New Britain herald., 1915-11-30
COST OF LIVING
 HIGHER IN FRANCE
Dealers Seek to Corner Cheese
 Price of Beef Increasing

(Corres 2ondence of The Associated PressD
 Paris, Nov. 1.-Louis Malvy, min- ister of the interior, speaking of the outcry of retail provision dealers and consumers against rising prices of meats and certain provisions, says: 'If the situation is serious it is not alarming. am under the impression that the meaures already taken by the government and those that will be taken will remove all danger of fur ther increases and will provoke some decreases
 A prominent member of the provis- ion committee of the central markets sums up the situation this way: Paris was spoiled by the astonishing ly low cost of living during the first months of the war. It is character istic of the Parisian to consider all benefits once enjoyed as acquired rights On the other hand certain dealers seem to have been intoxicated by stories of fabulous war profits made by certain categories of merchants and manufacturers; they don't intend to be left out of 1t if they can help it. There you have the explanation of the pres ent conflict between the wholesale and retail provision dealers and the con- sumer: the consumer wants peace prices and the dealer wants war profits. There is a happy medium somewhere and the government will probably find it.'
 Corner Cheese.
 This conflict has made the cheese pavilion at the Central market one of the iveliest spots in Paris in the early morning hours. It appears that certain dealers have been trying to run a corner in camembert; the women of the Paris creameries are after them with sharp tongues and decayed vege- tables. From four to twelve cents cheese in June, 1914, camembert has gone up to thirteen to twenty cents. At these prices it is often unobtainable even at the opening of the market and when buyers ask why, the commission merchants say all their receipts have been bought up by telegraph and tele- phone. Such sales are not according to market rules. All receipts should be sold the day received by word of mouth, and one dealer who replied in this way was obliged to take to cover before the indignation of cheese mongers, who saw high piles of cases of camembert in front of them but not a box for sale.
 The monopolizers of camembert and other provisions are merchants in the zone of the armies who are mak- ing high profits out of soldiers and are able to outbid the Paris retail dealer. A maximum tariff for all provisions sold at the front is a remedy proposed by the prefect of police, thus limiting dealers profits and preventing ab normal prices.
 Just why this conflict broke out in the name of camembert does not ap- pear. Erie cheese has advanced quite as much and all other varieties are from fifty per cent. to a hundred per cent. higher. Eggs have also gone up a hundred per cent, selling now at from thirty-hve to fifty cents a dozen wholesale, according to grade. But ter which averaged twenty-two cents a pound a year ago has gone to thirty seven cents. This butter and egg question developed a violent incident at the Caen market yesterday when merchant asking exorbitant prices and replying insolently to a customers complaint suffered the modification of posing as a target for his own stock used as projectiles by the indignant public.
 Cold Storage Beef.
 The introduction of cold storage beef into the market has failed of the an- ticipated effect on price and the req son given is that the stockyards peo- pie at La Villette who look askance at the imported article have been able to bring sufficient pressure to bear upon retail dealers to prevent fav- orable presentation of congealed beef It is declared that in some cases the imported article was made up" so as to repel prospective buyers. Gov ernment officials declare, however, that where the imported meat has been put on the market properly it has been an unqualified success. Com petent judges say that for roast and steaks 1t is even superior to the fresh French beef, and the expressed deter minatlon of the authorities is that 1t must be made to go. In the mean time, fresh meats continue about twenty-five per cent. higher than be- fore the war.