Show THOSE GOOD OLD DAYS Reminiscent of TwentyFour Years Ago HOW THE PEOPLE LIVEDIN 1864 I The Business of Salt Lake City Thou The Prices Current Compare Them With the Present On Monday July 41801 the first number of the Daily Telegraph of this city edited by T fi H Stenhouse was issued The third number published on the 6th is now beore us and is a veritable curiosity It is a Liliputian sheet the paper on which it was printed being 15 > x21 incbesand the type used minion and nonpariel The makeup is neat the advertising being light and i plain and the presswork better than the average dallies of today Considering Consid-ering the facilities obtainable in those days tho little paper is a very creditable credit-able showing of the art typographia But its qualities are not what we started out to notice Its getup the scope of business it represented in its advertising columns and the good old times of which it is reminiscent are the chief objects of this article The first page is made up almost entirely en-tirely of business cards and many of the names are so familiar to old residents resi-dents that we will give several of them Among those in the medical list aro W F Anderson M DM J L Dunyon M D W 6 fiodbe i Tr B Pearce and I John V Long Of the bankers iiien doing bueiness in this city the following follow-ing advertised Holladay Halsey Powers Newman Co Clark Co and William Jenning The merchants were represented by William Jennings I Walker Brothers Koor < S Kltlredge JSimball Lawrence OrOuyli Cmy tou EfinSOllO i ai Co Gilbert I Sons Bodenburg Kahn Bourne Need ham Lavanburg Auerbach and Aaron I Newfield Under tee beading Musical Musi-cal were the names of David 0 Oalder C J Thomas and Henry L Raymond The harnmerandtongs fraternity had representatives in Burr Frost Philip de li Mare R B Mar getts Samuel Bringhurst and P Mar getts J A Sutton Four artists had their cards in good position Edward Martin W V Morris father of the painter W C H Druce and William J Silver 01 the watchmakers there were 0 Ursenbach Henry Reiser andO and-O L Eliason The boot and shoemaking shoe-making houses were G C Riser and E B Tripp Tinners Edward Stevenson T Hawkins Alfred Bet and J M Allen Then followed a miscellaneous list among whom are these Claude Olive tailor Kuowldea Grenig and Dye Kelson bakers Capener Taylor Tay-lor and E M Caste cabinet makers Mrs Stenhouse Mrs Colebrook and Marian Pratt milliners F Little proprietor pro-prietor Salt Lake House F Reich National Hotel and Josiah Tufts Mansion Man-sion House T D Brown Express and Exchange office H E Bowrinp harness har-ness and saddle maker J W Van Natta manufacturer of cooperware Eliiah Pearce basket and gig body worker W H Hocking eating house CroxallCartwrigh Eardley crockery ware F J P Pascoe white lead etc J Saddler comb maker James it Bed son Eardley pottery Hugh Findlay matches and blacking j Latlmer Taylor Tay-lor sashes doors and blinds H Egan and Sons travelers and emigrants depot de-pot and W Ballan watchmater Those were days that tried mens souls in the matter of obtaining news from abroad The war was in progress and many a time and oft the communication communi-cation was interrupted for weeks at a stretch As an instance in point the editorial in tho copy before us reads For over three weeks the uncertain condition con-dition of the telegraph line to the cast of this has been seriously annoying to merchants mer-chants and business men dependent upon Its services in commerce and for the great public Interested in the news from the seat of war the breaks of the wires the downs of the poles and the heavy thunderstorms thun-derstorms along tue line have been exceedingly ex-ceedingly unpleasant Every exertion however has been made by Superintendent JHswortb at Laramie and all the force at Laramiel his command to repair the damages and to place In a better condition that portion of the line which was swept away by the overflowing over-flowing of the Platte For a few days bacK evidences of stability have increased ana yesterday the operator in this city did a splendid amount of work We present to our readers this morning a large variety of news aud with a few days more of good service of the line we expect that we will soon be In possession of all the news up to almost the hour of its departure from the i seat of war Knowing the anxiety of our readers to get the latest stirring news we give it preference in our columns Then follow four columns of solid minion into which are crowded a vast number of new items from the various battlefields of the east prominent among which are The brief mention of Hunters ezpendition to Lexington an attack on Burnside Army of the Potomac an engagement at White River General Pillows demand for the surrender of Lafayette Tenn Sher mans movements around Chatta hoochie Schofield and Hooker at Last Mountain skirmishing at Pine Bluffs Shelleys raid near Brownsville General Gen-eral Grants firing on the bridge at k Petersburg the destruction of all railroads rail-roads into Richmond the battle at Kensaw Mountain and the struggles h at Lynchburg and Petersburg All the dispatches areboiled downflasned and give the news in a condensed shape in excellent form On the third page are a few local item and display advertisements of the firms of Ransohoff Co merchandise Clark Co bankers Powers Newman Co bankers William Jennings merchandise j Virginia City stage line j H Egan Sons Deep Creek milling and Cronyn Clayton dry goods The local matter tells of a cricket match played by members of the Deseret Union Club eleven under thirty years of age against eleven over thirty the younger team getting away with the honors by a score of 102 to 58 the return re-turn to the city of Mr Charles H Bas fr sett of Bassett Roberts the arrival of the Bannock express the building of the City Hall the walls of