The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-01-19

The distress from poverty in the city this
winter is not so great and widespread as 1t
has been in former years. We hear OF no
soup kitchens, and the appeals OF charitable
societies are not 50 urgent as they have been
in other years
Though wages have declined in New York
and throughout the country, they are still
in many branches higher than they were the
year before the war, and the purchasing ca
pacity of money is in several respects larger
now than it was then. Every householder
is aware OF this fact, but ii is interesting TO
compare the present scale Of prices Of the
essential articles that enter into the cost Of
living with that Of 1860, as we are enabled
TO do by the aid Of a table in Mr.. WATEIsss
Boston Advertiser. The figures represent
the wholesale prices but OF course, the re-
tail prices would show the same result.
Mess pork which was quoted in Boston
in 1860 at SIT to SIS, is now obtainabe a
$3.50 to 80 a barrel mess beef is now at $3.50
to $40, against 50 10 Sl1.5O in 1860; lard, 8 to
u cents pound against 10 cents In 1860;
hams, u cents a pound, against 10 cents:
flour, SO to 81 a barrel, against 81 to 81; corn,
A. to 4S cents bushel, against 60 10 10 cents
in 1869; Goldfish, SO to $3.50 quintal, against
$3.50 TO 81; mackere, $3.50 10 $l2 barrel,
against Sl4 herring, 16 to II cents box,
against 80 TO 40 cents; molasses, "a 10 %
cents n gallon, against 2s TO 81 cents In 1860;
Havana sugars, GI to 81 cents a pound,
against TO a cents. OF domestics, prints.
and the cotton goods generally which enter
so largely into wearing apparel, the prices
are also much lower in some cases fully
trA 4 a
shelter is on the average, higher now than
II was in 1860.
Our accurate contemporary, the Jour
nal Of Commerce, on the first OF the year
printed long list of the prices of staple
articles in New York on the LIST Of January
OF every year since 1867. 1t afforded strik-
ing evidence OF the cheapness of things at
the present time. Thus, while -four was sold
at from 1878 to $3.50 In 1868 1t now mny be
had at from $50 TO $500, a decline OF almost
two-thirds. Oats were 81 cents a bushel in
1868 now they arc 81 cents. Corn was 81 40;
now 1t is At cents. Cotton has fallen from
1G cents to % cents. Hay was $24 a ton; now
IL Is 50. Mess pork brought $21 a barrel /;
now II Is $7.05. Moss beef has declined from
$32 TO $l4.50. Butter was As cents a pound
in 1868; in 1879 it Is 10 cents. Cheese was
then l04 cents, while now it is 81 cents
Refined sugar has dropped from 1GI cents to
81 cents. Crude petroleum sold for 18 cents
a gallon in 1869. whereas now it fetches only
81 cents. Whiskey, however, has gone up.
1t nowbrngs S1.13 a gallon, against 9S cents
in 1869. But pig iron, which in 1873 was $50
ton, has gone down TO SIT ton In 1879 I:
and the fall in the prices OF building mate
rails has also been great. Laths, which in
1872 brought $3.50 thousand, may now be
bought for $l.45; and Rockland limo l., 80
cents, against 81. barrel in 1869.
These were the prices OF few weeks ago,
since when the changes IN The market have
not boon great. They show that we are
pretty nearly down to tho hard pan. and
| explain why. though the bulk u our trade