River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-07-10
THE COST OF LIVING.
Present Prices of Some Articles Of Food
Compared W it'll Those Of Eighty or Nine
ty Years Arc

4
Present Prices of Some Articles Of Food
Compared W it'll Those Of Eighty or Nine
| ty Years Ago.
In view of some current efforts to in
crease the emoluments of government
officers on the ground that it costs two
| or three times as much to live now as it
did when these offices were created, it
| may be well to recall sundrv statistics
given by Senator George of Mississippi
in q recent speech
Having repeatedly found his obiec-
tions to the modern increase of official
salaries met by the broad assertion
that it costs three times as much to live
now as it did when the Government
was founded, he determined to be no
| longer put down by this statement
without finding out exactly how far it
was true. He delved among the books
| of the Congressional Library, and the
| conclusion be reached was that in all
the substantials of life, all the necessa-
ries and comforts of life, the prices
We're higher during Washington's and
| the elder Adams administrations than
| they are now. / allude especially to
provisions, things consumed by men.
OF course we all know as to clothing
that the improvements in labor saving
machinery, the invention of the sewing
machine, have greatly reduced the
prices of those necessary articles. As
to fuel, have looked into that, and
the price of coal is now less than it was
during the administration of Washing
tom
Rents, of course, are enormously
greater now in the large cities than
they were at the beginning of the cen
tury, but while this fact must be kept
in mind for those places. Mr.. George
insists that even rents Sin the rural dis
tricts IN the non manufacturing and
non commercial states are as low now
as they ever were, and are lower than
ever before in the south" Here are some
of the statistical comparisons of Senator
George:
Beef per barrel was worth in 1876,
$13, in 1896 it was worth S14 in 1884 it
was worth $3.50, and the average price
of beef for the forty years commencing
in 1876 and ending in 1884 was $1025
per barrel. In the last ten years the
price of beef has been less than $10.25
per barrel.
''Take the article of corn, very nee
essary article. In 1895, 1896 and 1897
it was worth 81 per bushel and over 4
The average price for the forty years
from 1895 to 1884 was 81 cents per
bushel. In the last ten years it has
never been as high as this average,
except in 1882, when there was q
drought, and corn was exceptionally
high.
Take the article of coffee. In I795,
1896 and 1897 it was worth respectively
81, % and 26 cents per pound, and the
average price for the forty years up to
1884 was % cents For the last ten
years it has not been up to that aver
age.
Take the article of sugar. In 1879
it was worth IA cents per pound. It
went as high as II cents in 1916, and
never got so low as 10 cents till 1920.
Now the price is from 6 to cents So
there has been a fall in the price of SUI
gar"
Mr.. George at that point noted that
it was shown year ago in Congress
that sugar was leading item of ex-
pense in boarding house for factory
operatives. He then added these
figures:
"Take pork, sir. In 1875 it was $18
barrel; in 1901 it was $26. In 1908 it
fell to SIS, and was never as low as SIS
again until 1920, and then it was $14-
so. The average price for the forty
years from 1895 to 1884 was 1862 per
barrel. 1t is less than that now
Take flour, a very essential article of
support. The average price of bar
rel of flour from 1895 to1834 was 1851.
In 1895 1t was $12; ia 1896 it was $40;
in 1901 it was $13; in 1917 it was $1475,
the average being, as | have stated,
So. 81. 1t is now and has been for a long
time much lower than that.
"Take wheat. My statistics of wheat
do not go beyond the year 1906; / can
not find them beyond that time. In
that year the average price of wheat
was 81 .35; in 1907, 1908 and 1909 it was
81. 55 per bushel; in 1910 it was $3.50
per bushel; in 1911 it was $l.75 per
bushel; whereas the price to-day in
Chicago is about SO cents.
Since that time wheat has fallen low
er, but the fluctuations through specu-
lations do not affect the general com
parison.
"Take rice, another article of con-
sumption. In 1895 it was worth cents
per pound in 1896 it was worth Scents
per pound, and the average for the
fourty years from 1895 to 1884 was
"a. 81 per hundred, or 461 cents per
pound, and this average was caused by
the low price from 1920 down. Before
that time it was higher. The average for
the last ten years would be but very lit
tie more.
"Take the article of fuel In 1925
anthracite coal was from IS to 81 per
ton. IT never got lower than Sc until
1000. lnSn IL 1OoS anu ~ 40 NOW
regularly under s. per ton"
These figures may in some particular
be attacked, and there are other con-
siderations that should, unquestionably
be taken into account. 1t is no doubt
true that the number of things classed
as accessories and comforts, or, in other
words, the number of things deemed
ordinary requisites for given condi-
ton or calling on life, has been multi
piled of late years. Doubtless food is
not relatively SO great an item of the
total expense in many households as it
was in former generations. Neyerthe
less, Mr.. Georges Investigations are in
teresting, and perhaps may lead to some
caution hereafter in accepting assertions
hitherto so little challenged as to have
almost become axioms.
Current Notes.