Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-09-02
SOME INEXCUSABLE PRICES.

The federal department of agriculture recently is
sued a statement showing the comparative cost of living,
or rather of prices in various cities. The statement is in
~teresting but can hardly be taken as correct as to the
actual cost of living for to get at this would require be-
sides the cost Of the various articles Of food, the proper
tional amount of each consumed in these cities. 1t shows
some things though that while there may be a reason for
their existence there can be found no reasonable excuse.
In the table as prepared, the showing was made as TO the
amount Of money that would have to be spent IN each city
to purchase the same foodstuffs that could be bought IN
Washington CITY for one dollar. Tie first item on the list
is bread, and this shows that in Portland it requires one
dollar and ten cents to purchase as much bread as could
be bought in Washington for one collar. Wheat is not
grown near Washington and it is grown near Portland.
In fact the bread sold in Washington for a dollar and in
Portland for $1.10 may both be made, from the wheat
grown in Oregon. Yet Washington gets the cheaper
bread even after the freight across the continent is paid.
Barley flour requires fifteen cents additional to the WASH
ington price in Portland. AT the same time white corn
meal requires S1.33 where Washington pays only One
dollar, and the yellow meal takes $1.14. This is accounted
for by the freight from the east" but it is noticed that
the freight on flour from the west to washington City IS
not added to the price. Oregon is a great dairy and poul-
try state, yet canned milk costs a dollar and elght Genus
for what costs a dollar in Washington. Cheese made here
sells at the same price in Portland and the nations cap
ital and it takes $1.09 to buy the same quantity of eggs
the congressman can get for a dollar. The most unac-
countable thing is the statement as to canned salmon.
With salmon canned in Portlands dooryard it makes the
person wanting d lieu VI II pun up liz v Wn"o """
ington pays only a dollar. It is suggested that the Oregon
folks demand the best quality of salmon while the people
of the east buy "chums". This does not explain the hgh
cost at home, for it is not true. 1t would require that
the eastern market be supplied entirely with "chums"
which is absurd, for most of the salmon pack is sold there.
A dollars worth of rice at the capital equals in amount
what $1.27 will buy in Portland. A brief examination OF
the list shows that all substitutes for wheat products are
much higher in Portland than in the east and causes sus-
picion that there is profiteering in Oregon on these sub
stitutes. These, and the inexcusable difference against
Oregon in salmon should make Food Administrator Aver
wake up and try to discover just where the colored gen
tleman in the Oregon woodpile is located. 1t is possible
there is no such person, and we are not asserting there is,
but there is a rather widely voiced suspicion that there
has been profiteering in the northwest especially on flour
substitutes. There is at least grounds for making. al
thorough investigation Of the matter contained in the Ag-
ricultural Departments statement as to the pulchaslng
powers of the dollar in various sections of the country.