Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-09-15
Iivt,s C,st sun Msununs.

The National Industrial Conferences
Board has just reported that the increase
in the cost Of living from July, 1914, to
July. 1920, has been l04.5 per cent. The
advance for the past year is set at 10 per
| cent Besides there were SO cities reported
in the survey to have increased their
rents of more than 80 per cent in the six
| wears. The profiteering in foods and
clothing seems to have distanced oil the
others. The latter advanced 1876 per cent
| in the l9l4-2O period, while food jumped
| I19 per cent in the same time. In l20
| cities the rate of car fare has been adj
vanced 40 per cent, and the board-es-
| Inmates that the average increase IN the
trolley travel will average 40 per cent
| over the country as a whole.
Tremendous advances are noted in some
of the food staples. Sugar, for example, has
increased in price 3s2 per cent since
July. 1913; potatoes, 36s per cent; flour,
GA per cent; corn meal 1873 per cent; rice
ia per cent; ham, 1l2 per cent; lamb, 10Y
per cent: hens, 1O7 per cent; pork chops,
1O1 per cent.
| In all the list of foods and other neces-
s;ties the report shows that no reductions
! have occurred in the price of any staple
and that practically everything has gone
up and up.
This report makes it more apparent
than ever that the merchandise oil the
| country is in the hands OF the prohteefs,
who control the supply and the prices Oh
every commodity II there were any
doubt on that point we may turn TO tne
articles of hams and pork chops. "hiie
the nrice of hogs on the hoof has fallen
from 500 or s22 hundred pounds TO $40
or SIG the meat Of the same hogs cut into
hams and chops is 20 per cent more than IL
| was when the pigs were at their highest
marks.
Sucb extortions appear along the
whole list, but one need not turn to other
than his own experience in marketing TO
find how tremendously he is beng I'M
posed on and then to arrive at the under
standing that he is absolutely helpless TO
extr;cate himself from the grip OF the
| gougers.
We have here at home illustrations OF
the public being subjected to extortlonate
prices in the most approved way TOT
example. tomatoes that are sold at from
| 40 IN 20 cents a basket in the nearpy
country retail here at about hall as hlucn
a quarter of q peck as the entire hVe-
eighths of bushel brings to the farmer
The Same NAV be said Of peaches. lhey
brought 80 cents a quarter OF peck
at the rate of $3.50 basket--in market
HAST Saturday and sold by the basket at
81. In the Philadelphia markets the same
dav the finest peaches were sold 10 the
consumers for 81 .25 basket.
II is understood there have been some
conferences among consumer rs looking 70
petitioning Of City Council to take such
stens as will end or largely curtah TINS
imposition of high prices. New York CITY,
in combating suspicious epidemic OF
high pr ices for foods four or five years ago.
vas enabled to afford the consumer tenn
porary relief until politics mtervenea ahu
ended the experiment.
The worst part Of the whole profiteerl ns
business is that there does not appear to DC
anv way that the government can put
stop TO it. In many cities, some oil TINS
goue;nu class of merchants have been
arrested and fined, but this fate does not
seem 70 even temporarily check the orgie OF
extortion.