Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-09-12
Sugar Reaches the Highest
~ Point in Twelve Years;
Coffee and Potatoes High
er Than Last Year.
MEAT PRICES ARE
BELOW. LAST YEAR
Conditions at Beginning Of
This Winter Better Than
Year Ago; Bulk Of Com
modities are Lower.

New York, Sept 11.-While thou.
sands are starving In China and
France is being torn with riots in pro-
test against the high cost of food,
there Is renewed attention in this
country to the fact that sugar has
reached it's highest point in twelve
years, that coffee Is soaring and po-
tatoes are selling as high as $1.1O q
bushel In the field.
In view of this householders are ask.
ing themselves: "Will this winter see
a recurrence of the conditions OF
1909-10, when the cost of living
reached Its maximum and declined
slowly only after New York's so-called
boycotts against meat and other high
priced commodities were declared
through ghontz x6s lsnd q" To this ques-
tions Ac0nOnA1 SexpS9ts seen here today
answer no tlcSs viii be higher, they
say, In Sons Anatanoes above those OF
last Winte but they add that the
man who AetGa his table with plain,
evsryday faze, sycsdIng faucys brands
and nSar-i -iSaut siSlIy avI1l th1 ~
proach Of sfd wseth Without undslas
anxiety. s$gs
More eayoysbiyg Y II yesr !. I'D
IL II spCjtted iA1S 8A A gen4eqysYs;
speaking, with lion OF ooff fSS,
sugar, potasDes md q few canned
vegetables, he present month OF Sep
tember was nshefed ~ with conditions
more fAvorablss p the consumer than
was the case a year ago.
On September 1 mess pork was
quoted at $40 a barrel, wholesale, 90
against $24 on the same date In 1910;
the Wholesale price OF ham Is a little
more than fifteen cents pound as
compared with eighteen cents In the
early fall of last year. Western lard
is selling at a fraction more than nine
cents as against more than twelve
cents in September, 1910, and butter
and eggs are both comparatively
reasonable and few cents cheaper at
retail than last September.
Flour OF good quality is selling at
lowest prices, at 1895 a barrel the
same price that prevailed at this time
last year, and bacon may he had at
some stores for twenty cents a pound
as against twenty-three and twenty.
five cents year ago.
The average family" steak costs
about twenty-eight cents a pound as
1t did last year, though experts say
that with all feeding crops short II
is not unlikely that beef will go higher
as the winter progresses. The cost Of
poultry will be largely determined by
cold storage holdings. Indications are
that the shortage OF potatoes is
serious, not only In this country, but
in Great Britain and Germany. In the
fall Of last year one could buy good
potatoes in the field at fiftyfive cents
a bushel: today the prices range from
eighty-five cents to more than dol
lar Canned peas, beans and tomatoes
also will be higher, but rice remains
cheap and unless there is marked
advance in price 1t is argued that q
man of slender means can provide for
his family without serious strain.
Sugar and Coffee No Higher.
Sugar and coffee are both phenom.
ally high, but those who are study.
ing the market predict that decreased
consumption, which invariably fol.
lows a prohibitive advance, will soon
restore these two breakfast table nee
essities to more normal level. No.
Z Standard Rio pot coffee brought
1874 cents pound wholesale In New
York last Saturday as against 103h
cents year ago, and the standard
grade of granulated sugar was quoted
" holesale at 6.70 cents per pound, the
highest level since July, 1899.
Failure OF the European sugar beet
crop and poor prospects in Cuba are
given as the cause OF the abrupt Jump
in the sugar market.
It is almost impossible to strike IN