Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-08-04
THE COST nF LIVING
HAS INCREASED a. PER CENT. IN
LAST TEN YEARS.
Meat Has Gone Up SO Per Cent. In
Those Years-Farm Products
Hisher-Drues as a
Rule Lower.

Chicago.-It costs more to live, any.
where in the United States, than 1t did
ten years ago. But comparisons of
Chicago price increases with those
discovered by the national government
show that the law of compensation has
not been altogether off the job here.
For Instance, coal here is higher-a
full 100 per cent. higher than ten years
ago. But If you have no coal, and
catch cold through lack of it, you can
buy quinine to cure your cold much
cheaper than you could in 1898.
On the other hand, coffee is cheaper
on the Chicago retail market than it
was decade ago, but the drugs most
in favor for curing indigestion, which
coffee sometimes causes, are costlier
than they were then.
Meat has gone up scandalously-in
fact, SO per cent in three years. Oh,
very we'll. Vegetables and canned
goods are about as cheap as ever, and
the logic of the household expense ac.
count is making more vegetarians
than appeals to sentiment ever did.
The government figures show a high
err price on the whole in 25S commodi-
ties that enter largely into the living
of all the people. In 1907 the percent
age over 1906 was ST. per cent, and
44.4 per cent. higher than 1897, the
year of lowest prices during the IS
year period, and 29.5 per cent. higher
than the average for the ten years,
1890 to 1900.
For farm products, taken as whole,
the increase was greatest-namely,
10.9 per cent; for food, 4.6 per cent;
for cloths and clothing, Sc per cent;
for fuel and lighting, "a per cent; for
metals and implements, 81 per cent;
for lumber and building materials, 40
per cent; for drugs and chemicals, 81
per cent; for housefurnishing goods,
6.8 per cent, and miscellaneous, per
cent.
Chicago lumbermen say the govern
ment's estimate is about right for the
increase in Chicago market prices for
their wares. Increasing depletion of
the forest, they say, has kept the
price ascending gradually, and the
average increase in cost which enters
into ordinary living expenses is around
5 per cent.
Furniture and house furnishings
have scared, and experts on the Chica.
go market say the governments 6.S
per cent. is too low to serve locally.
Not less than is per cent, they say,
has been the increase here. This is
due to scarcity of material, especially
oak. to higher cost of the materials
for iron and brass furniture, and to
higher prices of labor.
Drugs and chemicals, of such sort as
to affect the cost Of living. were high
or. say by per cent, in Chicago last
year than in 1898; but they have
fallen until they are about where they
were, and in some instances, such as
quinine, lower than ever. The higher
prices were caused by the scarcity of
root and herb diggers. the lower prices
by the financial panic.
AS to canned goods, peaches sold in
1897 for the same as they did in 1907,
while some canned products were
much cheaper ten years ago. The
cause for this was that fruits and vege-
tables We're plentiful last year, while
the production was much larger Last
year beans we're scarce and higher.
Up to the time of the panic buying did
not drop off, but since then prices
have been dropping until they are
about as low as they were in 1896.
The cost of preparing food products
is much higher now on account of the
increased cost of labor, also the in
crease in the farm products that go
into them Sugar is higher this year
than in 1907, while coffee is cheaper.
Tea is as cheap as it has been in sew
eral years. Staple commodities are