Middletown transcript. [volume] (Middletown, Del.) 1868-current, 1909-09-11
PRICE, or LIVING GOES UP
Everything we Eat and Wear Is Advanc-
lne Steadily

Ing Steadily
The cost OF living Is steadily increasing
IN she iaat thirteen ysars there has beer
an advance in the price of commoditie ie
Of exactly 49.l per cent. This include
not only hreadstuffs, bnt clothing, leather
dairy products-in fact, everything tha
enters to any appreciabIe extent into thI
demands of the householders.
Daring this summer there has been /
gradual upward turn. The wholesaler il
/ paying this month one-half Of one pei
cent. more for various commodities than
be did in July, and about the same in
crease has been made with each month
since the end Of spring. While the
wholesaler has been paying more, the
advance to the consumer has been pro-
crossing TO an even greater extent.
Forty-eight articles used by the house.
holder are higher this month than they
we're q year ago, and all Of these articles
are those Of which tbs consumer buys
the most, such as -four, eggs. pork. mutt
ton, cheese, coffee, tea and butter.
Bradstreet's Agency has been keeping
track of the movement Of prices for com.
paratiye purposes since 1892, the year be-
fore the big panic. In arriving at the
average increase. the agency takes the
whoIesale market prices OF 16 different
commodities, ranging from milk, bread,
fionr and other articles used in the house
hold, to leather, textiles and building
materials. The price Of these commod-
ities per pound are added together, giving
what is technically called tha 'sindex
number"-or what it would cost to buy
one pound OF all the 106 commodities.
The agency has found that the articles
taken for this list, when added together,
futnisl tue barometer Of sel.raI prices.
In 1899, the year before the panic Of
1893, tie Index" Of commodity prices
Was 81. 1882. In 1896, when the country
was in the depthsOf the depression which
followed the panic the Index" price
went down to $5.70l9. Then came an
intermediate period, and later, just before
the panic Of 1907, prices reached their
highest point, the commodity average
being s9.l29S. In the summer Of 1908
she price dropped to 81. .7227. and after
that there came q gradual increase. In
January Of this year the Index" prize
was s SS263I, while this month it is s. S.50S9.
The significance Of these figures to the
householder is that, while prices have
been gradually going up in the wholesale
market, the consumer has been obliged
to pay not only this increase, but lii many
instances considerably more.
According to Bradktreet's figures, there
has besn an increase in the average group
per pound since 1895 from 5 10 10 cents;
live stock. IS to SS cents; provisions. 81. .38
to SOS; fruits, IL cents 70 II cents; hides
and leather, 80 cents to Slips; textiles,
81. 81 to 81. 40; oils, 2 cents to Il cents.
In thirteen years the wholesale price Of
eggs has increased from IL cents dozen
to 28 cents; mutton, 5 cents to II cents;
bacon, 4 cents to II cents; butter, 15 cents
to 27 cents, and potatoes, 75 cents per
$50 pounds to Sl.75.
In the markets there is an impression |
that there will be furtbsr advance in |
wholesale prices and that before the end |
Of the year the cost Of living will be up |
another notch.