Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-12-28


ada had caught the fever and on the
21st ordered its militia reserve. num-
bering 10000 men, to be ready for serv-
ice at a days notice. There was
company of reserves in about every
town and hamlet In the Dominion, and
this order practically put the whole
nation under arms.
The Cost of Living Goes Up.
On the sd congress passed bill in
creasing the duties upon certain neces-
saries of life which. however. are Of
ten termed Injuries. The duty on tea
was increased to 20 cents pound. cof-
fee cents pound. sugar 215. 3. 8
and cents pound. according to quail
ity. and cents a gallon on molasses-
This was the first war tax which laid
q great burden on the common people.
To them tea especially and sugar and
molasses are necessities. The govern
ment had long been a big buyer of
these commodities for the army. and
| the price of tea. coffee and sugar had
! gone up. One Of the spokesmeN OF the
! people. debating en- this bill. said that
{ it already took four bushels Of corn to
! pay for one pound of coffee.
Also the inequalities of the new tar
/ iff were against the poor. For in
stance. tea. then selling for 80 cents a
pound. would be taxed 20 cents and
must sell for GO cents. an increase of
4, 20 per cent. But tea selling ut 81 a
pound would be increased TO $1.90 a
pound-that is to say. 20 per cent in
crease. Coffee was then selling at
about % cents. the importers valua-
ton being about 10 cents pound.
Sugar was selling Mt 10 to 10 cents and
molasses 20 to 80 cents per gallon. 1t
was admitted in congress that this in
crease would not be the end Of It. 1t
was but step toward the revision of
the tariff which would put up the rates
On everything. The fact that this bill
passed both houses and was signed by
the president the same day showed
its urgency. The purchasing power of
money soon began to decrease. and It
was not long before coffee and all sugar
and molasses except the very lowest
grades were beyond the reach of the
people of light purse. Grain substi-
tutes were adopted for coffee. chiefly
rye. and thousands Of families knew
the taste of nothing better while the
money pressure lasted-sorne two or
three years.
Meanwhile the Federal government
was furnishing the soldiers at the
front excellent coffee in quantities SC
liberal rs to lead to enormous waste
Families at home who were troubled
over the hard fare their soldier boys
were getting In camp would have beer
glad TO take the leavings of coffee
when a regiment moved camp. The
leavings did not go to waste absolute
ly. for negroes cleaned up the camp:
as the soldiers abandoned them, ant
some of the surplus coffee was barter
ed at farmhouses for soft" bread.
On the oath Captain Matthew r
Maury. q. s. ~, resigned his commits
sion TO Join the Confederate forces
This step was an unusual one for tina
late period in 1861. and II robbed to.
Federal cause of a valuable officer
Maury was a man of greater distinc
ton than his rank would indicate. Fl,
was a deep sea expert and the autho
OF textbook used in the navy. Wher
1t became known in Europe that he hat
resigned from the United States serv
Ice he was invited 20 Russia ant
; France TO continue in either Of thos,
countries the work to which bis Iif,
had been devoted. These offers. from
sense Of duty. he declined. He Ell,
} tered the Confederate navy and estab
iished the submarine battery service II
the James river at Richmond He in
vented a method for testing torpedo
mines and was active n fitting on
Confederate cruisers