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An examination of the table will show that with a few exceptions, prices are lowest in the smaller country towns and highest in the large cities and their suburbs, notwithstanding the fact that in these access to the wholesale markets and sources of supply is easier and much less expensive, so far as freight charges are concerned, than in the comparatively remote districts to which freight charges are higher because of the greater distances. The higher rents, wages of help, delivery and other necessary charges, probably much more than offset the advantages of proximity to the market which the city dealers enjoy. Then, too, city grocers and butchers as a rule handle only the lines of goods which are customarily included under these designations, while in country stores many other lines of merchandise are included in the stock besides groceries and meats, all of which contribute something toward making the business profitable.

Table No. 2 shows the average prices throughout the State for each of the articles included in the bill of supplies; a comparison is made of these averages with those of 1913, and such increases and decreases as appear in the prices of 1914 are given in percentages.

Of the fifty articles appearing on the list for both years, nineteen show slight fractional decreases; thirty show decreases that with a few exceptions are also very slight, and one article-the bread loaf—is the same for all the years covered by these annual records, although the cost of flour per barrel has, during that time, advanced 26.54 per cent.

With the exception of new and old white potatoes, the articles included in the bill which show the greatest increase are smoked beef and fresh pork, which are, respectively, 6.5 and 1.2 cents per pound higher in 1914 than in 1913. Prunes and raisins also show a considerable advance. All the other items show decreases and increases of less than one cent per standard basis of quantities as set forth in the table. The aggregate cost of the bill of goods in 1913 was $13.632 against $14.601 in 1914. The increase is 96.9 cents, of which 91.2 cents was made up of the advance in the cost of old and new white potatoes, leaving only 5.7 cents to represent the increase in all the other articles on the bill.

Table No. 3 is the same in form as Table No. 2, excepting only that the prices compared are those of 1898 and 1914. In regard to flour, first and second qualities, the basis of quantity is changed

from twenty-five pound bags to barrels. Seven of the articles in the 1914 list are excluded from the comparison because they were not in the 1898 bill; this was done so as to make the lists of both years absolutely alike for the purpose of comparison.

In 1898, the aggregate cost of the forty-three articles included in the bill was $16.901 and in 1914, $21.646. The increase during the intervening sixteen years was $4.745, or 28.07 per cent., which would average 134 per cent. per year. Of the forty-three articles for which prices are quoted, five show decreases and thirty-eight increases. The decreases occurred in sugar and the three varieties of tea-black, green and mixed, and tomatoes by the can. The best grade of flour has increased 26.54 per cent., and the second grade 31.48 per cent. The percentages of increase in all varieties and cuts of meats are very large, ranging as they do from 102.48 per cent. for bacon, downward to 34.04 per cent. for breast of mutton. Shoulder (pork) has increased 91.67 per cent.; fresh pork, 91.07 per cent.; salt pork, 87.37 per cent., and ham, 72.27 per cent. The various cuts of beef show advances ranging from roast rib, 41.03 per cent. to corned beef (brisket), 76.00 per cent.

The following table shows a comparison of the purchasing power in pounds of $1.00 in 1898 and in 1914, as applied to a few of the principal staple articles of food supplies, flour, meats, lard and butter, for which prices per pound are quoted on Table No. 3.

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The above table shows in a perfectly clear manner and form the actual shrinkage in the quantities of these several varieties of food supplies which $1.00 would buy in 1914 as compared with its purchasing power in 1898, and the exhibit in the case of the comparatively few articles appearing on this table is such as to fully justify the claim that the growth of income does not keep pace with the steadily diminishing purchasing power of the dollar during the past sixteen years. Other food articles appearing on the bill have shown an alternation of increase and decrease from year to year, the decreases, however, rarely offsetting previous increases, but meats have advanced steadily without interruption, the prices of 1914 being the highest thus far recorded.

In 1898, $1.00 would buy 38.0 pounds of wheat flour of the first quality, and in 1914 the dollar would buy only 29.0 pounds, a clear loss to the family larder of 9 pounds. Of the second quality of wheat flour $1.00 would pay for 44.9 pounds in 1898, and only 34.1 pounds in 1914; a loss of 10.7 pounds is here shown. Even greater proportionate advances in meat prices are shown by the table. For instance, $1.00 would buy 13.8 pounds of corned beef (brisket) in 1898, and in 1914 it would pay for only 7.6 pounds, a clear loss of 5.7 pounds in the latter as compared with the earlier year. One dollar would buy 4.2 pounds and 4.9 pounds more in 1898 of fresh pork and salt pork, respectively, than it would in 1914. Of bacon, $1.00 would pay for 8.3 pounds in 1898, and only 4.1 pounds in 1914. The shrinkage in quantity in this instance is 4.2 pounds, or a small fraction more than one-half. Any further analysis of this comparison table seems uncalled for, as the figures themselves convey a full and clear exposition of the increase in the cost of food supplies which amply justifies the widely prevailing anxiety among the people as to the causes of the upward movement on the one hand and the height to which it may ascend on the other.

In connection with these tables bearing on the increase in the cost of food supplies from 1898 to 1914, which is shown to have been 28.07 per cent., it is interesting to note that during the same time average earnings in factory and workshop industries -$434.02 in 1898, and $572.45 in 1914-had increased 31.5 per cent., leaving in the race between prices and earnings, a balance for the sixteen years of 3.43 per cent. in favor of the latter.

TABLE No. 1.

The Cost of Living in New Jersey-Total Cost of the Entire List of Articles in the Various Cities and Towns of the State.

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