OCR Text |
Show Department of Labor Announces An-nounces 22 Articles Have Increased. WASHINGTON-, June 21. The food budget of the average .American family fam-ily attained a new high record in May, tho department of labor announced today, to-day, tho cost of 22 articles of food having Increased 3 per cent over April and 7 per cent ovor January. Recent increases in suga,r, flour and potato prices largely accounts for the increase, in-crease, the review says. In comparison with tho April figures, fig-ures, today's review shsowa sugar has advanced 26 per cent, cornmcal 14 per cent, flour 7 per cent and potatoes 5 per cent. From May, 1910, to May, 1920. the greatest Increase 22 per cent was shown In Springfield, 111. The next largest Increase, or 21 per cent, was In Butte and Chicago. In Salt Lake City the average family expenditure for the 22 food articles Increased during the year 20 per cent; In Omaha ancl San Francisco, 19 per cent: in L.os An-gelea An-gelea and Portland, Ore., 17 per cent; In Seattle, 15 per cent; Denver, 12 per cent. Wholesale prices also advancod dur-i ing May, the department's review shows, tho "index" in this case being j 2 per cent over that of April. "The group of fuel and lighting materials ma-terials again furnished the most nota-j ble example of price Increase," the statement says, "due mainly to the recent re-cent sharp advance In both hard and soft coal and coke. The Index number num-ber of this group rose from 213 In April to 235 in May." |