The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-16
VHYFOODPRICE ARE HIGHER.
ExTRAVAGANT BUYING rs ONE
DEALERS EXPLANATION.
MIX 10 Likely 20 NE Higher. Says . Dairy
man, Because Of the Board Of Health
Rules Location OF the Retailer Has
Much 90 do With His Price scale.


man, Because Of the Board Of Health
Rules -Location OF the Retailer Has
Much 90 DO with His Price Scale.
A puzzle to the average h~ousekeepcr
Is the range Of prices charged by retailers
70. the same articles. For instance, o woman
making the rounds the other day found
that In n store the best grade country
egg cost IS cents a dozen, that q few
doors further down the avenue the same
grade cost as cents, while In o store on
the opposite side Of the avenue they brought
50 cents a dozen.
One butcher asked % cents q pound
for the best cuts Of porterhouse steak, his
neighbor a stones throw away, who had
a trifie more plate glass in his windows,
asked % for steaks Of no better quality.
A high class dairy on q populous avenue
charged - cents q pound for the best
sailed butter, although a grocer on the
corner below sold the best quality for IS
cents a pound.
This led her 70 wonder whether, after
all. provisions really cost more now at first
hand than they did one year ago, whether
the higher prices 30 much quoted are not
the outcome Of a scheme Of the retailers.
But his suspicion she found did some re-
tailers m injustice. The statistician Of the
Produce Exchange makes that clear. Some
provisions are higher this year h last.
he says, and here is a partial list:
In November, 1904, the average whole
sale selling price Of the best State dairy
butter was IS cents, In 1905 Il was % cents;
this year 1t has been selling at from "a to
% cents.
Western good TO fancy eggs for the week
ended December 1 brought from "a to
80 cents a dozen at wholesale; New York
State eggs, good to fancy, from % to IS
cents a dozen. One year g the aver
ages quoted for the same grades were
p Is cents and 251a cents a dozen.
This year prime lard fetches o cents a
pound against 7 cents last year; n mess
pork, now sold for from $3.50 to Ns.2S
a barrel, averaged In price one year ago
only sl4.43 a barrel.
Mess leaf, on the contrary, which aver
aged last year 5000 a barrel, brings now
only So and 50 a barrel.
The prices OF spring patent -four are
lower, the grades which brought S.l4 and
$500 a barrel twelve months ago now sell
ing for s4.25 and $3.50.
When asked to explain the upward trend
OF prices the statistician declined TO commit
himself.
Il can't explain it, said he. whether
the higher prices are due more to manipu-
lation or to other causes no one is able
to say with certainty
The figures Of production, however, to-
gether with some facts learned from other
sources leave a ray Of hope.
Mutton and lamb, eggs, poultry and
A..- - HAL 81 no hfvhnr fn nriOa
several large retailers believe, nor Is 1t
likely, they add, that the present high
prices of eggs and butter will be duplicated
next year.
OF milk, unfortunately. there is less said
that Ia encouraging. So far the retail price
Of milk has not gone up except In the higher
class dairies patronized mostly by the
wealthy. One may walk many docks
without finding a dairy which charges more
than eight cents a quart for bottled milk
the same price charged for a decade almost
But after January l il Is quite likely there
may be an advance all along the line, and
unless the Board Of Health decides TO take
a vacation there is no telling when New
York may have to face a cut supply.
According to one dealer the scarcity OF
milk, II such scarcity already exists, Is not
80 much a question Of too few COWS as OF
the more or less stringent rules issued
lately by the Board Of Health respecting
care Of stables and cows.
Said this man: ITO remodel COW sheds
at a cost Of several hundred dollars which
they haven't got, would mean serious finan-
cial embarrassment to many OF the poorer
farmers, therefore they wisely decide to
sell of their cows and turn their attention
10 some other branch OF farming.
THE Board Of Health Is a fine institution
and all right in its place, but dear me, most
of us grew up, didn't we. and kept well ON
milk given by the old fashioned COW who
never saw a cement wall and floor in her
life and who wasn't hauled up every few
DAYS to have her cud examined. At any
rate. some OF the smaller farmers oan't
stand the cost Of the new sanitary frills
and 80 they mean TO drop out Of the dairy
business.
The price OF cream went up October 1,
but I'D TO now many OF US have not raised
the price OF bottled milk. although we pay
the farmers more than we did last year.
Other milkmen say that it won't make
a particle Of difference how many Of the
smaller farmers drop out 80 long as the
big dairy farms, run on scientific princi-
pies, stay in and enlarge their plants,
which they are pretty sure to do.
Up at a huge East Side market which
employs a small army OF help and serves
thousands of customers a day the head
of the concern gave his explanation OF
the high cost Of butter:
June Is the time when most Of the storage
butter Is packed away, because it Ii better
and cheaper then than at any other time,
and as a general thing It is the price Of the
held butter which regulates the price OF
fresh butter. This year as soon as the
held butter began to pop up in price the
other followed suit, and the reason storage
butter went up was because the supply
was really small and the dealers saw a
chance to recoup themselves for their
losses last year, when some houses lost
enormously because they were shy OF filing.
European orders. They held back, re-
fusing to send more than a small percentage
OF their stock out OF the country, believing
there was a chance to make more by storing
it and selling il at home. Consequently
they were overstocked.
Last June, on the contrary. the dealers
exported freely. putting down in the ware