Salt Lake Tribune | 1916-05-02 | Page 6 | Chinese Balk

CHINESE BALK. Owing to the high ju ices, charged for matches in the Orient, the Chinese at Soochou, in the Shanghai consular His-j triet, have returned to the ancient custom cus-tom of using flint and steel in order to strike a light. Other districts have followed suit and as a result the importation im-portation of matches has decreased more than one-fourth, greatly to the disgust of the Japanese manufacturers, who furnish 75 per cent of the supply used in China. As a matter of f a e t the importation of matches by the t hi-nese hi-nese may cease altogether, for flint and steel are being sold in large quantities quan-tities aud many peddlers are making a living by disposing of these articles. During the days of our civil war matches were taxed to the utmost limit and as a result frugal housewives were in the habit of twisting paper into fire lighters, a box containing 200 matches lasting a long time. Even afu-r the war tax was taken off it was years before be-fore the people who had been through the war period could be induced to strike a match if they could light a lamp or a pipe with a piece of twisted paper. Therefore there is some justification justi-fication for tho opinion of the dealers that the trade in matches in China will .be permanently disabled or ai least suffer- severe-injury. The Chi-nese Chi-nese can be depended upon to beat any finar.eia t game not backed bv brute I toree. Of couv-e price have been going up1 all o'. er the w orld and in some countries coun-tries t ho situa t ion is such as to cause alarm if the war is to continue another vear. Id Spain, for instance, the prices for foodstuffs are over 2''0 pet-cent pet-cent higher than in the United States and. as everyone knows, thev are high enough for all praet ical purposes in thi1 country. According to a report from the A merican consul at Seville, Spain, the cost of living in that eoun-; eoun-; trv since tt:c outbreak of the European , war has ri-en for the better classes. j?hn are not content with the simple fare ot the peasantry, !" per cent, and ! man v articles ,,f diet eu-inmarily used ' bv tio' working people are now beyond : their reach. ' Some idea of the ; ion in pain r;iv be gained when it i- siuied that a ii.-r ' food -! ut f prices shn-.i-- that .toad ha risen 2." per cent -ince u j-n,;, I, .bunc-dic butter 1 12, iui : ored 'ou,.r 9 ofi'po ,-vi, egzs j ;'ke;r SO, eodiYh 100. sardines i largely I t'ntittd in this di.-rrictl 40. lard 30, miik. 36, bacon n0, bam 40, lamb 40. bef 4. olive oil 14, tea potatoes l''"1, cocoa oo, ehees"3 Uy'1. tomatoes ln0, chickens 7t, common ri.'i 2, table salt 1"' sugar 60, eahr.es a!1d other garden truck 60, rice 50, and fruits 100 per c pp t . Rents have a d va n ced 1 o to 20 per cent, fuel Uthi per cent. Shos that formerly co.-t 6 a pair ar now ; underwear has increased from $ 1 .50' to 12 a suit, shirts correspondingly- All drugs aud medical supplies have nearly doubled. The price (Jf gas has been doubled, as bas also the price of electricity elec-tricity for heating and lighting purposes. pur-poses. m