Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-10-09
BIG INCREASE IN
COST OF LIVING
PRICES OF STAPLE COMMODITIE Es
HAVE ADVANCED ENORMOUSLY
SINCE 1896.

Should your grocer inform you that
you are now paying for your bacon 81. Z
per cent. more than you paid in 1896,
Ior your potatoes 56.6, for your eggs IS. 4,
Tor your salt pork 47.9, for your fresh
pork 1853, and for your la d 45.1 more,
you would think him no doubt a fit
subject to be locked up. When the
government makes the same statement
you can only open your eyes in wonder,
for that is exactly the condition of af-
fairs at the present time
For many years the governments ex-
ports in the bureau of labor have been
hard at work securing figures on the
relative cost of living IN this and for
eign countries, and the results they
have secured are in many instances lit
tie less than alarming One feature of
the situation is that while the prices of
some OF the staple commodities that are
found on the table of every American
rich and poor alike-have risen more
than 100 per cent since the lowest year
for which figures are obtainable, there
has been no corresponding increase in
wages.
These figures have been taken from
evry city in the United States, and are,
therefore, not confined to any one sec
ton.
A comparison in the prices of the sta
pie articles of food include evaporated
apples, dry beans, fresh beef and steaks
butter, cheese, chickens, coffee, corn
meal, eggs, fish, both salt and fresh,
flour, lard, milk, molasses, mutton,
pork, potatoes, prunes, rice, sugar, tea,
teal and vinegar, and only one of these
-coffee-shows decrease for all the
years. The others show an increase
ranging from to SO per cent.
The figures as prepared by the gov
eminent show the retail prices of thirty
staple food commodities as sold in all
of the larger cities. The average prices
Of twenty-nine of the thirty articles in
cluded in this complication were high
er in 1907 than in 1906. The articles
which showed the greatest advance in
prices were: Flour, SO per cent. but
Ter, per cent; evaporated apples, rs
per cent. milk, 7.3 per cent. cornmeal,
'.8 per cent; cheese, 81 per cent; and
potatoes, 5.4 per cent. The only article
which showed a decrease was tea, the
decrease being 2 per cent
These are the;exact figures of the pres
mt day, and when they are closely ex-
it will be found that the same
alto on increase applies to everything
hat is ordinarily consumed. s
1t will also be seen that 1907 price of
ggs was 1863 per cent higher than the
rice in 1880. The greatest advance l
hown in the table is that in the price !
bacon, the prices in 1907 being 64.2 &
er cent. higher than 1890.
When the thirty articles are taken
whole and weighed according to e
~~>J AtSAOiii ~ III NC lOuuO q
lat the price in 1907 was 17.8 per cent. a
bove the price in 1880, 1862 per cent. /
bove that of 1891, with practically the v
'me ratios prevailing up to 1906, when t
was AZ. f
The average amount expended by the S
orkingman's family in each group of t.
tates is as follows: North Atlantic di-
sion, $3S6.57; South Atlantic division,
4.66; North Central division, 1857. 81; q
outh Central division, $34114; West G
n division, $357.S7. n
Another interesting phase of this re- Ii
'rt is the fact that some months were is
ore expensive than others. The aver p
,e cost in December, 1907, per family, tt
as $3SS. 43, which was an advance of a
1.8l over the same month in 1906, and T
O.15 over the same month in 1905. h