The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-01-15
SUBMITS FIGURES
 |. ID SHOW PRICES OF CLOTHES NO HIGHER
M. Well Calls Attention to What Can Now Be Bought With Certain Commod-
 ities and Labor

Ben Well of the firm of M. Veil & Bro. yesterday submitted some inter- esting figures to show that prices of
 clothing are actually no higher thaD they were before the war.
 Most people seem to think that clothes prices are high" said MT. Well. Measured in the number of dollars it takes to purchase a suit they are. But measured 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 ths war. In many instances as a matter of fact, they are not so high.
 Compare clothes prices. for instance, with that of corn, the great American money crop. In 1914 the Iowa farmer had to haul 50 bushels of corn to mar ket in order to get the money to pay for $25 suit of clothes Now he can get $50 suit and $10 pair of shoes fon his 50 bushels of corn.
 'It may be that he doesn't haul corn to market but feeds it to his hogs. On December 30. 1914. he had to sell 40g pounds of hogs at the top price of tho Chicago market to get the money to pay for a $25 suit and a 8 hat. On December 30. 1919, if he sold 400 pounds of hogs at the top price of the Chicago market he came within s3 of receiving the money to buy $60 suit and there have been long periods in the last two years when he would have got from $50 to s92 for his 400 pounds of hogs. If, on December 30, 1914, he markets ed thousand- pound corn-fed steer al the top price of the Chicago market he got $91.5O for it. If he marketed it on December 30. 1919. for the top price, he got s195 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 govern ment' reports tell us that the average farm value of wheat on November l, 1914, was TIC a bushel The farmer who sold 50 bushels of it got $SS.50 oi just about enough to buy s25 suit, s5 pair of shoes, s hat. two or three good shirts, and then some handker chiefs. The farm value of wheat oi November 1. 1919 was s2.13 a bushel and the farmer who sold 50 bushels a: his home station received $106.o0 of enough to buy him fine $60 suit and big, thick overcoat. If a farmer hap pens to live in the northwest and to have held his wheat until now he can get somewhere near $S bushel for grain of god quality.
 You may think the northwest is par ticularly favored territory, but let's | look at the south, where they raise cot ton. We all remember how in the fall I of 1914 the "buy bale of cotton" campaign was on to save the producer from ruin
 's,The price of cotton in the fall of 1914 was down to cents pound for time, I but that's hardly a fair comparison. Let's go back to November l, 1913, when | the average farm price was 13c a | pound. The farmer then had to mar l ket 193 pounds of cotton to pay for a $25 suit. On November l, 1919. the av- craze farm price was S65c pound and 1 the grower could pay for $60 suit by selling only 165 pounds of cotton. The average price paid to the farmer all over the United States for butter ] on November i, 1914, was 26.4c pound, while on the same day in 1919 he got 56c a pound for it. For his eggs he got 1 25.3c a dozen on November l, 1914, while | he got 54c a dozen for them in 1919. "The sheep raiser who produces wool 1 for his money crop naturally has quite l a keen interest in the price of clothes. I The government tells us that the aver age sheep raiser all over the United States got 15.5c a pound for his wool at the country stations on November 1 l, 1913. He had to sell 161 pounds to get money to pay for $25 suit of clothes. On November l, 1919, the av- craze price paid to the producers for wool was 5O.6c a pound. He only had | to sell 11S1s pounds of wool to get enough money to buy $60 slut of clothes.
 | "On November 1, 1914, while all Eu- l rope was at war and we were not the 1 farmer received on an average of 52,Sc l a bushel for his potatoes. Fifty bush els left him very narrow margin over the price of a $25 suit. On November I 1. 1919 he was getting an average of
 $1.53 per bushel for his potatoes. The I price of 50 bushels bought him $60 suit of clothes and fine pair of shoes and left him few dollars for sundriea l But how about the working man? Let's start with the man who husks corn for the Iowa farmer. In 1914 he ! got 2c a bushel for the work and tho crop was of such character that ha
 did well if he husked 100 bushels day. He had to work 1212 days to pay for for
 a s25 suit of clothes. Last fall he de- manded and, in most instances got Sc 1 a bushel tor husking corn. The ears were so big and plentiful that it was no trick at all for him to. husk 125 l bushels, earning S10 day. It took him 1 just six days to earn enough to pay for 1 a S60 suit.
 l "The government tells us that the average pay for farm laborers hired by the month in 1914 was s21.05 and board. In 1919 wages went up to minimum of $40 and ran to even $60 or $65 in many instances. The going day wage 1 for harvest hands in 1914 was $1.55. In 1919 they were hard to get at $5 a day.
 Workers in the cities do almost as we'll The Baltimore bricklayer, who in 1913 got 45 cents an hour. had to work 50 F hours to earn money for a
 s25 suit of clothes. Now he gets Fl an
 hour and works SO hours for $60 suit
 of clothes. However. he gets in lot
 more overtime and is not idle nearly so
 many days. so he is relatively better
 off than he was in 1913.
 The New Orleans blacksmith in 1913
 received 36c for an hours work when
 h ecould get work. It took him "a
 hours to earn his $25 suit. Now he
 earns his s6e suit by working "a hours
 at soc an hour and has all the work he
 wants. regular and overtime.
 The Buffalo boilermaker got 36. .1t
 an hour in 1913; he gets 72 SC now. The
 unskilled laborer in the building trades { at St. Louis got 25c an hour six years
 ago; he now gets 62.5c In Jackson
 vile. Fla. the carpenter who earned
 31c then. gets 65c now In Chicago
 San Francisco and some other cities ht
 an hofr xUifh S2 an hour fOl