The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1920-02-04
EXPLAINS HIGH
COST OF CLOTHING
AT PRESENT Time
Samuel A. Moore Tells How
Prices are In Keeping
With Other Costs

With Other Costs
The high price Of clothing has be.
come matter of common discussion
1t is matter of fact that clothes dc
cost more in dollars than before the
war, but when their price is measured
in commodities or labor, they are no
more expensive-often considerably
less so.
To get at the facts Caledonian-
Record reporter called upon Samuel
A. Moore and here is his explanation
of the cost of clothing at present:
"Most people seem to think that
clothes prices are high. Measured in
the number of dollars it takes to
purchase suit they are. But measur-
ed in the prices Of things which the
producer has to sell, or in the wages
paid for service performed they are
no higher than they were before the
war. In many instances, as matter
! of fact, they are not so high.
Compare clothes prices, for in
stance, with that of corn, the great
American money crop. In 1914 the
Iowa farmer had to haul SO bushels
of corn to market in order to get
the money to pay for $25 suit Of
clothes. Now he can get a $50 suit
and $40 pair of shoes for his so
bushels of corn.
at may be that he doesn't haul
corn to market but feeds it to his
hogs. On December both, 1914, he had
to sell 400 pounds of hogs at the top
price of the Chicago market to get
the money to pay for $25 suit and
SO hat. On December 30th, 1919,
if he sold four hundred pounds Of
hogs at the top price of the Chicago
market he came within So freceiv-
ing the money to buy $50 suit and
there have been long periods in the
last two years when he would have
got from $50 to $92 for his four
hundred pounds of hogs.
"If, on December 30th, 1914, he
marketed a thousand pound corn-fed
steer at the top price Of the Chicago
market he got $3.50 for it. If he
marketed it on December 30th, 1919,
for the top price, he got $195 for it
money enough to buy pretty nice
outfit of clothes even at present
prices.
"Wheat is raised in very wide sec
tions of the country. Official gov
eminent reports tell US that the aV-
erage farm value of. wheat on Noy-l
ember list, 1914, was n a bushel,
The farmer who sold so bushels of it
got $3.50, or just about enough to
buy $25 suit, So pair of shoes,
So hat, two or three good shirts, and
then some handkerchiefs. The farm
value of wheat on November LIST, 1919
was $2.13 a bushel and the farmer
who sold so bushels at his home sta
ton received $106.50, or enough 10
buy him fine $50 suit and big
thick overcoat If a farmer happens
to live in the Northwest and to have
held his wheat until now he can get
somewhere near So a bushel for gram
of good quality.
"While we are talking about the
Northwest, it may be well to mention
the farmer who raises f1aXseed. Inc
government tells US that on the 1lrst
of November, 1914, he received an
average of $1.187 per bushel at inc
farm stations for his seed. For 70
bushels he got ust about enough
money for his $25, suit and hat. III
he marketed his faXsced on Novem.
Der LIST, 1919, he got on an average oi
1882 a bushel at the home statloh'
For( 25 bushels he got S9o.oo-
enough to pay for his $50 suit ana
leave $3.50 for hat, shoes, ana 1ur-
nishings for the winter
"You may think the Northwest Is
particularly favored territory ouI
let's look at the South where they
raise cotton. We all remember now
in the fall of 1914 the "Buy bale
If cotton" campaign was on TO save
the producer from ruin.
"The price of cotton IN the IAN Oh
1914 was down to cents a pound 1or
4 time, but that's hardly a far com,
oarison. Let's go back to Nov. !, l9lo
when the average farm price was 10
cents pound. The farmer then had
q market 1913 pounds of cotton to pay
FOR a S25 suit. On Nov. 1, 1919, the
,verape farm price was ,96.5c a
pound and the grower could pay 1or
, $50 suit by selling only 165 POUNDS
If cotton. A.,
"The average price paid to the
,armer all over the United States 1or
utter on November list, 1914 was
DC conts y mound, while on the same