Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1912-02-16
The Cost Of Living Goes Up.

-
On the Esd congress passed q Dill IN.
creasing the duties upon certain neces-
saries of life which. however. are OF
ten termed luxur1es. The duty on To-
was increased to 20 cents a pound. COZ
fee S cents a pound, sugar "a. 3. 8
and 8 cents a pound. according to quail
ity. and 9 cents a gallon on molassss-
This was the first war tax which laid
q great burden ON the common people
To them tea especially and sugar ana
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 q
gone up. One OF the spokesmen OF tns
people, debating OF this bill, said that
It already took four bushels OF corn to
pay for n pound OF coffee.
Also the inequalities Of the new tar
III were against the poor. Fol In
stance, tea, then selling for 40 cents a
pound, would be taxed 20 cents and
must sell for go cents, an increase OF
30 per cent. But tea selling at II a
pound would be increased to $1-2O q
p~ound-that is to say. 20 per cent In
crease. Coffee was then selling ut
about 20 cents, the importers valua-
lion being about 10 cents a pound.
Sugar was selling at 10 to IL cents and
molasses 20 to 80 cents per gallon. IL
was admitted In congress that this IN
crease would not be the end OF 1t. 1t
was but q step toward b revision OF
the tariff which would put up b 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 1t
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 subsh-
tutes were adopted for coffee, chiefly
rye, and thousands OF families knew
the taste of nothing better while the
money pressure lasteG-sOme two or
three years.
Meanwhile the Federal government
was furnishing the soldiers at the
front excellent coffee In quantities so
liberal as to lead to enormous waste.
Families at home who were troubled
| over the hard fare their soldier boys
were getting In camp would have been
glad to take the lea wings Of coffee
, when a regiment moved camp. The
leavings did not go to waste absolute
ly, for negroes cleaned up the camps
as the soldiers abandoned them, n
some Of the surplus coffee was barter
ed al farmhouses for soft" bread.
On the oath Captain Matthew +.
Maury. U. S. N, resigned his commits
sion to join the Confederate forces.
This step was an unusual one for that
late period In 1861, and 1t robbed the
Federal cause Of a valuable odiceS.
Maury was a mar Of greater disdnc-
ton THAI his rank would Indicate Hs
was a deep sea expert and the author
| Of a textbook used in the navy. When
It became known In Europe that he had
resigned from the United States serv-
ice he was invited TO Russia and
France to continue in either Of thoes
countries the work to which bic hfe
had been devoted. These offers. ffum
q sense OF duty, he declined He en-
tered the Confederate navy and eetab-
lished the submarine battery service -
the James river at Richmond. He IN
vented Z method for testing torpedo
mines ana was active IN 0tt1nD CT
O~on6odoEato c9uiooD.