New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-11-11
HOW MUCH ARE EGGS,
AND WHY?' THEY ASK
Mrs. Heath and Her Horde of
Housewives Visit All
City Dealers.
RANGE 80 TO IS CENTS
Fresh Laid Fruit" A-Plenty in
Markets for "A Cents-No
Reason for Storage Product
Exceeding 80 Cents.

] Mrs. Julian Heath marshaled her gen
erals early yesterday morning, and by
noon the whole city was under housewife
| ly scrutiny.
= How much are yuor eggs. and why?
/ was the question put TO grocers. market
men. butchers and deicatessen dealers.
| From the city and from the suburbs the
answers began pouring in soon after
noon. Ten captains had the city thor
oughly districted Not an obscure neigh
borhood was missed. Everywhere the re-
/ turns showed a high price for storage
/ eggs. and a wide range in the price. even
/ within small space.
Fresh eggs were found to be from - to
/ - cents dozen Storage eggs were
| from 20 IL e. cents.
There is too wide a range in prices.
said Mrs Heath last night. proudly sur
/ veying her days work. I'VE found out
! that some men could afford to sell storage
eggs for 80 cents. 4 jump of Il cents is
not accounted for by locality alone. In
an expensive neighborhood. where rents
are high and the market must be main
, tanned more exquistely than in a poor
neighborhood, we expect to find some in
crease in prices, but II cents is too much.
/ These dealers are taking advantage Of
the popular belief that eggs are high to
| add on a few cents to the real price at
! which they could afford to sell.
/ AN interesting thing | learned, how
ever was that the uptown dealer, whose
! business is largely charge accounts, PAID
| but once or twice year. has To add to
| his price in order To carry the long
| charge account. That, you see, is an
other reason why women should do their
own marketing and pay cash. 1t Is a
| good thing not To so to the same dealer
! all the time.
Another thing all the investigators
| noticed was that the dealers do not label
| storage eggs They are Obliged by law
to distinguish between fresh and storage
eggs. but they-wcli. they forget In one
/ place ! spoke about IL. oh. yes. they
| were labelled he said. Where | asked.
! He went into his back room and brought
! back the case in which the eggs had
come II was marked in big letters
! Storage Eggs but what good did that
/ do the purchaser
After visiting all the retail stores I'm her
own rcighborhood. Mrs Heath trained
/ her batteries upon the wholesale market
| downtown. g. +. Brltten. a commission
merchant. admitted that the price OF
storage eggs was high. but said he didn't
| know who was making the money. Mrs
| Heath had stated that eggs went into
| storage at IS and % cents "A dozen. These
| figures Mr.. Britten admitted. The whole
| sale price OF storage eggs yesterday was
g cents
| Henry Kracke. a dealer In Washington
| Market. said that II Gags went In storage
/ even AT p cents they could easily be sold
at -. So that the retailer could sell them
| for % cents.
Confronted by the figures OF Charles +.
! Droste. another commission merchant.
who said that 80 cents was "A fair price
for storage eggs. Tommy rot!' said Mrs
| Heath. He doesn't know what he is
! talking about Eggs are too high at
! wholesale. 20 cents Is unreasonable. We
! are going To- hnf out what makes the
! price SO high. Then We are going To force
| IL down"
An interesting bit OF work was done In
Greenwich Village by women Of the Doe
Ye NeXtc Thynse" House led by Miss
Marie Blair.
1t means very intense interest In
| the cost of living when these women go
on the warpath.' said Miss Blair, tor
| the dealers In Il neighborhoOd like this
are the social equals, probably the per-
| sonal friends Of the people. In richer
! neighborhood the housewife does not
know nor care about her dealer Here.
| however even IL We don't know him We
| know what he is up against. We know
| he has "A hard time To get along. any
way and we hate TO take away "A penny
/ or two. because We know it means a lot
| 10 him"
! Fortunately the Greenwich women were
/ spared the sorrow of boycotting their
| friends, because prices were found 10 be-
reasonable In those markets Storage
eggs were sold generally at 30 to ~
cents. so the women heaved happy sighs
| and went back to their housework.
Another discovery of the day was that
fresh eggs could be obtained at Washing
ton Market for "A cents. Uptown they
were anywhere from Is to 10 cents.
"It lust shows" agreed Mrs Heath
| and the marketmen, that the high
prices are fictitious. There has been so
much talk about eggs at and cents
apicce that every one is scared and
! thinks she has to pay that much. SO, OF
course. the dealer is tempted to charge 1t.
| / am glad to assure the women of New
York that fresh eggs can be obtained at
"A cents They may be 3 cents higher
tomorrow. but. even so. A cents is a lot
cheaper than %.
The women who conducted the investi-
cation Of egg prices were Mrs. ii. X.
! Carraway, Mrs. j. Oatman, Mrs. Nj. T.
Iaccaci, Miss Marie Blair. Miss Alice Nc
Colster. Miss De Kay, Mrs. f. V. ;.
| Chamberlain. Miss Emma Bussong. Miss
Martha Fuller, Mrs. w. +. Parrish. Miss
| CYNTHIA Dozier and Mrs. Irwin Mac
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