New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-07-24
Family Expenses
Rose 9 Per Cent
In Last s Months
No Relief in Sight, Says La
Dor Department Report,
but Wholesale Prices Show
Slight Decline in June

Food prices are still soaring and
there is no relief in sight for the un-
dermined family exchequer, if figures
published yesterday by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics of the United States
Department of Labor are an indication.
The figures are compiled from the cost
of twenty-five articles making up the
retail food index tabulated by the
bureau.
On June Is the average family ex-
penditure for these articles was 2 per
cent higher than on May Is. In May
the expenditure was per cent higher
than in April and in April he expen-
diture was per cent higher than in
March. A steady increase in family
expenses is shown, therefore, with
prices in June per cent higher han
in January of this year.
From May Is to June Is, 1920, the
prices of twenty-three of the forty
three food articles for which prices were
obtained increased as follows: Round
each; sirloin steak and ham, per
cent; chuck roast and sugar, s per
cent; rib roast, per cent; canned sal
mon, bread and cornmeal, 8 per cent;
bacon and evaporated milk, 2 per cent;
plate beef, eggs, -four, cornfIakes, mac
aroni, onions, canned peas, canned to-
matoes and raisins, 1 per cent. Cream
of wheat increased less than five-tenths
Of l per cent.
The fourteen articles which de-
creased in price were: Cabbage, IL per
cent; oranges, II per cent; butter, 6
per cent; pork chops, 4 per cent;
cheese, per cent; hens, lard and
crisco, per cent each; lamb, oleomar-
garine, nut margarine and baked beans,
l per cent. Tea and prunes decreased
less than five tenths Of l per cent.
Prices remained unchanged for fresh
milk, rolled oats, rice, navy beans,
canned corn and coffee.
During the period June, 1919, to
June, 1920, thirty-one of the forty
three articles for which prices were
secured on both dates increased as fol-
lows: Potatoes, III per cent; sugar,
1852 per cent; raisins, Ga per cent; rice,
So per cent; rolled oats, "a per cent;
bananas, 81 per cent; canned salmon
and bread, 10 per cent; -four and or
anges, IT per cent; coffee, 10 per cent;
prunes, II per cent; cornmeal, 10 per
cent; fresh milk and cabbage, per
cent. lamb hens and macaroni, per
cent; sirloin steak, 7 per cent; ham
and butter. 6 per cent; round steak and
tea, per cent; crisco, per cent; rib
roast and oleomargarine, 8 per cent;
nut margarine and corn fakes, per
cent; canned peas, per cent. Eggs in
creased less than five tenths of l per
cent.
Articles which decreased in price
during the year were: Onions, % per
cent; lard, 81 per cent plate beef, 10
per cent; bacon, per cent; pork chops
and tomatoes, 4 per cent; evaporated
milk, baked beans and canned corn, 8
per cent; navy beans, per cent; chuck
roast and cheese, l per cent.
A slight decline in the general level
Of wholesale prices in June is shown
by information collected in representa-
tive markets by the Bureau of Labor
ment OF Labor. Measured by changes
in the bureaus weighted index num-
Der, in which each commodity has an
influence commensurate with it's i'm
portance Che country's markets. the
decrease was little over l per cent
Food and clothing furnished the most
notable examples of price decline. In
the food group the decrease was ga
per cent, while the group of cloths and
clothing showed nearly 3la per cent de-
crease Smaller decreases were re-
corded for farm products, metals and
lumber and building materials.
Fuel and lighting materials con-
tinued steeply upward, with an average
increase of 4.68 per cent. The group
of house furnishing goods showed the
largest increase Of all, with an advance
of 6A per cent over the May price level.