The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-31
COST OF LIVING
The New Year viii Open With a
Rise in Prices For the Neces-
sites of Life
GROCERIES ADVANCE
FROM 10 to so PER CENT
Increased Cost of Steel Sends
Stoves Up With Coal as a
Companion

The new year does not open aus
piciously for men of limited wealth
The heavy rise in the prices of provi-
sions of all kinds in the past few
months will, it is said, be followed by
another advance, and then the prices
will cling for while at top-notch fig
ures, and flutter down to within reach
Of the poor man in the summer season.
That is what local provision dealers
say, but not for publication
Groceries, coal and staples have ad-
vanced from 10 to 50 per cent, flour and
sugar being the only exceptions to the
increase in prices, Rolled oats, an ar
/ ticle commonly used in households, has
scared almost out of purchasing dis
lance. Two months ago rolled oats sold
| whereabouts, and today the cost is little
| less than So .'-'
In raisins the shrewd housewife has
had difficult work in being able to pur-
| chase raisins for reasonable prices.
| Last year they were selling at four and
| five cents per pound, and the price has
nearly doubled. Canned goods, the
| stock in~trade of the housekeeper, have
gone up, and even the boarding houses
I
/ ly.
In the manufacture of the tin cans in
which the goods are placed there have
! been several increases of late. A trust
! now controls the output of these nee
4 essaries in the production of timed
/ goods, and prices have jumped so high
that canning firms have registered long
| fierce walls. None of them have re-
suited in a change and canneries pay
fN.. ft,a y-f
gobbled up the industry 50 was the price
| per 1000.
THE WAR REVENUE TAX
on tea is 10 cents per pound, and dealers
are taking this into consideration when
offering at retail Even the boxes and
crates in which goods are shipped from
the wholesale houses to the dealers
have jumped few notches, and the
purchase of them means an extra item
of expense to the wholesaler. The deal
er gets a small amount added to his
BILL but the whole thing is supposed to
get squared up when purchases at re-
tail are made.
Matches are getting to be a small
luxury. Cigar dealers who used to give
a box with every purchase, are getting
wary, and if man takes more than
three or four from the matchstand on
the counter, 1t ism especially pleasing
to the store keeper The Diamond
Match company which now controls
the match manufacturing industry, is
said to be responsible for an increase in
the wholesale price OF the lucifers.
There has been a rise in the price of
salt All other articles generally sold
in an up-to-d date grocery store have adj
vanced in price The manager of one
of The larger retail groceries recently
said to The Spy man: There isn't
the least doubt but what there viii be
some stiff prices on certain lines of
goods before winter is over.
During the summer months we re-
ceived notices from wholesale houses
almost every day, quoting new and adj
vanced prices on goods we had been
large users of. OF course the goods
We're bought at the new prices and sold
to the consumers at a small margin of
profit 1t isn't in keeping with COM
mon sense ideas to say that grocers
are not going to advance prices. |
wouldn't lave my name mentioned as
saying this for worlds Some other
dealer would buy halfpage adver-
tisement and vow that he had not in
creased his prices. Customers would
flock to his store, and then I'd get the
laugh and no business.
"It must be the same in all local
stores. Many Of the grocery dealers
have