Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-19
POOR WOMAN TELLS
WHAT CHEAP BREAD
MEANS IN STRUGGLB
Mother of Five, MskS.
Ends Meet on $lI
! Week, Fears Rise in Pne.
Of Penny a Loaf.

Suppose the price Of bread ,ho,,,
advanced one cent loaf because - y
Increased Udlue OF ,cheat. ho,, "
toouid that cost the average fo,,,t,, =
tisttos shoto that 975 Ioaves Of br,.,
consumed per capita IN the United s,a,al' ~
IN family OF fue this toouid omo,,s. Y
an Increased expense Of sIs.75, M.
rier unemployed tOouId earn tbt. ~
toeek's time aud the Increase In ~. .
tCoutd far outdistdnce an inoreose ~ W ~
pense; however, Toe believe fhot I, ~,
doubtful " there tOiH be an inors,,, Y
the cost Of bredd.-Stdtemen ts,vsY Y Y
the Philadelphia Commercial Esohoso,
II suppose" said Mrs. Frederick K,..
ler that the gentlemen who wrote tho,.
words wouldn't feel It IL bread won, NJ, -
cent a loaf | suppose they won,d.,
even feel 1t IL bread went up cent,
loaf. Maybe they could do without !,
altogether, with the meat and the pota,o,'
and the eggs and all the other good tb,rs'
they probably have. But with broad l..
even a half cent a loaf, there are rnary
OF us who are going to feel It. and ~,
it hard"
Mrs. Kneisler gazed wistfully a, IA,
two youngest children playing before NJ.
flre-a nice warm kitchen fire, II "a trr.
but one heated with coal bought by N,
bucket and not by the ton. Her mas.
two-story house at 1913 Sterner strss,
renting for $40 a month, has its counter
part by the thousands in Philadelph,
and she herself, the wife of an honsv,
worlSingman-when he can get work.
struggling along with their five chIldr,.
on the inadequate number of dollars ha
L. 49,.
dreds and hundreds throughout the civ
She Is a type.
EASY" ON Sl5, A WEEK.
"The time was" she went on, when
my husband could make SIS week n,
easy as rolling off log and then wa
didn't have no trouble at all getting
along, but when hard times come along,
he is cut down to S1t and then's the tins
that every cent counts. Ma
when you've got to get your rent,
your heat your light and food for seven
out of Sll a week, it's enough to make
you chew your finger nails at the very
thought of bread going up ! remember
the time when you could get round STEAK
for II and 10 cents pound and -four was
cheaper and eggs and sugar and every.
that's left to us Is bread and God knows
it'll be a sad day when they put that up
"NNhen you can't afford much else 10
eat, family like mine manages to get
away With lot of bread. and I've found
with coal so high and most stoves 10
these little houses so poor, baking don't
pay Most of the time we cat six loayes
of bread day. with not much else, o.
course, except little coffee and tea, Oh
no." she added. there's nothing so very
unusual in that Lots of families have
been eating only bread this winter
WHAT 6 CENTS \ DAY MEANS.
"That'n mean cents day more Il
bread goes higher; and when you figure
that up in q year it's enough to frighten
the wits out of you Three hundred and
sixty-fve times cents; why, that makes Y
over $21: enough to pay my rent for two
and then have something lett
over: enough to buy us coal for whos
winter.
"If the men who say 1t don't matter
bout bread going up had five little BOYS
to buy shoes for, they'd be little mo'e
careful about making such statements
If they hadn't had a new suit since thsy
couldn't remember when, they'd know
what n difference five or six cents day
Is going to mean to us poor people.
they had to train themselves to go win
out and do nothing else but 30 Withhold
al the time. 7 guess II would cure theai
forever of saying such rash things as
that"
She went to the fire and lifting The ",
stirred it up and carefully added aool'
10 peces of coal.
"AI l can Nay is," she went on 'that
[ hope somebody will do something
keep flour from going up any more
may be only cent n loaf but it's more
than we can stand"