The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-04-08


high cost of living. 1t is one wall In
and the jobless join in harmony. A
and loud enough, things usually ha
Already printing press initiation
lists and the groups that would make
every man a plutocrat are pricking
up their ears.
The fact that the old high-cost-
of-living complaint has been busted
off and put into use again is par
ticularly disagreeable to the Roose-
welt Administration, pledged as it is
to restoration of purchasing power.
The Administration has educated
the country to believe that pros
perity can return only when in
comes are rising little faster than
prices, so that people can buy more
than they did even in 1929.
Some Examples
Worst of all, it is food prices that
are rising. Butter is 40.3 per cent
higher than year ago, according TO
consumers council of AAA. Cheese is
1874 per cent higher. Milk is up &c
per cent.
Beef, even the cheap cuts, is up
anywhere from SO to 38 per cent.
Pork chops have increased Is per
cent, hams 43 per cent and lard
has almost doubled in price. Lamb
hasn't risen as much, but the diff
ferent cuts are from Is to 81 per
cent more expensive this year.
Eggs are 37.5 per cent higher.
Even bread has gone up and &C.
reals. Canned corn costs 1874 per
cent more, canned peas 9:3 per cent
more. Potatoes and onions are
down, but carrots and spinach are
higher. And so are canned peaches,
canned pears and oranges.
New York restaurants are raising
their prices, and in many other
cities the change has already taken
place.
Rents, clothing and other items
that go to make up the cost of liv-
ing haven't increased as much as
food, but they have increased, and
wages have not kept pace. This is
an especially unfortunate state of
affairs for the Administration in
power, the year before an election.
The government can't be blamed for
the drought, but men and women
forced to fill Mp on Goldfish cakes
and cornmeal Instead of pork roast
and beefsteak are not always
reasonable.
No H. c. L. in March, '33
Little comfort can be drawn from
the fact that the destitute are get
ting more to eat than they did in
the old deal. There are something
like three wage earners for every
unemployed person. If it is true
that an army marches on its stom-
ach, it may turn out that an cleo
torate, heading for the polls, does
too.
There was no high cost of living
when the Roosevelt Administration
took office. Prices were so low that
agriculture and industry were both
starving to death, and wages were
rapidly heading downward.
The first step toward recovery, the
Administration decided, was reStora-
ton of prices, and the first prices
to receive attention were those of
agriculture. Farmers had to get
more for their crops if they were to
buy the goods made in factories so
that the factories might run and
pay wages to city jewellers so they
could buy the products of the farms.
Gears Fail to Mesh
The crop reduction program was
to do this, but no sooner was it un-
der way than labor began to point
rout that city workers couldn't stand
higher food prices unless something
was done for them at the same time.
The Industrial Recovery Act was
then born, with its wage and hour
agreements and its Blue Eagle, de-
signed to raise industrial incomes as
fast as farm incomes.
The success of the whole cycle Of
recovery depended on how well it's
different parts meShed together, how
well the delicate balance between
income and necessities of life could
be maintained. President Roosevelt
acknowledged this when he signed
MIRA by saying: "The aim of this
whole effort is to restore our rich
domestic market by raising it's vast
consuming capacity. If we now in
fate prices as fast and as far as we
increase wages, the whole project
will be set at naught."
But the gears never meshed. NRA
moved ahead faster than AAA.
Farmers complained that the price
of cotton overalls had gone up be-
fore they got their crop-reduction
checks. They didn't buy enough
goods to make the volume of business
for factories ana retail stores that
was supposed to be the reward for
shortening hours and raising wages.
NRA staged buy now campaign,
trying to get city jewellers to supply
the volume. but the respOnse was