The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-11-25
This Is One Scheme Devised
to Reduce High Cost of
Living
COMMISSION MAKES
REPORT ON PROBLEM
Minority Members of Body Favor
Government Control of All Meat
and Bacon to Keep Down
Prices

London, November 2o.--At the beginning
of the third year of war Great Britain
is obliged seriously to consider the ques-
ton of her food supply, or rather OF the
price of her food, for while prices are
steadily rising and have attained a level
where real hardship Is suffered by the
poor, there has never been any danger Of
an actual shortage. There is plenty of
food in Britain for those who can afford
to pay for It,
In juno, last, the Board of Trade ap-
pointed a special committee TO investi-
gate the rise in the price of food and
bring in recommendations for checking or
controlling IL. That committee has just
issued its preliminary report and the gist
: of n is that prices must remain high
while the war conditions continue, but
that something may be done by the gov
eminent to keep them from going higher
than they are at present. The prelin-
mary report deals chiefly with the ques-
tions of meat, milk and bacon, although
it also touches on other items of the
British workingmans expenditure and
with the advance in his wages since the
war. The figures produced under these
heads show that clothing prices have
risen almost as sharply as food and that
rents have remained stationary because
of the special legislation introduced
shortly after the war began forbidding
landlords to raise them.
INTERESTING TABLE
An interesting table dealing with all
the principal articles of food shows that
the average increase in the price of the
workingman's food since July. 1914, is
65 per cent This result is obtained by
weighing" or giving special significance
to the articles which enter most largely
into working class expenditure. and as
Stunning that there has been no change
in the quantity and character of food
purchased. No average figure is given
for clothing, but the increases have
been great, running from 40 to 80 per
cent Coal has gone UP about 80 per
cent
One OF the causes Of the great increase
in the price of meat and bacon is the
immense quantities required for the
armies. England has nearly 100000 men
under arms, whom she has to supply with
meat on a scale which was unknown to
them in civil life and she has also to
supply her allies, France and italy, with
large proportion of their meat. Since
1915 practically all the frozen meat from
abroad, which used to form the backbone
used for the soldiers. The same applies
to the imports of American and Canadian
bacon. The result is that the British
consumer is thrown back more and more
on the home grown supply and on the
occasional surplus which the govern
ment can spare after satisfying tho army
requirements. Thousands Of retail iaeat
shops all over the country have been
closed because there was no meat for
Z To sail md fbo fS rti
ing on. OF course one must remember in
this connection the 100000 former GUS
toners in the army.
Much the same conditions apply to
bacon. Large quantities of American and
Canadian bacon used to be consumed in
the north of England and in Scotland
and Ireland 1t was never sold much in
London or the south of England because
the popular taste there preferred the
Irish and Danish cures. Now the whole
country is thrown back on the Irish and
Danish supplies, which have always been
a little higher in price than the American
and which have gone sky high on the
withdrawal of American competition. Milk
has gone up so per cent because of the
temptation to the farmers to dispose OF
their mich cows for meat and because
also of the increase In the price of feed
ing stuffs and agricultural labor.
HIGHER THAN WAGE INCREASE
In the face of these large Increases
in the cost of living the rise In wages is
insignificant 1T is extremely difficult
to get accurate statistics of the real in
crease in wages. For instance, there is
now work for everyone. Not only is
there no unemployment In the ordinary
sense of the term, but thousands OF worl,-
en- who never worked before are now
wage-earners and there is no doubt that
the total income of the working class
family comprising several members OF
working age is now much higher than
it was before the war. On the otner
hand. the working class family composed
of one or two wage-earners and a nurn-
Der of small children is suffering severe
ly Reports have been received from
trade unions with a membership of $780,
900 persons that increases of wages
amounting to $7,400,000 weekly have been
received since August, 1914 This sounds
large in the aggregate, but when analysed
it only means about $.27 per week per
person and that will not go very far 10
meet the increased prices.
The recommendations include some plan
for speeding up mercantile shipbuilding in
order to provide more tonnage for the
carriage of food from abroad and the
release of as many mercantile. ships as
possible from admiralty and transport
work, the extension OF the restriction on
the importation of superfluities, the de-
velopment of the policy of direct purchase
of meat by the government and the fl ting
of reasonable prices for the retail sale
of government bought meat, the volun-
tary institution of one meatless day a
week and the empowering of cities. towns
and other local authorities to open shops
for the sale of bacon butter, cheese.
milk and other foodstuffs. where they are
.-Ao fhok 10 Il npc III
more than legitimate profit
{, All these recommendations are rather
obvious and most of them would re-