assessment of the amounts which they have to pay for their subsistence is based on the cynical philosophy of the [Comte d'Argenson who met the Abbe Guyot Destontain's plaintive protest: "I must live", with brag baba Neeckeaar sotaaiashone writing with con-However that may be,
siderable personal knowledge, show how gallantly Shanghai faces the stiff figures presented by that part of its domestic budget which is known as "the cost of living" Economies are discussed and. effected. Luxuries disappear from the weekly or monthly account, until the bedrock is reached. There still remain the unpleasantly hard facts of rent, to say nothing of those expenses on which a "Kitchen Economist" engagingly throws so vivid a light. It would be difficult in this column to attempt to refute that particular correspondent's arguments. She deals with a highly-specialized branch of the art of living. It is to be feared that she would instantly detect the fallacy in any Jay disquisition on housekeeping. Hee maiden incursion into print bears the marks of a formidable Jexperience which impels discreet Jand chivalrous refusal of an unequal contest. It must be left for the appropriate comment of other experts in her own line. Here it is suffilcient to observe that the recent movements of exchange have not, }s0 far, found as accurate a reflect tion as they ought in the articles of consumption which keep Shangfhailanders alive. No doubt this is due to an oversight which will be corrected. It certainly is not fair throw on landlords the sole responsibility for tempering the wind to the shorn lamb. Landlords have to be baited and watered—to juse the expression of the stable. If they find that the amount required to fill their bodily needs is sensibly declining in sympathy with the movements of exchange, who knows how ready they may be to pass on this benefit to their tenants in the form of a low rental bill?
Indeed rents are coming down. In the last few weeks voluntary reductions have been made by a number of house-owners. It is a process to be encouraged. The only question is whether the landlords realize the importance of accelerating it. There is little doubt that in this acute depression the excessive preponderance of the rental charge in a family budget has come strongly into view. The truth is that conditions here have led to the imposition of rentals which have borne heavily on people of moderate means. No doubt houseowners have applied to their charges the normal operation of the rules governing the use of capital [and the return to be derived therefrom, At the same time sight must not be lost of the fact that, while it would be probably unfair to expect Shanghai to produce the "economic" rent of 10 per cent. of the tenant's income, the ruling Agure 1s excessive, ranging, accord-jing to reliable information, from 20 per cent. upwards. This state fof things assumes special importance at such a time as this. Tenants ore not inclined to ponder over the cotises which have facilitated truly generous rents for microscopic apartments or gingerbread villas. They feel strongly that "something" thas to be done about it, That is why those landlords who are already moving in the matter are wise. They would do well, how-lever, to consider whether, in thus meeting the temporary urge of the Aepression and, perhaps, coping with the competitive conditions jereated by recent construction, they are going far enough. This Journal would deprecate any ill-judged criticism of houseowners who, too often receive scant ree: cognition of their diMeulties and legitimate anxieties. Tt feels, that when the current uncertainties afford an opportunity for a serious review of the rental position, the problem should be subjected to more than provisional treatment, The depression is evoking on all sides definite attempts to ease the economic strain by dint of personal economy, retrenchment and other revisionary activities. The reduction of rental to a less formidable figure in the family budget would have a remarkably tonic effect on the whole situation and might, in the long run, actually benefit the landlords as well as the tenants.
The voluntary reductions already offered should, therefore, be made the inspiration for further effort in the same direction. It would be a form of prosperity insurance which might eventually assist in the rapid return of this city to its normal state of busy trading activity. Tt would be a sharp and effective cut applied to the gordian knot of Shanghai's present economic dimculties. Objections that it might unduly affect land values cannot be overlooked. Yet it will be agreed by those who have studied recent movements that land values have to come under the influence of deflation in the ordinary course of Shanghai's emergence from the present crisis. Landlords who are reluctant to take the plunge should ask themselves the meaning of the advertisements which have been appearing daily in these columns of late. They cannot indefinitely hold out against the pressure of economic verities. Surrender against their will is likely to prove a far more expensive action than graceful bowing to the inevitable as a voluntary contribution to the community's effort at recovery. Tt will be urged that other services should either follow suit or, perhaps, set the example, The answer simply is this: rent plays such a predominant part in the citizen's economy that unless its rigours be mitigated first of all, other means of relief can with difteulty be put into ope tion. Moreover, a general reduction in rental charges would automatically facilitate the easement of burdens in other directions. There would—or should—be a sympathetic downward movement the moment the incubus of excessive rents gave sans of weakening on Shanghai. That many Tandiords are ative to this point is clear from action which they have taken, They should persevere in their well-doing, ascertain the possibilities of extending it and, above all, encourage its influence to spread through their whole order.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.