The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-10-03
HITS ICELAND, WITH
 NO STOP SEEN
BY JAMES EARL ROPER United Press Stan Cnrresnnndeni

O0AbGW 1ECo6 0GAW G0fEe8p0uUGMG
 Reykjayik, Iceland, Oct. 3--(UP) The soaring cost of living in in- fiation-struck Iceland today reach ed point more than double the pre-war level.
 With the cost of living now standing at POT per cent of the 1889 figures, members of the controlling Independence Conservative Par ty predicted 1t would reach about 232 by tke end of October.
 (This predicted rise of 25 per- centage points during October would compare with recent cost of living increase of about one per cent a month in the United States.)
 Business as well as government circles believed the runaway race between wages and prices would continue. Parliament recently re- pealed an important part of Ice- lands anti-indatiou regulations.
 U. S. Army Gives Increase
 The law had prohibited strikes for pay any higher than that justi- fled by the officially unpublished cost of living index. Under the law, the present index of POT would have justified wages slightly more than twice as high as in 1939-and no higher, except for an unauthorized bonus of 9 or 30 per cent.
 Even before the law was repealed, employers were using subterfuge to pay higher wages. But since the law was discarded, negotiations for ad- justed wages have been carried on with official sanction. One of the first developments following repeal of the law was pay raise for Ice landic civilians working for the United States Army forces in Ice land.
 Iceland's greatly increased buy ing power, together with scarcity of goods, has led to higher prices, which in turn may lead to even bigger wages-tfre deadly imitation cycle which the United States tried to stop through fixing of prices.
 Although the imitation so for is compared to what may come, 1t already is squeezing foreigners who must exchange hard-earned pounds or dollars for the Icelandic krounr.
 Butter Is $l.31 Pound
 In this country which produces a considerable amount of dairy products, butter sells wholesale at $1.31 pound and cheese at 73 cents a pound. Milk is g cents quart, and eggs are 15 cents each. Tomatoes, grown in hot houses the only ones available-are 75 cents a pound. Tn all, the index of food prices is PAS percent of the 1889 level.
 Prices on imported articles fol- low the same line. A street dress which would cost about $10 in the United States sells for $45 in Reyk- iayik. A good American fountain pen brings $21. A can of American asparagus is priced at $1.39. A mans shirt of inferior quality sells for $40.
 A Lightweight American auto mobile, in fair running condition and not more than five years old, sells for about $3,000. Later ana better models sell for about $6IOOO each, secondhand.
 Laundries charge 30 cents for washing a mans shirt: Having a mans suit pressed costs $1.15; hav- ing it cleaned and pressed $2.7I.
 Restaurant prices have been stepped up several times in the last wear. Twelve months ago, the Ho- tel Borg charged $1.45 for it's large dinner. Now the price is $2.70, plus a IS per cent service charge. A two-pot cup of coffee at the Borg costs AZ cents.
 Hard To Keep Farm Hands
 The price on luxury articles IS almost prohibitive. A bottle of hair dressing which sells for ten cents in the United States is priced at ;1.20 in Reykjavik.
 The increasing prices have been by increasing wages. A yarker who earned about $46O year before the war now gets about g. 900. Icelandic Seamen, who re- ;eive war risk allowances, do even better.
 High salaries at the water front nave attracted so many farm hands hat the famr labor situation has been disrupted.
 The workers were forbidden to strike for wages above the levels fixed through government regula- ions. However, the workers adopt d the tactic of merely quitting heir jobs, and waiting to be re- hired at better pay. With this situation tending to break down | ,lection in a few weeks, repealed ha lou NilfI.icht