The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-08-25
SOME OLD BILLS.
A Picture of the Prices In Olden
Times. -r

Turning over some old papers the
other day. We came upon two or three
bills for earpenter-work aud plastering,
dating back to 1921 and 1922. which
have certain interest, es showing the
value OF work and materials az that
time. compared with the prices now
current One thing which surprises US,
and will, perhaps. be equally surprising
10 our readers, Is that the cost OF lum-
Der, keeping IN view the comparative
purchasing power OF money, was at
that time far greater than IL is now.
Sixty-five years ago large part OF the
United States which is now cleared was
an unbroken forest, and every township
in the Eastern states must have con-
tanned a good deal of timber Of
the original growth, yet we find
"refuse boards" charged in 1871
at $ll thousand feet, which
would be q high price now, while paint
ersi work, which is the only labor We
find charged IN the bills jast now before
us. is put down on thesbIIl, which would
naturally include profit, att shillings
and pence, or 81 % per day. The IN
ference is that II would have taken q
painter or carpenter in those good old
DAYS at least twice rs long 10 earn
money enough to pay for boards 10
cover his mouse as il does now, notwith
standing the fact that the timber is
brought ten times farther to market
now than IL was then, that the supply
is, according TO all accounts. nearly ex-
hausted. Among the other items we
md laths charged at shillings or 81. IL
per thousand, and clapboards at "25
cents for ten" or SIS per thousand.
This would be low price for pine clap
boards now in Massachusetts, but
it was q high price then com
pared with the value Of labor.
Contrary to the general impression
very generally used, and we lind items
of hemIock boards at Sli a thousand
feet, and spruce at fourteen or fifteen.
Clear SPINE plank, which many people
imagine TO be a much scarcer mater in
nov than in the days when second
growth timber was unknown, is charged
in the pills at $50 thousand feet, which
would be toleraSly high price in the
same locality to-day, and corresponded
then to about twice the value, in the
form Of labor and c. So OF living. that II
could be exchanged for now. or some
materials the cost seems TO have been
even greater than that at the present
In bill for painters work, dated 1877
we find oil charged at 70 centSa quart
which, even allowing for profit, is 9
higher price than must architects
wonld now approve in A. days work
bill. and varnish is put down at the rate
OF 81 gallon, q charge which would
just about pass an architects criticism
in these days. One of the items is fol
green paint for CT airs, so that if any
Of our readers are of an Archaeological
turn OF mind, they may make not,
here that the fashion of covering furni
ture with this ugly and adhesive coat
ing, which had not died out even in oul
own college days, dates back at lezsl
fifty-nine years. The credits on Thu
bill, which amount TO about so, include
items of thirty-tve bushels OF potatoes
st 30 cents a bushel, and TWO barrels o
cider. differing apparently either in siz'
or quality, a. one Is credited 1T 81, Ens
the other zt shillings. Massachusetts
currency, or SLSS.-AmericGn Architect