The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-05-31
ITS GOOD RECORD IT'S GREAT CAME
Santa Fe Store Department Keeping Up With the Cost of
Proud of War Work. Living Some Job.
Thomas Writes of Clothing Prices
Loyalty Showing Still Going Higher
GAVE MONEY AND ITS men NO RELIEF BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Supplies From Appreci Average Man Soon VIII Garry
ated by Boys in France Wages in a Basket.
Department Kept Going by Wife May Go Shopping With
Girls During the War. Baby Buggy for PocketbOok.
Keeping Up With the Cost of
Living Some Job.
Clothing Costs and Food Prices
Still Going Higher.
NO RELIEF BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Average Man Soon VIII Garry
Wages in a Basket.
Wife May Go Shopping With
Baby Buggy for PocketbOok.

Take it or leave it-that's the senti
ment of the fruit Gamers in regard to
the 1919 fruit crops, local grocers de-
clare in explaining the high cost of
fruit. All the canned fruit in the
country could now be exported for
more money than it is selling for at
home, it is declared. Topekans may
just as well make up their minds to
take good care of the backyard gar
dens this summer, as there is no re-
lief from the present high prices in
sight before Christmas and the
chances are that there will be more
advances.
Brazilian coffee growers have an
nounced another 2-cent raise on cof-
fee on the ground that the new crop
is lighter than usual. Practically the
cheapest coffee obtainable in Topeka
at the present time is about 40 cents
a pound. Tea, for some inexplicable
reason, is not joining in the general
upward movement and if anything is
slightly cheaper than the lofty pin
nacle the price of the beverage at
tanned a few months ago. Gunpowder
tea alone seems to be maintaining
itself in the air.
Producers Independent.
The fruit Gamers az well as the
growers, local dealers in foodstuffs
say. are amazingly independent. Elk
port opportunities as well as reduced
output are responsible, it is said. The
growers claim that there is more
money in raising wheat and conse-
quently large fruit acreages. have been
sacrificed for the grain. This has re-
duced the output and advanced the
price, which, coupled with bright ex-
port prospects, have rendered the cam
h1A nf nnntinp
they wish.
The flour market is holding steady.
with no prospects of a decline until
after the new wheat crop is in. Flour
now sells for about $3.50 a hundred.
or $3.50 for 4S-pound sacks Cereals
are steady. but it seems not to have
occurred to dealers to reduce the price
on green vegetables now that they are
coming on the market in profusion.
Clothing Also Going Up.
Clothing. as well as feeding his
family, is growing more difficult daily
for the average consumer. The dry
goods market is advancing slowly but
surely. The poorer grades of clothing
as we'll the fanciest are going up,
merchants say. and have taken a
slight advance only recently.
General prosperity and bright ex-
port prospects" are the universal ex-
cuses. No relief is in sight before
Christmas and what will happen after
that is only a matter of conjecture
The high cost of labor is also blamed
for the advance in the cost of living
The prospects seem to be that If ad-
vances in both wages and living costs
continue Mr.. Average Man will soon
be carrying his months salary home
in bushel basket and the baby be
removed from his buggy to make
room for the family pocketbook when
his wife goes to town to do her shop
ping.