which then were already well up towards thesquare of the second story and the mention of a convention for the purpose of establishing the prices of produce on a gold basis But the gemof the issue is the Commercial S Com-mercial column on page 4 Heres i x + HQ npnnle of today can form t 6 0 some idea of how the people of those days got along The wages of laboring labor-ing meu were not near as high in proportion pro-portion as prevail today yet the community com-munity thrived and everybody was happy The system of bartering was carried on to a great extent and store orders on good stores were as accept table as the cash Look at the prices c f 1 staple commodities in 1864 and the reigning quotations of today and be your own judges of the condition of citizens then and now Quoting from the commercial article it reads Operations In produce denote de-note exceeding buoyancy holders obtaining ob-taining for their grain almost any figure they may choose to ask It Farther on A trial transaction in the direction of a gold basis took place this morning FJcur was offered for 10 in coin or 23 in currencythe sale I closing with gold And again Of wheat there is little or none in the market Our quotations therefore are merely nominal Then follows the price list of articles in the Great Sale Lake City Markets DRY GOODS Heavy brown sheetings 65 6 80 Flue suitings TO Bleached tjhe tings 60 85 Denims 70 00 Stripes 75 90 Ticks 90 125 Prints 40 50 Thread doz soool 250 Skein cotton pr Hi 225 Ginghams 60 75 fl g Flannels 75 90 Delaines 50 75 Kentucky jeans 12i 190 Bluedrllls 60 70 Batting per lb 100 GROCERIES Sugar 90 Tte g Coffee 1 00 Tea 400 Dried apples fO Dried pea hes 50 Tobacco 200 300 Rice 50 Molasses per gal 850 Star candles 90 I Soda fo Saleratus 60 SPICES Cassia 100 Cloves 175 X tzs Allspice I 100 NiitmfiT s t00 Pepper f ifO Hnjjer JOG SOAP Rosin b0 Castile 1 I ou e Domestic t r SALT TiWS 05 Coarse 1 02 IEODUCK WHOLESALE RATES Wheat 500 Barley 450 Corn 450 Oats 4 50 Beans 600 Teas 600 Flax seed 300 Flourcwt 15 C016 00 Corn meal 1000 Potatoes per bushel 250 Bef per Hi 12 f 15 Dried beef f0 Hams smoked 50 Hams dried 40 Lard 10 Butter 70 Eggs H 40 Cheese new 25 Cheese old 40 Hay ton LOlO Lumber GO 0080 00 Laths per 100 125 Shingles M 10 0012 00 Wood cord 100012 00 Coal ton 25 OD LEATHER Sole per Hi 70 Harness per lb 85 Bridle per side 8 0012 00 Upper side a 00 1200 Calf skins 600 1000 Kipsklns 800 12 00 BOOTS AND SHOES Mens French calf boots1600l 20 00 Mens coarse boos 10 00 liens coarse shoes 500 Womens fine boots 500 PAIXTS AND OILS Olive bottle 1 502 00 Castor II 60 75 Kerosene gal 6 00 White lead keg 1000 Linseed oil gal V 1200 Varnish 1000 HABDWAUE AILS Shingle and lath 50 All sizes upward 40 Casing Ib 5060 eheet iron 50 Wire 100 Leid Hi 50 GLASS 8x0 35 10x12 50 10x14 50 10x16 60 Mules were quoted at 230 300 j cattle in order100 e 125 and wagons at 50 to GO each The mechanics artisans and laborers of today have an opportunity to compare com-pare the cost of living twentylour years ago with that of the present Then there were no railroads across the continent everything used except what was grown was brought a thousand miles by mule or ox teams and freights were proportionately higher as much as 40 and 150 per hundredweight fating paid by merchants for the transportation of their goods from the Missouri River The wages of mechanics were high but low in comparison with what are paid nowadays Carpenters received S3 50 and4 a day masons and adobe layers there were very few bricks laid then 4 and 450 plasterers 6 and 7 j painters 3 50 and 4 laborers or tenders i and 250 blacksmiths 3 and 4 compositors 75 cents a thousand thou-sand or 25 a week Th se figures ware obtained trom gentlemen who were employers em-ployers at that date George Romney of Taylor Romney Armstrong furnishing the quotations for carpenters and adobe layers W C Morris those for the painters Philip Margetts the blacksmiths per diem and the Deseret News the compositors price How much the same class of citizens earn at present can be answered by the mechanics themselves Carpenters and builders get 3 and 350 plasterers work chiefly by the yard j painters are paid from 250 to 350 blacksmiths average 3 a day and printers get 60s a thousand on morning papers and 45c on evening editions and weekly wages are18te21 In 1864 a mechanic had to toil for four days for a sack of Hour j now he works but one short day For a bushel of wheat the earlyday workman put in about ten hour the same individual can now obtain about five bushels for a days work And just think of it tie head of a household was at the time we speak of compelled to labor from 7 till 5 I for sixteen ounces of tea whereas now t for 4 he can secure eight times as much And sugar 90c a poundtoday seven and eight pounds for that sum If he wanted a pair of Sundaygotomeeting French calf boots he must lay aside the earn ings of twothirds of a week today he II can get a pair for half that amount of capital And so on through the whole list of necessariesluxuries and delicacies were not thought ofthe comparison holds the sameso much in favor of the presentday sidents of this city that the formerday working classes were poorly paid indeed Yet they thrived they built homes and cultivated culti-vated their garden spots j they accumulated accumu-lated means and gathered around them c mforts j they passed through a school of experience which taught them economy and many of them graduated with honors The innova tons introduced with the advent of the railroads worked change in many respects great but in the matter of equalizing values the effect has not been to marked As the fancy articles the fashions and the tempting brica brac were brought here there became a gradual increase in the peoples expenditures and a corresponding demand for more means to meet them I |