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Show Special Agent Allen Hedges went to Salt Lake Tuesday night. PROFITEERING 1776 The food profiteer is not new in Philadelphia. In January, 1776, iwhile Continental paper money was still good for its face value, a corner cor-ner in certain food staples was formed form-ed by certain dealers. A committee was chosen to defeat the "forestall-ers "forestall-ers or engrossers, as the profiteers then were called by fixing the prices pric-es of the things most in demand. The committee promised to name publicly the "sordid vultures who were preying on the vitals of their country in time of common distress. The prices fixed for the commodities commodi-ties named were: Coffee 22 cents a pound; chocolate 32 cents; loaf sugar, su-gar, 28 cents; lump sugar, 20 cents; Lisbon salt. 9 6 cents a bushel; Liver Liv-er nonl salt $1 90 a hiichpl TTniir months later the committee rah" the price of salt to nearly $2 a bushel bush-el and there was a loud outcry from the householders, who really suffered suffer-ed for the want of it, after unsuccess ful efforts had been made to extract it' from the sea of the New Jersey shore. Six months later salt was hardly to be had even at $6 a bushel. Tb' committee preemptorily seized 4'ni' bushels stored by one firm and 30no horded by another. Shoes in a few months had doubled dou-bled in price, and were at $3.60 a pair, which today does not seem at all immoderate. Linen was $2.83 a yard. Meat had rizen from 10 rts. to 20 cents a pound and butter was 4S cents. |