A decrease in the cost of commodities, a discovery of some new i:nechanical process, a change in the habits of consumers, make pos sible a higher level of living for all who have an assured income of stipulated amount. Will the income now be reduced to correspond with the cheaper cost of living, or, will the advan tage of the change be retained by the general body of consumers ? For nine-tenths of the world this is a momentous question. The ad vantage will be retained if the standard of living is modified, not otherwise. Unless the pleasures which are now brought within reach are bound to each other by a multitude of new associations, and the whole consumption ad justed to the new conditions, its advantages will slip away into the hands of shrewd monopolists and unscrupulous dealers. Better choice of food, abstinence from stimulants, a heavier demand for suitable clothing, an insistence on ample housing facilities, are essential elements in the improvement of the standard. Not less important than these is such education and training as shall enable the consumer to judge more accurately of the value of the simpler works of literature, music, and art. " It is not
a question simply of choosing the good instead of the bad, but of choosing the best instead of the good." The person who is without any canons by which to judge of a picture, or a musical per formance, is deprived of a large part of the benefit which he might get from even a small income, and is deprived of that barrier which might have prevented a reduction of his income to the level of actual necessaries. The con sumer who sees no difference between trivial doggerel and the literary masterpiece is at a distinct disadvantage of the same kind as that under which the laborer is placed who uses but a single article of diet and has in his wardrobe but a single dilapidated suit. Those consumers whose ideals are high, whose tastes are devel oped harmoniously, and whose demands call for a wide variety of physical, mental, and social resources, will win a commanding place in the unconscious economic struggle which continu ally goes on. Their income will be larger, their distribution fairer, their productive power greater. The considerations that have been presented have an interest not academic but intensely practical and human.