Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-10-24
AN EXPERIENCES OF IS YEARS

AN EXPERIENCE OF IS YEARS
william Delaney has been In business
at the northwest corner OF Tenth and Spring
Garden streets for thirty-eight years. He
and his son Arthur comprise the firm OF
william Delaney q Son. Their business Is
extensive. and tho younger Delaney sup
plies tho grocery quotations for Philadel-
phia 20 the Federal Department OF Com
merce and Labor. The views OF father and
son, which agree as 20 tho causes OF pre-
vailing prices, largely echo those Of Edward
Swift. their neighbor, quoted In these col
umns yesterday.
1T looks like speculation" declared the
elder Delaney emphatically. There Is
trickery and knavery In It. Just take the
tomato situation. The latest reports from
the packing districts show that they have
n pack OF 10000 cases this year. That
is n full pack. more than they generally
get, In fact. In 1918 they canned about
5000. 900 cases and had some 100000 left
over from the previous year. They claim,
II they stop right now. there will be n pack
between $4,000. 900 and 100000. They
are asking up 20 sl.S5 dozen today for
three-pound tins that usually run eighty
to eighty-fve cents Tho scarcity OF labor
and the price OF tin Ia the excuse. TIN
plate has gone UP from S245 to ti2.2b
since the war started. The Jersey farmers
formerly depended upon casual laborers to
pick their crops. They say this supply Is
not TO be had. and that the men who for
years were glad TO work for small pay
picking tomatoes are now making muni-
tIous at Carney's Point for three times the
money they got In the tomato fields The
tomato crop meanwhile was allowed TO rot
they say, yet they gathered more than last
year.
PACKERS HOLDING OUT
'T believe many Of the packers have the
goods and are holding out so as TO get
higher prices. One party I heard or mas
ii, 600 cases that he Is holding. and there
may be others. There Is where oelieve
the trickery and knavery lie. II is the same
| with potatoes. We do not handle them. but
last Sunday I visited farmer, who showed
me several thousand bushels stored In his
cellar. Potatoes have jumped from eighty
| cents to $3.50 a bushel 1 asked him why
he did not sell at the present prices H'
| said he preferred to walt until the market
went higher and he possibly would get 81 Q
| bushel
The catsup supply is going 20 be shor'
| on account of the tomato situation, espe
clally from February to May. Even at tn
prices charged. tho packers are not making
| full deliveries In wax beans. for instance
only hve six or eight per cent OF orders
| Peas that one year ago were selma at M
teen cents or two cans for twenty-five cent
now bring thirty cents for two cans, ant
| tomatoes l have to sell at the same rate
| Where we sold two cans OF New York Stat
corn for a quarter in 1918 we ask sixtee
cents a can or two for thirty cents today.
Arthur Delaney furnished quotations
| comparing the prices charged over tn
/ counter I'm the store today with those sup
| piled by him to the Government from tn
| same source In October. 1915. Some o
these changes all upward. are given 70
| the benefit OF the EVENING LEDoER's house
wife readers. They show granulated sugar
5h cents now tn -four. per 24h-poun
bag. 90 cents. now s1.25; cornmeal, 2I
cents a pound. now cents; small whit
beans. cents, now IL cents; lard pounds
as cents, today go cents; red salmon,
cents, now II cents; rice and coffee ur
changed Tea shows a slight advance. bu
dealers are absorbing the difference.