The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-05-06
War Prices
Not Yet.
j In View

T Among ths important questions which
people AZ Askint jad now IL whether
ths wPr with gp4jn To- goingto hslp-
busiHSn or hurt u end whether the
cost OF Nyipg win bs materially In.
crqoeQd thxough the sAu9e causes. Il 10
% dI0t that = great many Of the things
us5d II TIE housShold have bsooms
dsarsr In sh~ last few days. and this
has le1 retail dealers 10 Suppose that
the war was going to advance prices
still more. Many housekeepers are sl.
ready frightened ct the prospect Of .
return Of such psioes ~ existed during
the civil was and for years following
It.
| Inquiries among representative deal.
ers In the vents Of tho household. made
In New York recently, would seem to
indicate that any alarm Of this sort was
without foundation, although there can
be little doubt that tho prices Of some
things have advanced, to stay at least
for . time, and that these prices and
some othes may be stiil further sd-
vanoed few points. All Of these men,
however, agree that the advances with
few exceptions hkve little or no oonnec-
tion with the war Or apprehensions ~
to its result. but are the result of natu-
raj causes and would have taken place
whether we had gone 10 war or not
Some Of the advahbee In price are, In
fact, an indication of an Improvement
in the general condition Of trade, and
have como with increases in the value
of the productions Of our own country,
which should be matter Of oongratu-
lation rather than alarm. This 10 true
of the higher price Tor -four. and with
that an increase In the market price OF
all Of the cereal products
The conditions which produced the
war prices IT 1868 are not likely soon to
be repeated In the United States, and II
is not probable that anything like them
would be repeated even II the war
with Spain were to last for an indef-
mite time. In those days when hour
went to el4 . barrel the north was
maintaining In the Aeld an army Of
! !, 200, 900 ablebodied men, who had
been withdrawn from their ordinary
occupations. producing food stuffs and
all the other articles Of common use.
We were waging . war In our own
country in which tho ordinary opera
tions In the hsld often involved enor-
nous losses and tho destruction Of food
and equipments even beyond the ordi-
nary needs Of the army. Besides this
the credit Of our nation was 90 impair
cd that our bonds and hence our ourren-
cy were deprecated until the dollar in
which We reckoned prices was worth In
tho markets Of the world only about
one-third of its face value. This fact of
itself would have made prices advance
to three times their normal level, and
it is significant fact that during even
the darkest period Of the war most Of
the staple articles Of use did not ad-
vance at all in rrioe when their value
was rpckonsd by the gold value Of the
currency. The Spanish are already suf-
fering from such causes both in Cuba
and at homo, and they arc likely soon
to see prices 60 almost ont Of sight, as
In the southern Confederacy; but the
United States 10 in no suoh danger.
The taking away of 100, 900 or 200.-
900 men to war 10 not likely to inter-
fere In any serious degree with the pro-
duotive capacity Of our country Of TO-
600, 900 people, nor Is their mainte-
nance, even In these expensive days Of
warfare, likely to impair the credit Of
the government q particle. Still we
shall probably have "war prices" to
certain extent, just as the prices of GER
tain imported goods have advanced with
the imposition of higher tariff duties
The government has got to have lar
ger income to meet the direct cost Of
war and to pay interest upon the bonds
which may be issued, and In whatever
form this is raised IL will add some
thing to the cost of the things which
are consumed In the household. When
the bill now being considered by oon-
gress becomes law, we shall know ex-
actly what articles will be increased in
price through this war measure.
/, When, month ago. IL became near
| ~ certain that there would be war,
great many retail dealers throughout
the country, and especially in the south.
decided that prices would 60 up, and
some of them advanced their prices at
once, while ut the same time buying new
goods freely TO reap the advantage Of
the advance. In our own markets prices
have advanced on = great many thingA
Beef has gone up about cent pound
at Wholesale, and retailers have ad-
vanoed its price considerably more than
that. Potatoes are selling for $3.50 to
IeS barrel az against about u less
year ago. Apples are dear. and there
has been . slight advance In tho price
of quits number Of groceries. Among
the representative Of the great meat
houses who were seen recently IL was
declared that the advance In the price
of fresh beef was not due In any way to
the war.
Beef, /" said one of these men, cal
ways goes up about the same amount
at this time Of the year, and there has
been no advance in tho price Of other
fresh meats. Canned and oorned meats,
however. have been affected In price