Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-09-13
FOOD PRICES ADVANCING.

FOOD PRICES ADVANCING.
Average Increase In Wages Not Keep.
ing Pace.
How the cost Of living Is increasing
according to a Washington dispatch,
is shown in a summary of the report
Of the bureau Of labor. The figures
are for 1906, and are compared with
the average prices for the years 1890
to 1905.
The price Of food was higher In
every month of 1906 than in the cor
responding months of 1905. The in
crease over the corresponding month
Of the preceding year. which. in Feb
ruary. 1905, was only 0.4 per cent,
grew steadily greater throughout the
year, the price in December. 1906, be-
ing 81 per cent above that Of the pre-
ceding December. The price In De-
cember, 1906. was 4.06 per cent high
er than the average for the year 1905,
which year showed higher average
than any other year during the sew
enteen years, 1890, to 1905, covered
by the investigation Of the bureau Of
labor. .- .......
The increase in prices in 1906 over
1905 applied, In unequal degree, to
twenty-five of the thirty articles in
cluded in the investigation. The ar
ticles which showed the greatest ad-
vance in prices are: Lard, s.s per
cent; evaporated apples, 81 per cent;
fresh pork, S.S per cent; dry or pick
led pork. 81 per cent; while the ad-
cent; ham, 7.S per cent; while the ad-
vance in fresh fish and mutton ex-
ceeded per cent. The only articles
which showed any material decrease
are -four and sugar.
Butter Advances Most.
The articles which showed the most
marked advance In prices in Decem-
Der, 1906, over December, 1905, are
butter, Is per cent; lard, 1873 per
cent; fresh pork, 1872 per cent; dry
or picked pork, 11.9 per cent; bacon,
Ill per cent, and ham, 9.S per cent.
The only articles which showed any
marked decline in price in December.
1905, from the price in December,
1905, are potatoes, 5.s per cent and
| -four, 4.S per cent. - = /. = 3.
The bureau Of labor balances this
with statistics showing that wages In
manufacturing and mechanical indus
tries have kept little ahead Of this
advance. The inquiry, as usual, has
been confined to wage earners-that
is, what Is generally known as the ia
Dor vote" No account Is taken to
show the condition Of salaried men,
clerks, statesmen, bookkeepers and
typewriters.
In the principal industries Of the
country average wages an hour In
1906, were As per cent higher than In
1905. the regular hours Of labor
week were 0.5 per cent lower and the
number Of employees in the establish
ments investigated were Z per cent
greater. The average full time week.
ly earnings for each employee in 1905
were 3.9 per cent greater than In 1905.
There also were shorter hours.
During 1906 wages were increased
generally In nearly all industries, for
ty Of the forty-one industries covered
by the investigation showing some in
crease. The greatest increase was In
the manufacture Of cotton goods,
where the average wages per hour In
1906 were 11.2 per cent higher than
in 1905. In the manufacture Of elec-
trical apparatus and supplies the In
crease was 101 per cent. In street
and sewer work done by contract the
increase was 81 per cent in iron and
steel, Bessemer converting, S.5 per
cent and in the manufacture Of ci-
gars S.4 per cent.
Increase In Wages.
In the manufacture Of bar iron the
increase In wages an hour was 6.9 per
cent, and in the building trades 6.1
per cent Briefly stated, two indus
tries showed an increase in hourly
wages Of more than 10 per cent, sew
en- industries an increase Of per cent,
but less than 10 per cent, and thirty
one industries an increase Of less than
S per cent. In one industry-paper
and wood pulp-there was a decrease
Of IL per cent. In the industries as
a whole, weighed according to import
ance, the increase in hourly wages
was As per cent.
The retail prices of food, weighed
according to consumption in represen-
tative workingmen's families, were
2.9 per cent higher in 1906 than In
1905. AS the advance In wages an
hour from 1906 to 1906 was greater
than the advance in the retail prices
Of food, the purchasing power of an
hours wages, as measured by food
was greater in 1906 than in the pre-
ceding year.
In 1906 the purchasing power OF an
hours wages as expended for FOOD
was IA per cent greater than In 1905,
and the purchasing power OF full
weeks wages in 1906 would purchase
one per cent more food than a full
weeks wages in 1905:
AS compared with the average for
the ten-year period, 1890 to 1899 the
average wages an hour in 1906 were
24.2 per cent higher, the number OF
employees in the establishments In
vestigated was 24.9 per cent greater
and the average hours Of labor
week were 40 per cent lower. The
average earnings for each employee
full week in 1906 were 1875 per cent
higher than the average earnings a
full week during the ten years, 1890
to 1899.
The retail price Of the principal ar
ticles of food, weighed according to
family consumption Of the various ar
ticles, was 1871 per cent higher In
1906 than the average price for the
ten years, 1890 to 1899. Compared
with the average for the same ten.
year period, the purchasing power OF
an hours wages in 1905, as measured
by food. was 7.3 per cent greater, the
increase In the purchasing power OF
the full weeks wages being less than