The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-12-26
COMPARATIVE PRICES.
Twenty Years Record of As Leading
Commodities

Comm odities.
Washington. Dec. pa comparison OF
prices in 1899 with those of preceding
years in that great worlds market, Lon
DON is made by Prof. A. Sauerbeck in a
publication issued by the Royal Statisu-
cal society of London. England, and just
received by the treasury bureau or sta
tisttcS. This comparison, according 70
Prof. Sauerbeck's statement which pre-
oedes it. shows the course of prices OF
As commodities during the last 20 years
IL years 1S67-77.' The statement of val
ues is in the form of index numbers
in which the average price during the
period JS67-77 is taken as 100 and the rel
ative price in the years named, from 1880
to 1899, is based thereon
The AS articles considered are arranged
in six great groups; vegetable food; ami
NAL food; sugar, coffee and tea; miner
ais; textiles, and sundry materials In
vegetable food, the index number for the
year 1850 was 80; for the year 1885. %;
for the year 1890 it was So; in 1896 II
reached it's lowest point, So; and in 1899
averaged for the year. 60 In animal
food the figure for 1880 was 1O1: for
1885, So; for 1890, 80; in 1896 again the
lowest point, 70; and in 1899. 79 Sugar,
tea and coffee stood in 1880 at SS; in 1890,
at 20; and reached their lowest average.
81, in 1898, and in 1899 stood at 53, though
for coffee and tea, as shown in the dis
cussion accompanying the tables. the
1899 figures were the lowest recorded in
Ju2 tables. IN minerals, the lluGX nEuEE
in 1880 was 79; in 1885, Sc; in 1890, 80; in
1895, it reached its lowest point 81; and
in 1899 stood at 92, by far the highest
point in the 20 years period, 1SS0-99, un-
der consideration, in textiles the index
figure for 1880 was 81; for 1880, 66; and
reached the lowest point in 1897 and
1898, when it stood in each year at 81,
returning in 1899 to 58 In the list head
ed ''sundry materials, the index figure
for 1880 was SO; for 1885, 76; for 1890, 60.
and reached its lowest point in 1897, when
it stood at 81, and in 1899 returned to 65.
Taking the grand total of the 40 articles
considered in the various classes of veg
etable food, animal food; sugar, coffee
and tea; minerals; textiles; and sundries,
the index figure for 1880 was So; for 1885,,
r. for 1890, 72, and in 1895 reached IT'S
lowest point, 81, returning in 1899 to g.
Discussing the table from which the
above figures are taken, Prof. Sauer-
beck says;
THE index number for all commodities
was 6S, against "a in 1898, or 80 per cent
below the standard period 1S64-17, and
IA per cent below the 10 years 1S7S-S7.
but per cent above the average of the
last 10 years. As compared with 1898
the advance amounted to points Cor
6A per cent? while the rise on 1896, the
lowest yet on record, was as much as
points or (1115 per cent?. The rise was
smaller than was probably expected by
many observers, and this is explained
by the fact that the average advance
for the whole year applied only to ma
terials, and here principally to minerals,
to a smaller extent to textiles, and to
very Slight extent to sundry materials,
Articles of food, on the other hand, were
in the aggregate lower-an advantage
no doubt to ecnsuners-and were e5cact-
ly on a level with 1897, SO that the ad-
vance obtained in 1898 was again lost.
-Four articles out of the As contained
in my tables showed records of lowest
prices viz, Brazil coffee, fax, coarse
wool, and the average import price of
Articles of food a LITTLE lower.
but materials "A per cent higher than in
December, 1898, while the rise for ma
terials from the lowest point in Feb
rua.ry, 1895, amounted to as much as
Sc per cent in the aggregate. Articles
of food, on the other hand, were only
S15 per cent above their lowest record
point in July. 1896.
I'm the course of last year prices of
corn remained generally on a low level,
the small wheat crop of the world of
1897 (2S3 million quarters) having been
followed in 1898 by the largest crop on
record (58 million quarters), and in 1899
by another good crop (324 million quar-
ters). Meat and butter were somewhat
dearer, the latter being affected by the
drought in August. Sugar and the
common sorts of tea ruled a little high
er than in the preceding year, though
both articles are still on a very low
basis the average import price Of all
sorts of tea imported having been the
lowest on record.
Brazil coffee, under the influence OF
four large crops in succession, was lower
than ever before. Santos touching 25
sh:Ilings per hundred, in September, but
improving again to 32s towards the end
of the year. Metals generally reached
their highest points between July and
October, but gave way to some extent
later on, while coal obtained almost
famine prices at the end of the year and
early in 1900 Iron has not been so hign
since 1874, but copper and tin, although
very clear, were still higher during the
speculation in 1887-SS.
Among the textiles we have to record
an advance for cotton in view of large
consumption and lower estimates Of the
current crop. but prices during the past
year were still very low as compared
with former periods. Flax touched tire
lowest price on record, improved grad
ually and realized a sharp advance in
December Manila hemp experienced
great fluctuations in conjunction with
the policy of opening and again closing
the porty the price was II pounds ster-
ling per ton at the end of 1897, and about
GA pounds sterling at the end of last
year, probably the highest figure on rec
ord Merino wool advanced over so per
cent, and has not been so high since
1885, while the bulk of coarse wools oc
cupied the lowest level on record for the
greater part of the year, improving TO
some extent towards the end. Silk was
considerably higher
''The past year will. on the whole be
considered a very prosperous one, and
the activity of the manufacturing III
dustries in Europe, as well as in Ameri-
1g71-73."