Retail Prices of Food Supplies in New Jersey.

Retail Prices of a Selected List of Food Supplies, Reported Each Year by Representative Dealers in the Principal Centers of Population Throughout the State. Prices Quoted are those that

Prevailed During the Month of June, 1914.

The presentation which follows is intended to show the retail prices of a bill of food supplies which was drawn with the intent that it should include such only as are in general use and for which there is the greatest and most constant demand. The qualities of articles, where there are more than one, are neither the highest, which can be afforded only by the wealthy, nor the lowest, which must of necessity be satisfactory to the poor, but rather the grades used by the vast majority of families whose circumstances are between these two extremes.

Although the advancing cost of living has claimed the most serious attention of governments and peoples for years back, the almost continuous series of investigations under governmental and private auspices in practically every State of the Union, and also in all the principal nations of Europe, have thus far failed to trace the same to any concrete cause or causes of a remediable character. The only undisputable fact relative to the subject is that the cost of food supplies and of practically all other indispensable requirements of life under established standard conditions has been climbing steadily upward year after year. The remedies urged or suggested are, of course, very numerous and each of a character which varies according to the theory held by its advocate regarding the origin of the trouble.

For several years after the upward tendency of food prices had forced itself into general notice, the impression prevailed that only our own country was affected by the movement, and that elsewhere throughout the world conditions in this respect werc normal and satisfactory. That such was far from being the case, however, was shown by an investigation of food prices in

the principal nations of Europe made by this Bureau in 1910, the results of which were published in the report of that year. It was found that throughout the nations of Continental Europe and in Great Britain, the prices of food-particularly meats of equal quality—were generally higher than in the United States. An American Consul in one of the larger towns of Germany, who very kindly assisted the Bureau in its investigation, said, in reference to the subject of prices: "On the basis of income, the German in competitive occupations with the American workman, should not pay more than 50 per cent. of the prices he now pays for food, while in fact he now pays practically the same as the American for everything, except milk and vegetables. which are cheaper only because of the labor of women on the farms. High price conditions here are met by certain self denials and by the economies of German housekeepers, who, in an ordinary household, would be almost able to live well on the waste of many American families."

That the Consul's statement regarding workmen's incomes in Germany as compared with Americans in the same lines, was well within the truth may be seen by the comparison on the table below:

WEEKLY WAGES OF SKILLED LABOR IN GERMANY, AUSTRIA AND THE UNITED STATES--1910.

The comparison presented on the table above will serve to illustrate the difference in the earnings of American and European workmen fully as well as could be done if the list were extended so as to include all occupations; the same overwhelming difference in favor of the American exists in all branches of labor. Practically the same may be said regarding the earnings of labor in Great Britain; while they are higher than in the continental countries, they are still so far below the American standards that the Consul's comment quoted above may be said to apply to Great Britain with as much aptness as it does to Germany.

In this brief reference to prices abroad, the purpose is to show that the increasing cost of living, instead of being an exclusively American phenomenon, is being experienced in all parts of the civilized world, and also to suggest that by reason of much higher wages the strain on family and individual resources caused thereby is felt less severely here than elsewhere.

Recognizing the reciprocal relation of incomes and prices and the futility of any attempt to pass judgment on the fairness and sufficiency of one without also considering the other, the Bureau has reported annually for the past sixteen years both the retail prices of table supplies and the wages and earnings of the upwards of 400,000 persons employed in manufacturing industry and transportation. Enough light is thrown on both these fundamental elements of the great economic problem of income and necessary expenditure to furnish a working basis for the investigation of economic conditions as these are affected by such changes as may occur in one or the other from year to year.

To insure the utmost possible uniformity of conditions one year with another, the individual reports which form the basis of this compilation are made each year by the same dealers, and the prices quoted by all are those that prevailed during the month of June each year. The fairest possible conditions for comparison are thus assured and the most minute changes in prices of goods are clearly shown.

This year's presentation of prices consists of three tables arranged according to the usual forms, Table No. 1 giving the aggregate cost of the entire bill of goods by localities; No. 2 giving the prices which prevailed in different localities throughout the State for each particular article in standard quantities, the prices for 1914 being placed in comparison with those of 1913; and No. 3, which is the same in form as No. 2, except that the comparison is between the prices of 1898 and 1914, which will show the changes that have taken place during a period of sixteen years.

The test bill of goods used in the inquiry each year consists of fifty articles, including, it is believed, practically all the standard varieties of food supplies used by families of average means. None of the "fancy groceries," for which very high prices are charged, appear in the list, but the quality of each article, where not otherwise specified, is that which is regarded in the trade as

the best. Whether in fact they really are so in every case, that is to say the highest quality on the market, or only the highest which the dealer reporting has in stock, is a question that he alone can determine. Some few variations in prices quoted by different dealers for articles supposed to be alike in every respect may be accounted for in this way. However, the accuracy of the average price of each article which is calculated from the figures quoted in sixty separate price lists furnished by dealers in as many localities, is very slightly, if at all, affected by the few errors of this character that may occur.

Table No. I is so arranged as to show the relative costliness of the entire bill of goods in the various places throughout the State represented in the inquiry; the locality showing the lowest cost appearing first on the table and others following in the order of increase, the highest being, as a matter of course, at the end.

Sixty-six cities, towns and villages, representing all parts of the State, are represented on this table, and the prices quoted for the bill of goods ranges from $11,595 at Califon, Hunterdon County, to 17,507 at Rutherford, Bergen County. Five places report prices ranging from over $12.00 to under $13.00 for the entire bill; fifteen report a range of prices from over $13.00 to under $14.00; twenty-one report prices between over $14.00 and under $15.00; sixteen report a range of prices from over $15.00 to under $16.00; six report prices from over $16.00 to under $17.00, and two report prices over $17.00, but both are much below $18.00. The average price of the bill of goods for the entire State is shown by the table to be $14.601.

In 1913 the average price for the same bill of goods throughout the entire State was $13.632. The increase in the cost of the bill of goods that has taken place during the twelve months between June, 1913, and June, 1914, is therefore 96.6 cents, or a small fraction more than 7 per cent. This increase is almost entirely due to a rather large advance in the prices quoted for both old and new potatoes in 1914 as compared with 1913. The increases in the prices of these goods was 73.2 cents for new and 19 cents for old per bushel, making together 92.2 cents, or within 4.7 cents of equaling the total increase in the cost of the entire bill as shown by the table for the year.