Grand Forks daily herald and the evening times., 1914-09-01

fall, and dried, picked or smoked for
future use. It would take a long time
to starve out family so supplied.
These things were done as matter
OF course by every farmer, and the
same practice was carried on in the
cities on smaller scale by thousands
of families. Today these practices
Eare practically things Of the past. Our
| cities, because Of their great size, the
character of their activities and the
immense foreign immigration that has
poured into them, have got far out Of
touch with the spirit and the customs
of country life, and the farmers them
Even in the East, where population
is relatively stable and customs change
slowly, very large proportion Of the
supplies for the table comes from the
shelves of the grocery store, and the
great store of provisions formerly al
ways on hand, has dwindled to insig-
nificant proportions. In the cities the
practice of having enough food In the
house to last two days is probably the
exception rather than the rule
All Of this has much to DO with the
cost of living, Of which we hear so
much. The modern family buys
enough at time for a single meal, a
can of this and a spoonful of that and
couple of ounces Of something else,
instead of supply for weeks and
mt he ot Arl ~,
another the customer must inevitably
pay the price of the additional labor
which the handling of these infintesi-
NAL orders involves. Living in that
manner must be costly.
Just now, with war conditions tend
ing to enhance the price of all foods
these conditions are about to be em-
phasized still further. And the sim-
pie, easy and obvious method of coun-
teracting. in very large measure at
least. the effect Of this tendency is
being ignored, and will be ignored
even by those who can quite convent
emily avail themselves Of 1t. Potatoes
are cheap today, but instead of buying
the peck in the winter and pay four
prices for them. Vegeta bles of all
kinds are cheap and abundant, and a
little later they may be stored conven-
iently and safely, or preserved in var
ious forms for later use. But they
will be bought by the dimes worth as
usual, Eggs can be bought all through
any summer at about 20 cents a doz:
en-, and they can be preserved with
absolute safety and certainty for two
laid eggs are about as scarce as rocs'
eggs, but we will buy. at 40 or so
cents a dozen, the eggs that other
people have preserved. and think our
selves fortunate to get them. House
keepers do still preserve some fruit,
but the sudden jump in the price of
sugar has almost put a stop to that.
This is the only item in the whole
list in which there is as yet any real
change, but during the winter people
who need to save their pennies will be
paying double prices for the things
which they could buy within the next
few weeks at very reasonable rates,
and which, in very many cases, they
can store securely and safely.
We are ruled largely by custom,
and the custom is to do the things
which call for the greatest possible ex-
penditure. of money for the smallest
possible return, and then to complain
about the price. We have done it and.
doubtless, will continue to do 1t. And
because prices promise to be measure
ably higher than usual this winter, we
will complain all the harder.