OCR Text |
Show 7 PRICES IN ill! ! KTjIllIE Unheard-of Charges Made for Textile Products; Many Unobtainable. REASON IS INDICATED Under U. S. Food Administration Adminis-tration Same Conditions Cannot Exist Here. Prices in Germany Ladies' chemises: -Were $1, now ! $16. i Cloth, pure worsted and gabardine: Was 72 cents a yard, now S9.60. ' Half-wool stuff:' Was 38 cents a yard, now $5.76. Velvets: Were $1.4-1, now $12. i Sateen: Was 20 cents, now $2.88. j Wash voile: Was 13 cents, now j $2.88. i Sewing silk: Was cents per j "reel," now 15 cents. Machine cotton: Was i cents per large reel, now 22 cents. Cotton socks for infants: Were 72 cents per dozen, now $11.52. Ladies woolen stockings: Were 66 cents, now $3.60. ! Shoelaces: Price twenty times ! higher than before the war. ; A little of Germany 's drama is leaking leak-ing out now, although her censors are supposed to resemble the dead men that tell no tales. There is one source of news, however, that the censor cannot bottle up and that is the market reports. These constitute a vivid chronicle of the "Rise and Fall of Mitteleuropa. " A little analysis of such news as the above skyrocket effect in prices reveal re-veal reasons, significant ones, behind these high prices in addition to the high cost of raw materials. For one thing, Germany has cut terrible holes in her textile industries by taking men from them for munitions work; for another, an-other, she has seemingly allowed prices on such things as dry goods to climb witbout restriction, probably on the theory that this will act as the greatest check on the use of these commodities. Even high prices, however, cannot check all demand, and the price reports above quoted adds that "many articles for which customers would gladly pay , the high prices demanded, especially ; sewing cotton, are scarcely obtainable i any more." . . Remindful of Civil War. ' Such price announcements over here would make American women think that wo had gone back to civil war times, when calico went from 12"i. to 5U cents a yard; Lonsdale shirting from 19 to 8o cents: broadcloth from $2.45 to $5.50, and matches from 62 cents to $2.37 a gross. Indeed there are people here who have made the statement that some prices are actually higher now than thcv were in civil war times. But a little analysis shows this to be a mistaken mis-taken statement. Beef, cheese, bacon and corn did reach a higher dollars and cents notch in 1917 than at any time during the civil war. But it must be remembered that they started higher, our whole scalo of living having risen. As a matter of fact, not one of these commodities has had a rise proportionate proportion-ate to tho increase of those days. A commodity that starts at $5 and goes up to $10 in one era has not suffered as great a price disturbance as the snnio commodity, starting at $3 and going up to $7 in' another era, though the actual final price is higher. Control Is Remedy. It is not chance that, has kept our commodities from soaring to the same xtent as the Gorman goods above listed. It has been the" restraining power of tho food administration, ably seconded by the dealers who, representing represent-ing virtually all of this country's food commodities, have gone to Washington to attend conferences with the food administration; and there is beinu accomplished ac-complished what Germany thought could never be done practical ami prompt food control through democratic administration.. |