The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1909-09-18
According to Bradstreet's Report
SO Commodities Have Ad-
vanced in Price.
ARE MAINLY THOSE USED
BY THE AVERAGE FAMILY
AS Might Be Expected the Beef
Trust is Active in This I
Boosting of Prices. e.

NEW YORK, Sept. 16.-(Special to
the Labor World.)-While prosperity
Is still on the road and thousands of
people are still walking the streets in
search Of employment, the prices OF
food commodities are constantly go
ang up and soaring high above the
reach of the working class. -, ?.2-. .
Within the last; month, according
to Bradstreet's report, made public
yesterday, no less than thirty-eight
commodities have taken upward
jumps. The articles that have hisen
are of the kind that play a substan:-
tial part in the makeup 1ef the work
ingmen's diet, and the increase is
therefore bound to affect greatly the
budget of the average family.
Since the last year, from Septem-
per l. 1908, to September 1, 1909, ac-
cord1n .gto the same report. no less
than fifty-nine commodities rose In
price.
yr g.. List of Commodities.
They are: Wheat, flour, reeves.
live; sheep, live; hogs, live; horses,
beef, carcasses; hogs, carcasses; NUT
ton' carcasses; milk, eggs, pork, bacon,
hams, tlard, butter, cheese, coffee,
sugar, tea, beans, lemons, raisins,
hides, hemlock leather, union leather.
oak leather, cotton, wool, O.. and Pa;
wool, Australian; flax, print cloths,
standard sheetings, ginghams, cotton
sheettngs; pig iron, Bessemer; silver.
stin, quicksilver. Connellsville coke.
llnseed oil, :cotton-seed oil, olive oil,
rosin, turpentine, tar, brick yellow
pine, spruce lumber, hemlook timber.
alcohol, hops, rubber, tobacco, ground
bone, hay and cotton seed.
Other commodities remained un-
changed while some even sustained
a slight decrease. But while the in
creased and unchanged articles consist
' OF provisions. fruits and other food
stuffs, the decreased commodities are
Tor the greater part, drugs, petroleum,
silks, paper, and those that do not
directly affect the expenditure of the
workingman' sfamily.
Prices Move Upward.
Bradstreets, in discussing the stu
alton, has the following to say:
, Commodity prices, speaking of
them collectively, still continue on. an
upward grade. This movement has
been clearly apparent for the past
fourteen months, Or ever since the
low point of June 1, 1908, was struck
From that time onward the genera
undercurrents have made for higher
and higher prices, the dips in between
being of a temporary character
THE trend is one that has kept
pace with the 'betterment that has oc-
CURED in economic affairs, and al
though the higher level Of things has
probably deferred buyers of many
lines of goods from taking on as
much as they would If prices were
lower, the fact isthat prosperity is
steadily marching on. Nevertheless
some classes, those whose income;
were severely curtailed during the de-
preston, feel the weight of the higl
cost of commodities, especially Of
edibies. 1t is this latter phase of III,
matter that makes the subject O.
commodity prices one of absorbing in
-erest, and naturally so, for it bears
a close relation. to ones pocketbook.'
Beef Trust Gets Slice.
While the workingman is strug-
Cling in the effort to make ends meet
the beef trust is doing it's own tt
get clice of The general l lse in the
prices of commodities. Within a weel
beef has been advanced by the pack
ers one cent a pound, and within
week the retailers say they expec
to have another cent added to tn
cost Of all choice beef
The price Of porterhouse steal
ranges from 2S to 81 cents pount
now, according to where it is bought
If prices are advanced later in .th
season, as expected, these prices ma
go as high as IS and 80 cents. Fin
ribs of beef cost the householder abou
20 cents. Chicago is even worse of
than New York. Prices there wer
Jumped 11z and 2 cents yesterday
bringing prime ribs up to 1s cents an
prime loins to ,21 cents. l.. 'ig