The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-15
WHERE HER $40 BILL WENT.
A SAVANNAH HOUsEKEEPER FINDS
WHAT WAR PRICES MEAN.

WHAT WAR PRICES MEAN.
In the Purchases OF Table Necessi-
ties That Consumed Her Bank Note
She Found That the Cost Was 80
Per Cent. Greater Than n Few
Weeks Ago-A Demonstration of
How the Expenses of Living Has
Increased.
The cost of living In Savannah so far as
groceries are concerned, has been made
higher by the war and other causes oper-
ating on prices during the past month or
two.
In some articles of general household
consumption there has been little or no
change. In others, though, of which the
ordinary family uses largely, there have
been advances sufficient to make them felt
by the head of the household. dollar
to-day. whether 1t be dollar of our dad
dies" or not, does not buy as much as it
did few weeks ago. Some political econ
omists have figured it out that high prices
mean prosperity, but to the average wage
earning Savannahian just at present high
prices means economizing on luxuries and
deprivation Of pleasures.
When the housekeeper put $40 in her
pocket now and goes out to lay in sup
plies for the pantry, it is not long before
she realizes that the provisions she will
send home will either be not the same in
quantity or in quality. If she needs sugar
she will find that her grocer, in all prob
ability, will send her sixteen pounds of
cranulated, instead of eighteen pounds as
in the past, for 81, or if she orders A quail
ity, there will be a package weighing eigh-
teen instead Of twenty pounds If the
rice stock at home is exhausted and a
peck is needed to repentsh 1t, she will
find charge to that item &2O, instead of
80 cents or 81. If she does not use head
rice but takes a lower grade, the prob
ability is that the peck will cost her 81,
where sixty days ago she paid 70 cents.
Perhaps the bottoms of the cans that
hold the grits and corn meal can be seen
and the supply of them must be replen~
tshed. A peck of each will cost 20 cents,
where it formerly cost 10 cents, and the
anxious wife realizes that an extra bur-
Gen of 10 cents is on her funds for the
table. Bacon is also needed, and when
she tells the groceryman TO send out six
pounds he writes opposite that item ON
her little list go cents, instead of so as was
the case not so very long ago. The house
keeper signs, but husband and children
must be fed, and so she calls for peck
of potatoes only to see an additional or
10 cents on the price she had become ac-
customed to in ante-bellum days. Five
pounds of lard are next charged up to her
at 50 cents, and as she thinks of the six
pounds that money formerly bought she
remembers distinctly how many meals
that missing quantity would have cook
ed
The -four barrel may be exhausted, and
a half barrel is directed sent home She
Is a good cook, and takes pride in her
dainty rolls and biscuits. She wants the
best. She has heard of Letter and his
wheat deals, but has had no such unpleas-
ant reminder of what hlgh-priced wheat
means as when the grocer puts $500 in the
growing column of purchases where she
had looked for $500 to go. Nearly eight of
her ten dollars has gone, and there are
other supplies that still are needed. To-
matoes are in the market, but they are
high. The children are fond Of them, and
so she tells her dealer to send out six g.
pound cans. Another 70 cents swells the
bill, and yet 1t seems but yesterday when
she thought 10 cents a can a high price.
Some evaporated apples are near by, a
delicious fruit for apples and sauce. Four
pounds is added to her order and as the
grocer remarks they are Is cents pound
now" she remembers that when she
bought some a short time ago they were
but TO- But the information is added that
prunes are still unchanged. Prunes never
were In favor at her house, though, and
the gentle hint has no force.
The grocer runs down her lite account
and informs her the total is but 1926.
Is there nothing more to-day? No
eggs, or anything else?"
Why certainly she must have eggs for
L nd fnV~ &c T1aaxy aha
Why only last week she bought four doz-
en- for 80 cents, and afterwards heard they
were even cheaper at some cut price store.
Send her out four dozen again, of
course. But her eyes open a little as the
grocers adds 60 cents to the bill Eggs
are going up, you know" says he. "Will
be 20 cents in few days You had bet
ter buy more" But there is but Is cents
left to her crisp $40 bill and she says
no"
Some lemons attract her attention. "a
dozen of those, please" she adds Lem
ons are so healthful; lemonade is so re-
freshing these sultry days. But the pur-
chase has more than exhausted her bank
note. Instead of 10 cents a dozen they
are 90 and yet she is sure they are exactly
the same size and quality as those she
bought several days ago for the lower
price. So she adds a nickle to her note.
gets her receipted statement and as she
walks home wonders if this is what war
means.
And being little of a mathematician
she figures it all out after she has put
the supplies in the pantry. And as a re-
suit she finds that the extra cost of the
articles of food she has bought that day
amounts to 1923 on bill of $1O.O5 as fol-
lows: Sugar, cents; rice % cents; grits,
cents; corn meal, 5 cents; bacon, 10
cents; potatoes, 10 cents; lard, 10 cents;
Hour, 81; tomatoes, 10 cents; evaporated
apples, 20 cents; eggs, 10 cents; lemons,
cents.
ana when John comes home to supper,
like the good wife that she is she tells
nm that he need not buy her that long
coveted bicycle until this war is over.