New Britain herald., 1916-03-30
POOR PROSPERITY.

to new prices. What ho" he eN- 1 claimed, glancing at the pencil marks traced over the partially obliterated printed figures. There he saw steaks that formerly sold for eighty cents marked up to ninety; chops formerly
 of thirty-five cent value gone to forty five; to every portion of food. with the exception of potatoes. there had been additions of from ten to twenty cents
 to the former prices. the prices that held forth the day before. Here, then, was complication of the high cost of living
 Possessing mind that runs some what to the philosophical this lead l ing citizen of New Britain undertook 1 to get at the basic cause of the ! changes in prices on the menu. doing l this without consulting the proprietor His analysis ran somewhat as follows: Umph. Forty-five cents for chops that yesterday sold for thirty-fve cents. A
 raise in price of ten cents. Why is it" Is it because of the shortage of chops? No. There are just as many chops in i the land today as there were yester- l day. Surely there could be no short age in the course of one day to call for such a heavy advance in price. They are not feeding lamb chops to the soldiers in the trenches. Those poor devils would be only too glad to get even a bone from one of these chops. They cannot blame this ad- vance in price on the war, that is sure. Why is it? Again, why is it ? Answering his own question, he said Because the United States of America is in the midst of a great wave of | prosperity, because every man is mak- ! ing more money this year than he did ! last year. because anyone who wants l work can get work, and anyone who 1 is working gets good wages. There | fore, having the money, it is up to the people to pay as they go. The butcher, 1 the baker. the restaurant keeper all, all, every one is in on the profits and 1 wants some of the money, That is l why these chops have gone up in l price. It did not cost the cattle king
 one cent more this year to raise the lambs that furnish these chops than l it cost him last year to raise other 1 lambs. Yet he shoves his prices up | toward the sky. In turn, the men l who buy from him must put up their l hi
 merchants affix their pro rata of profit. | Then comes the restaurant keeper and 1 sends the price up another notch. He 1 has to do it, because last week the 1 cook went on strike for more wages. 1 When wages go up, prices go with l them. Every time the cook asks for l day off or another dollar added to his weekly stipend the lamb chops are l taxed; or the man who eats the lamb 1 chops must pay his share. Where is | it all going to stop? When will it 1 end? What good does it do to have wages increased if lamb chops are
 forever going to soar in price? What l good does it do to have a dollar added
 
 during the week for foodsturfs ad-
 vanced and advancing in price?
 This question was not answered. It i called for no answer. It was an 1 answer in itself There is so much
 truth in this whole rounde clay that it
 is worthy of consideration and study. l Placing the first blame upon the cat ! tle-breeder may be wrong. It may
 be the packers who are to blame for
 raising the price. Yet someone is to
 blame and whoever it is, is wrong.
 The whole fabric is wrong. This
 prosperity that is bolstered up at one
 must be in the long run a very fiimsy
 prosperity. AS soon as wages are in
 creased prices go up. Then wages
 must be increased again in order to
 prices are again showed up to keep
 pace with the increased wages. So it
 goes. Tit for tat. The sky ls the
 limit in a game such as this. yet it
 tience of man is being sorely tried ali
 the while. Will someone kindly arise
 and tell the fiXers of prices the futlllty
 of this rainbow chasing? It is be-
 ginning to get on the nerves of .he ul-
 tmate consumers, and that means us
 all.