Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1910-01-28
One HOUSEWIVES VIEW
SAYS COST OF LIVING HAS NOT
INCREASED.
Comparing Prices With Years fas''
She Believes Increase Is Not
Worth Considering.

There is a HiIlsboro lady who scoffs
AT the suggestion that a rise in the
nrice of the necessities of life is re-
snonsibIe for the wall over the increas-
cd cost of living which fills the news
papers and forms topic of conversa-
ton whenever housewives meet This
lady is the mother Of family and her
90 years of married life have been spent
in the west. Her experience has been
largely in the cities and she has at
tended to the family marketing, says
the Hfllsboro Independent.
speaking of the latter the other
day. she said that after careful consid-
Grafton and comparison she was forced
TO the conclusion that her marketing
costs but little more than it did when
she first began housekeeping, and II
the family expenses have increased il
is because articles formerly considered
Injuries are now regarded as neces-
stiles.
This lady says that when she first
went to housekeeping in 1891, deal
ers asked 40 cents pound for butter,
although during short time in the
summer the price dropped. She now
nays IS cents for two pounds. There has
been a great howl this winter over
the fact that eggs have sold for As
cents a dozen, but this lady says that
10 years ago the same price was asked
and received, and the fruit was not
always above suspicion at that.
Sometimes the price, as now, would
drop to 25 cents in the summer but
only for short time. This lady now
paws s1.65 for a sack of flour that
formerly cost S1.35, but when the
number Of sacks used by the average
family is considered, she does not be-
lieve the extra thirty cents now paid
is responsible for the calamity the
howlers would have us believe has
overtaken u.s.
According to this lady, she now pays
the same and sometimes little less,
for sugar, and while two bits will buy
about the same quantity of soap it al
ways did, toilet soap is cheaper. In
the good old days that many profess
to regret, she paid As cents for can
of baking powder and now the same
article sells for S5. For fresh vegeta-
bles she says she pays during the seas
on about what she always has, and in
some cases less. Potatoes she has
never bought in large quantities, and
now as in past years the price for the
year will range around 81 per sack.
The price paid for canned goods has
varied little since this lady began to
deal with the grocery man, although
in some cases she pays less.
This optimistic lady also asserts that
there is no greater basis for the as
sertion that other family necessities
have increased in price than is found
in the culinary department She says
that dress goods are practically the
same in price that they always were.
Material for a good broadcloth dress
costs about what it did in the early
g0's. While domestics are slightly
higher gingham is of better quality
and cheaper than formerly. This is
also true of undermuslins and shirt
waists Ready made suits for women
are much cheaper, as Is shown by the
fact that while formerly the possess
ion of one was a mark of affluence, to-
day they are seen everywhere. She ad-
mits that the cost of having a dress
made is greater than formerly, but
says that is because the dressmaker's
prices have risen and not because of
increased cost of materials. She says
further that If the economical shop
per finds that in some cases prices
have advanced, this is more than made
up by the fact that the cheaper articles
are of much better quality than for
merly and may be substituted if the
best.
This philosophical lady sums up the
situation in a few words. She says
people undoubtedly find their money
does not go as far as it formerly did
and charge it to a price paid for a
necessity, without recalling that in
the average they have probably always
paid the same. She believes that peo-
Pile want and get more than they
formerly did, and slowly and uncon-
has crept in. All the members of the
family dress better than in former
years, and articles and conveniences
then believed to be only within the
reach of the well-to-do are now taken
as a matter of course by people of
moderate means. She instanced the
example of the piano, which is now
found everywhere, the organ which
formerly was considered the highest
possible attainment of the musically
gated to the garrett Easy payments
have often made the substitution pos
sible, but in the end the higher pric-
ed instrument had to be paid for and
the money was of course missed. This
was also the case with many other ar
ticles and the scale Of living had grad
ually increase until it equalled and
exceeded the income, but
she believed in being fair and placing
the responsibility where 1t belongs.
1t is likely some of her deductions
do not apply to Hillsboro and other
country towns, for II is known that
within recent years many articles of
produce, poultry, etc, have sold at
very low prices. But at present the
country towns are practically on a par
with Portland 50 far as prices are
concerned. but the people with pro-
iuce to sell have reaped a portion of
the increase and this has rendered
hem better able to meet the advance.