The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1915-09-01
Against Big Increase In
Price OF Foodstuff.
TIFF BLAME WILL Be PLACED
On British Blockade II the
Gel mans Are Defeated
In European War.
PRICES GONE UP ENORMOUSLY
lBy Frederick Werner,


Berlin. Aug. 2S.-Time and again
have heard from the lips of men
in nearly all walks Of life express
sions such as this:
eff we lose this war we shall have
been conquered not by the millions
of soldiers who have never been able
to pierce the walls of our living de-
Tense, but by the inhuman British
blockade and the refusal of America
to heed our protests against the
starving of an entire nation"
AS a matter of fact there is no
absolute lack of anything here. If
you have ,money enough you may
still get any luxury your palate may
desire, but the time is drawing
closer when the great masses of the
German people will not have money
enough to buy even the necessaries
of life. Neutral travellers who pay
an occasional visit to Berlin. stop
ping at hotels like the Adlon or the
Kaiserhof, find the tables there as
well provided as ever and the prices
about the same as before the war,
but neutral visitors see but the sur
face of things, and they do not know
that these hotels which made enor-
nous profits before the war are be-
ing run almost at loss,
Below the surface, in the hun
dreds of thousands of middle-class
homes thrifty and experienced house
wives are fighting as desperately
against the increasing prices as the
husbands of some are fighting the
enemies east and west.
Figures published by the Reich
sanzeiger give vivid impression of
the enemy the German housewives
have to fight. g.
Statistics gathered in 80 of Ger
many's largest cities and showing
the upward movement of prices dur
ing the last IL months. prove that
butter has gone up 43 per cent. po-
tatoes SO per cent, rice Isl per
cent, barley meal FUSED here much
as oatmeal in America) 165 per
cent, eggs 81 per cent, rye meal
Go per cent. and peas 200 per cent
These figures show prices on May /,
and many articles have gone up in
price since then.
n,,t..o 4l1 ca,,,o ,1artOd NAV
1914, to May, 1879 meat prices
rose as follows; Beef 35 per cent,
veal SO per cent, mutton and lamb
46 per cent. and pork 100 per cent.
Maximum prices were placed on
pork, the principal meat food of the
middle and working classes, but
these prices were soon found impos-
sible to maintain, and pork began
soaring until it is now an absolute
luxury.
Time and again the Vorwaerts
had pointed out how the high prices
of meat tempt the farmers to DISC
hey the Government order not to
give potatoes and grain to pigs, be-
cause they get much more for their
grain using it in this way than by
selling it.
1t is just the same with milk.
Prices of butter and cheese have
gone up so enormously that farmers
make all their milk into butter and
cheese, and milk is increasingly diff
ficult to get. This, of course, is ia
tai to tens of thousands of babies.
1t is useless to keep the price of
milk down while permitting the
price of butter and cheese to soar.
The time is approaching when the
making of dairy products will have
to be forbidden. at least In part, to
save the future generations. L
In some places. as in Bavaria and
Wuertemberg. the military COM
manders have stepped in and melted
out severe punishments TO the usur-
ers in food stuffs, but in Prussia the
Government hesitates to interfere
with the Junkers and large landed
proprietors whose support ii cannot
do without.
We are not being told that bread
will be dearer yet during the COM
ing year owing to the drought and
the resulting partial failure OF the
harvest. Housewives of the working
classes are in despair They do not
see hoy they are going to get
through another winter OF war and