Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-09-12
PRICES now AND A YEAR AGO
Food Experts Seek to Show Cost of
Living Has Not Advanced.
FIGURES IN COMPARISON MADE
Man who sets His Table without Put
ting the Dainties There, IL f.
Claimed. Need Feel No
Alarm.

NEW YORK, Sept. n-while thousands
are starving in China and France is be-
ing torn with riots in protest against the
high cost Of food, there is renewed at
tention in this country to the fact that
sugar has reached its highest point in
twelve years; that coffee Is soaring. and
potatoes are selling a. nigh az N.lO bushel
in the field. In view Of this householders
are asking themselves.
"Will this winter see a recurrence OF the
conditions Of 1909-10 when the cost Of Nv
ing reached its apex and declined slowly
only after many so-caled boycotts against
meat and other high-priced commodities
we're declared throughout the land?"
To this question economic experts seen
here today say no. No commodities will
be higher they say. except in some in
stances, than those Of last winter. but
they add that the man who sets his table
with plain everyday fare, avoiding fancy
brands and near Injuries, may await the
approach of cold weather without undue
anxiety. 1t is pointed out thar. generally
speaking with the exception Of coffee,
sugar, potatoes and a few canned vege-
tables, the present month for September
was ushered in with conditions more fav-
orable to the consumer than the case q
year ago.
On September mess pork was quoted at
SO a barrel wholesale, as against S25 on
the same date in 1910; the wholesale price
OF ham is a little more than Is cents
pound as compared with is cents in the
early fail of last year; western lard is
selling at a fraction more than cents
as against more than p cents in Septem-
Der, 1910. and butter and eggs are both
comparatively reasonable and a few cents
cheaper retail than in last September
Flour Same as Last Year.
Flour OF good quality is selling at lowest
retail prices at 1886 a barrel, the same
price that prevailed at this time last year,
and bacon may be had at some stores for
20 cents pound, as against % cents and
% cents year ago. The average family
steak costs about 2S cents a pound. as it did
last year, though experts say that with all
feeding crops short. it is not unlikely that
beef will go higher as the winter pro-
crosses.
The cost Of poultry will be largely de-
termined by cold storage holdings. Indica-
tons are ,hat 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 So cents a bushel; today the
price ranges from So cents to more than 81
Canned peas, beans and tomatoes also will
be higher, but rice remains cheap and un-
less there is marked advance in pork.
1t Is argued that the man of slender means
can provie for his family without serious
strain.
Sugar and coffee are both phenomenally
high, but those who are studying the
market predict that decreased consumption.
which invariably follows a prohibitive ad-
vance, will soon restore these two break
fast table necessities to a more normal
level No. standard Rio spot coffee
brought 1885 cents a pound. wholesale. in
New York Saturday, as against lO1l cents
year ago. and the standard grade of
granulated sugar was quoted wholesale at
go 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.
Figures In Com pariSon.
1t is almost Impossible to strike an in
telligent average Of the price to the con-
sumer, so much depending on the location
of the dealers store. The following table
OF twenty-five standard commodities, how
ever, shows the wholesale prices when the
month of September opened. These figures
have changed only slightly since: