The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-03-12
COST OF LIVING
COMING DOWN
Cost of Butter, Eggs and Vege-
tables Has Dropped; Meats
Firm

The accession OF President Wilson
the high cos; of eating. according to
the statements OF retailers, who say
that many of the most Eighty little
items on The grocery bill arc display
ing commendabie stability az to
price. while some things are actually
coming down.
Butter the prize aviator OF tile
bunch, which Razcd down OH the
starving consumer all winter from the
unattainable altitude Of As cents
pound. has recently come down to IS
cents retail for the best. and there it
promises to stick. for while at least.
Eggs are coming down, OF course, at
this season. but they are even lower
than usual. Yard eggs. which means
new ones. are retailing for the alb
surdly low price OF o2 cents a dozen,
and they have dropped nearly cents
/ In the last two weeks. As Tor cold
( storage eggs, no one Will look at
( such suspicious characters under the
circumstances. The mysterious storage
egg is at this time going in, rather
than coming out, IL viewer, and his
period OF high priced popularity comes
when he is much older.
Vegetables are also on the down
ward trend. For example, tomatoes
that were selling for cents apiece
no more than n week ago may be had
for cents. Lettuce has dropped from
Il cents a head 10 10 cents. and many
other varieties of grcenstuff show a
similar tendency to sell reasonably.
Pass the Onions. Please.
An ia w ri Fl foo Of .,
/ vegetable situation is the unwonted
| abundance of onions. Last year there
! was Vcritablc onion famine, the
dealers say. The odorifcrous bulb
was so scarce that an onion powder
was invented for favorng purposes,
| a dash of which would impart the de-
sired tear-starting flavor TO steak
At minimum expense. Some eco
/ nomical cooks even dispensed with
/ this. and simply kept pet onion on
hand, which they waved over any dish
that called for the flavor. Now all is
changed. Order an onion steak, and
! you can't find the steak for the onions.
! For meats remain firm, both salt
and fresh. Chickens and turkeys are
not quite as high as they were about
| Christmas. but they are still on the
wing, so to speak. There is no doubt.
however, but what the general trend
/ OF prices is lower. Take general
I
undoubtedly find that the price of
dining has dropped pcrceptible per
cent in the last few months.
J There is one staple. however, which
has nearly doubled in price in com
paratively short time. and which
neither competition, trust busters. nor
warm weather can affect. That is
coffee Time was when you could buy
something called coffee for a dime. and
q really good article might be obtained
at 20 cents 81 pound
! Now, good coffee costs 80 cents Il
pound, and the very least you can buy
any FOR is 25 cents. Tho reason for
this, the dealers state, rs irrcmediable.
and lies beyond the seas The repub-
lie Of Brazil has practically cornered
tho coffee business. and is taking
measures to make the corner still
| tighter. If Brazilian wishes to plant
any new land I'm coffee he is compelled
To pay heavy fine Of so much a
"hectare" to the government And so
! they have streets paved with marble
in Rio de Janciro, and the coffee of
the lunch counter grows paler day by
day.