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Show HIGH LIV1MG COST I VEXES THE FRENCH Soaring Prices of Commodities Commod-ities Beginning to Tell on the Consumers. WELL-TO-DO CRIMPED All Classes Affected, With Slight Prospect of Im- ' mediate Relief. i I PTprS, March 31. Not since the 0f!fiot the Napoleonic wars and the ij subsequent raising of the monetary unit f from the sou to the franc have the French people had to grapple so seriously seri-ously with the high cost of living as now. The present situation, not only for Paris, but for the entire country, is a grave problem that is already receiving the closest attention of statesmen and economists and is recognized as much the most serious of all the after-war questions. In fact, so seriously have capital and labor begun to regard the future that : numerous conferences have been held j with a view to smoothing over existing difficulties and obviating possible dis-: dis-: turbances when once peace has been de-l de-l clared. The purchasing power of the franc has dwindled a full 50 per cent, and j a glance at some of the figures given below, in many cases actual records of . market sales both at wholesale and re-: re-: tail, with the accompanying maximum , prices fixed by the prefect of police, ; will show specifically why. : Well-to-do Crimped. For the well-to-do families, accustomed accus-tomed to spending, the cost of living has increased by 141.66 per cent. For the man of moderate means, the middle mid-dle class, the increase is 103.13 per cent, while for the poor man absolute necessaries of life, figuring on the most economical basis, have increased 89.01 per cent. No luxuries whatsoever have hfion ?i(mrete in tl i a lncfr cn POftrw hilt only the things which must be found on the poor man's table to preserve life . itself. The staples of life are bread, meat and vegetables. To these must be added add-ed wine in France, for there is no ta-blivjtmatter ta-blivjtmatter how poor the family, wfo ordinary wine not to be con--used with the more expensive wines 5j" for export is not to be found. Bread has not increased in price, but quality has been greatly depreciated tewffect economies in white flour, and theMinary bread is now made of a mixtuH of white and oatmeal flours. The amount of nourishment contained in a loaf has of necessity been cut down. Potatoes Go Aviating. Before the war potatoes, the most ordinary or-dinary article of houBcbqld diet, might he purchased for 2V4 cents a pound. This price has now been increased to 14 cents a pound, and even at that figure potatoes are difficult to find. Those in the market are new potatoes, hut, as they are the only ones obtainable, obtain-able, their price must be considered In comparison with what potatoes could be had for before the war. Here alone is an increase of 560 per cent, but this has not been figured in the general casting up because it represents repre-sents an extremo case. The increase was averaged by figuring in green and staple vegetables, butter, eggs, milk, meats, cheese, coffee, wine, sugar, coal and the cheapest articles of wearing ap- Before the war butter fetched 30 cenls a pound in the city of Paris. Now at the market places butter wholesales for 67 cents a pound. The retail price is 74 cents. That is the maximum price fixed by the police department, but the housewife who attempts to purchase at that figure will either bo told that there is no butter to be had or that the supply for the day has beon sold out. Butter Now a Luxury. The figures for the imports of butter but-ter into the city of Paris will explain why. These show that in 1P14 the average av-erage amount of hutter received daily at the great market place exceeded 100,- K0OO pounds. One year of warfare had reduced this figure by 40 per cent, 1915 showing an average daily importation of Sylv 60,000 pounds. The present year bIioN a still further reduction of 50 per evht over 1915, or a daily arrival of only 30,000 pounds, with the figures still fulling off weekly. l-'ven at its increased price butter is hard to obtain. The fixing of maximum maxi-mum prices by the city of Paris has cut both ways. "When a police law permits per-mits a farmer or manufacturer to obtain ob-tain onlv 67 cents a pound for his product prod-uct in the municipality of Paris it is sold in another community whore the price is either higher or not restricted. Maximum prices have also had the effect, ef-fect, of enabling some producors to sell their cheapest, warrs at tho best figures. |