The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-28
A bedroom now costs from SO TO

"A DeufO0m now costs from So 10
So day.
If you want Philadelphia capon the
price is high. 1t will take 40 minutes to
cook a 81 capon, and you may know
you are paying just 10 cents for each
minute you wait You can get whole
spring turkey for the same sum.
| have just received an offer of cents
a pound for some hogs on my farm in
Virginia. On these bills of fare Virginia
ham costs 60 cents for two Slices Two
lamb chops each as big around as dol
lar. are served for IS cents
1 object also to the prices of the vege-
tables and fruits. I know that apples
are scarce this year and that the prices
are high But nevertheless % cents is
too much for a single baked apple which
outside the hotels on the fruit stand could
be bought for nickel. Set aside cents
for the cream and the cooking, and the
hotel gets 20 cents for the apple alone.
Its apples ere bought by the barrel and
at the low' estimate of 200 apples to the
barrel makes me pay at the rate of $50
barrel. This is right high for apples.
1t is the same with potatoes During
this whole trip I have had to pay %
cents and upward for one or two baked
in the skin, which must be at the rate
of something like $40 per bushel. Spin
ach is sold at about the same rate and
lima beans and cauliflower bring 35 cents
for good double handful. AS to new
corn in season, the hotels have been
selling that at about 10 cents an ear.
The average barrel of field corn viii
hold $50 ears of twice the size of the
green stuff that comes to the table. At
1000 ears to the barrel, they are now
getting about S1oO barrel for their corn.
and still it is said there is no money
in farming
1t used to be that the price for ice
cream was 10 or IS cents a dish at al
most any hotel. Now you pay so cents
for each portion and the same is true
of water ice favored with lemon, orange
or raspberry. The fancy kinds cost
more, and if you are so eXtravagant as to
charge at the hotel will be 40 cents. A
slice of apple pie costs 20 cents, deep
dish peach pie costs % cents, and a cup
custard often costs you quarter per per-
son.
The rates in the dining cars on the
railroads are almost as high. l have the
bills of fare from which I ordered my
meals in the past few days. They come
from the leading railroads of the coun-
try and pick out a few items at ram
DOM
Two lamb chops 20 cents; scrambled
eggs with chopped toast, 60 cents; roast
beef with Drowned potatoes. 70 cents;
spaghetti, % cents; baby turnips, %
cents; spring chicken. a whole one. $1.50:
a sirlon steak costs $780, bacon and
eggs. SO cents. and two boiled eggs a
quarter All soups are % cents or more,
and no orders are taken for less than
a quarter per person. One must pay at
least 60 cents before he is allowed to
have bread and butter, without charge,
on the side.
1t was in refreshing contrast to these
a la carte meals that [ found on one
of the fast trains from Milwaukee to st.
Paul the old-fashioned dollar dinner that
we used to have everywhere as We rode
over the country. These have been dis
continued on most of the lines, and as
the fast trains do not stop for meals,
one is forced to pay the high-priced a la
carte rates or go hungry.
In order to show the difference be-
tween the old 81 dinner and the meals
of the present, / have taken one item
from each of the courses on the dollar
menu, beginning with blue points and
ending with coffee and cheese. and added
up the prices of the various dishes as
they are on the la carte list. The total
is just s564 In other words, the dinner