Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-30
TO DEVELOP FACTS
Continued Inquiry Into the
Cost of Living.
SITUATION IN WASHINGTON
Other Cities Declared to Have Bene.
fits of Price Reductions Not
Duplicated Here.

With the continuation tomorrow Of the
investigation by the Chamber of Com
merce committee into the problem of the
increased cost of food and other neees-
saries of life Washington is likely to be
much nearer to knowing WIZ il Is "a.
ways one Of the fret cities of the coun.
try to feel the effect of an upward
tendency in prices, and equally why it
is one of the last of the centers of popu-
lation to be given the benefit when de-
creaseS are in order.
Much light is also likely to be shed on
the local situation when the congressional
investigation is continued tomorrow, be-
cause number of Washington retailers
and wholesalers are to occupy the stand
and since the range of questioning to
which they may be subjected is practi-
cally unlimited it is probable that many
interesting comparisons of the prices OBJ
tanning here and in other cities will be
forthcoming.
Consumers Elsewhere Favored.
SO far as the countrywide agitation
which prevails at the present time is
concerned, it is beyond contravention that
consumers in other cities are getting the
benefits of reductions in prices in many
commodities, while III Washington the
prices remain unchanged. The reason
IN this case is obvious, because boycotts
against meat have been effective else
Where, and the news has spread that as
soon as the dealers feel the pinch of the
situation they have been prompt to yield
relief. Within the past day or two the
Geographic news service has brought re-
ri of
tlmore. in Rochester, N. Y, in New
York, in Philadelphia, in Des Moines, in
PttSburs and even in Chicago the home
of dressed beef
Within the week the authoritative an
nOuncement was made that the .'Elgin
board, which is only another name for
the butter combine (becauSe, it is de-
ciared, the price of butter is ruled alb
solutely by the announcements from this
ali-poWerful body, has decreed a scent
drop in the wholesale price of butter
Some local dealers admitted the fact that
the reduction had been ordered, and prob
ably great majority gave the benefit of
Il similar concession in the retail price
to their custOmers-but there have been
not few authentic instances where only
partial reductions We're made, and few
in which the dealers simply 'scooped
the added profits into their own pockets.
Abstinence Has Effect,
ilt tItitS W mere tHc TeuuCIlODS IN prices
have been declared have been the cities
in which the fancy for boycott against
meat took Immediate hold of majority
of the populace, and the abstinence which
followed made such an impression upon
the market that prices came tumbing in
quick sympathy. The boycotts have
been termed sporadic and spaSmOdic and
have been pointed out with the more or
less scornful predictions that the effect at
mot hn aSft ro hut
fact remains, it is shown, that the only
concessions i'll prices have been in the
cities Wher the market was affected by
sudden cessation in the consumption of
the commodities against which the ire Of
the public was aroused
Washington has had one or two small
boycotts against meat, but the move
ments evidntly lacked cohesion. At any
late, no general determination to force
down the price by abstinence has seized
the masses of the city's population.
Farmers Get Share.
Investigators are busy on every hand
seeking to establish the responsibility for
the present-day condition. but il thd
figures, which have been prepared to
show the relative prosperity of the farm
ers of Nebraska today as against five
years ago, may be taken as a criterion
tor the country, it may safely be said
that the farmer may be proved guilty,
after all. of having devised the ways and
means to grab off, a larger share OF
profits than have been the portion of the
producers in any other industry.
The following is a summary of the
financial condition of the farmers of the
16-to-1 state, as published in a trade
journal of current date:
THE value of the crop produced by
the farms of Nebraska. added TO the cat
tie, hogs, sheep and horses raised for the
year 1909, amounts to S+OO.OOO,OOO. This
is almost exactly 40 pen cent of gross
profit upon the investment. The total
actual value of the farms and the i'm
provements thereon is S1,Ol5,O4O, Do
Five years ago the state statistician
figured out an average net profit to farm
ers of about lb per cent Since then the
production as measured in the farm value
of the crops and animals raised has
doubled and in this fact lies the secret
of the tremendous increase in farm land
values in the last decade. The best land
sells at $125 to $50 an acre and in the
irrigated country at 30 per cent higher
figures.
Flood of Wealth.
This big food of wealth has set the
cities and towns to booming, and building
in the cities of Lincoln and Omaha has
broken all records during the year, with
fore.
The bank deposits have gone up to
ten times what they were in 1896. In the
national banks there are deposits aggre-
eating S119,OOO,OOO. and in the state
banks there are $73. $4,000, about 5000 per
capita for the state.
The farmer is building homes In the
cities and taking the boys and girls
down to be educated in the city schools.
meanwhile hanging on to the farm a
dividend producer. He is buying auto
mobiles, and where he remains on the
farm puts in lighting systems and power
engines to run his machinery, and is al
together extracting about as much en-
joyment out of life as there is to be ex-
tracted'
Women Pledge Support.
BY unanimous vote the members of
the District Federation of Women's
Clubs last evening pledged their support
to the National Anti-food Trust League