The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1920-01-30
CHANGES IN THE RETAIL
PRICES OF FOOD IN COUNTRY

Reports Of lower prices are not
borne cut by statistics of retail food
prices which are carefully collect
ed and compiled by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics of the United States
department. of labor. Retail prices
of food are secured from retail deal
ers through monthly reports of actu-
al selling prices on the 18th Of each
month, and are on identical brands,
grades and qualities OF goods. 1t is
necessary that prices of commodities
be obtained in this way If price quo
tations are to show increases or de-
creases at all accurately. Accord
ing to The figures thus compiled, the
retail cost of twenty-five articles of
food in December was the highest
ever attained, being &c per cent
higher than in November FIVE per
cent higher than in December, 1918,
and eighty nine percent higher than
in December, 1913. This comparison
is based on the average retail prices
of the following articles, weighed
according to the consumption of the
average family: Sirloin steak, round
steak, rib roast. chuck roast, plate
beef, pork chops, bacon, ham, lard.
hens, -four. cornmeal, eggs, butter,
milk, bread, potatoes, sugar, cheese,
rice, coffee, and tea.
During 1919, monthly retail prices
of food have been secured for forty
four food articles. During the
month from November Is to De-
cember Is, twenty-five of these for
ty- four articles increased in price as
follows: Cabbage, thirty-six per
cent; onions, seventeen per cent:
granulated sugar, sixteen per cent;
strictly fresh eggs, eleven per cent;
cream of wheat and potatoes, ten
per cent, each; raisins, five per cent;
flour, four per cent; butter and stor-
age eggs, three per cent, each; fresh
milk and canned salmon, two per
cent, each: lamb, evaporated milk,
oleom argarine, cheese. macaroni,
rice, canned peas, and bananas, one
per cent each. Rib roast and chuck
roast increased less than five tenths
CT one per cent, each. The twelve
articles which decreased in price
were: Pork chops, ten per cent;
lard and oranges, four per cent, each;
tea and prunes, three per cent, each;
sirloin steak, round steak, bacon,
ham, and navy beans, one per cent,
each: and hens and crisco, less IMAM
five tenths of one per cent. Plate
beef, nut margarine, bread, corn.
meal rolled oats, cornflakes, baked
beans, canned corn, canned toma-
ties, and coffee remained the came
in price as in November.
During the year period from De-
cember, 1918, to Decembe, 1919,
nineteen of the twenty nine articles
for which prices were secured, on
both dates, increased as follows:'
Onions, 108 per cent; prunes, fifty
three per cent; coffee, fifty one per
cent; raisins, forty eight per cent;
potatoes and graduated sugar, thir-
ty- four per cent; rice, twenty seven
per cent; canned salmon, sixteen
per cent; -four, fifteen per cent;
strictly fresh eggs, eleven per cent;
storage eggs, nine per cent; butter,
seven per cent; fresh milk, six per
cent; bread, four per cent; cornmeal
and tea, three per cent, each; hens
and lard, two per cent, each; and
cheese, one per cent. The ten arti-
cles which decreased in price during
the year were: Navy beans, twenty
one per cent; plate beef, eighteen
per cent; bacon, fourteen per cent;
chuck roast, eleven per cent; pork
chops, eight per cent ham and round
steak. six per cent. each: rib roast.
FIVE per cent; sirloin steak, three per
cent; and lamb, two per cent.
During the six-year period from
December, 1913, to December, 1919,