Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-03-01
BREADSTUFFS HIGH.
Economy Must be the Watchword shs
 Comind Year.

happens which will turn things in the
 other direction, people of limited
 means will have their hands full te
 make both ends meet this summer,
 Within the past few weeks flour has
 risen from $6.S5 barrel to S6.50, and
 at that you have to furnish the dealer
 with an empty barrel or come down
 with fifteen cents more. One of the
 local merchants said to-day that --e
 should not be surprised to see the
 best brands of flour sell for $750 oI
 Ss barrel inside of the next three
 months. Potatoes are $130 a bushel,
 cured meats have gone up cent s
 pound and in a short time fresh meat
 will take a jump skyward. Other
 things that enter into the cost of living
 are high, too, with the possible excep
 tion of clothing, so, that the outlook
 is none too bright for the man with
 the hoe, notwithstanding all we
 hear from time to time about prosper
 1ty. The hens have come to the res
 cue and reduced the price of eggs
 from between 45 and 50 cents to any
 where from twenty to thirty cents
 dozen, but these are about the only
 commodity in the market on which the price has eased off since last fall
 Taking $1.5O a day as the basis to
 40 by. and this IS above the average,
 family can meet the legitimate de.
 mands of home and lay up any.
 thing for rainy day. Tn fact, 1t is
 mystery how he manages to keep
 house at all and buy nothing but the very cheapest of everything. You can
 not get decent rent in any part of tha town for less than $10 or SIP month, and places at that figure are scarce, and they are becoming more so right along, because people are not building houses with tenemenfs that can be rented at that price,and no matter who
 comes short, owners of buildings have to make them pay or go to the wall themselves. The contractor tells you he Is not getting as much for his worl as he used to have eight or ten years ago, and between interest on borrowed money. water rents and taxes the own- CTS claim that it is close call to make improved real estate pay ex- penses and yield anything worth men, tioning as an investment. To make matters worse there Is an unusually large number of people Idle with no prospect of getting anything to do very soon, for although there will be some vacancies in the out of door la bor market when the spring opens, many who are now out of employ ment never turned a hand with a pick and shovel and the indications are that some of these will find it necessary to look up positions else where. unless they have folks back of them who can afford to carry them along until they secure jobs at home.
 Real estate is at a standstill and the men who deal i'll the business are puzzled to explain the reason why. Money is not scarce. A man who has good security can get all the collateral he wants at five per cent, and if the amount is large lenders will do even better than that. One of our prosper ous merchants told a representative ey matters with friend the other day and finally the conversation turned to the question of interest on borrowed money. The merchant sup posed that he was doing well to have his loan at five per cent. but he scarce 1y knew what to say when his friend told him he would gladly take 1t up a cent less, and as result of the meeting the man notified the other fellow that he would not want the loan after such date. Of course the Shylock who had been getting the five inquired what was the matter. and on learning the situation asked if that was all the fault he had to find. Being answered in the affirmative he assured the merchant that he had been turning the matter over in his own mind and had practically com cluded to make the interest four of his own volition. They came to an understanding then and there, but the money lender would have suggested the drop himself is some thing people can form their own opin- money is not tight" as the brokers say. Whats the matter thenf It isl not so long ago since workingmenj thought nothing of paying seven per cent for borrowed money, and cont sidering the number of citizens who did that the ones that toppled over were few and far between. and most of these could be traced to reverses o1 one kind and another, or to lack o1 thrift on the part of those who asI sumed the obligations, !
 The builders put the whole blame on the dealers from whom they purchase their stock and the attitude of the city government in maintain Ing an ordinance that doubles the cost of plumbing and renders it imperative that man build very expensive house or none at all. The representa- i've of a firm that does more building: here than any other concern Is our au- thority for the statement that while the building ordinance is good thing, # has many serious defects which will nave to be remedied before there will be another building boom in Water- bury such as we had ten or fifteen years ago. when houses sprang up as if by magic and working people after leciding to locate here permanently looked around for df- sirable site on, which to erect homo md bought the land. often not paying over $5 or $1O down. The same man raced share of the cause 'fo. tneA present. condition of things to laDoE troubles. He said that skilled laboH $ nafd better now than formerly and hat if the unskilled laborer does not ind as much in his envelope on pay lay as he used to have, the skilled mechanic has more, and the results arc
 e,o kfSf o%nrxr a yphQY1 fheFQ.