TABLE I.-Retail prices of the principal articles of food on the 15th of each month, March and April, 1912, and March and April, 1913, by cities and by firms...... TABLE II.-Bread weights: Scaling weight (weight of dough before baking), TABLE III.-Relative retail prices of the principal articles of food January, 26-113 113-123 124-138 ... 139-152 3 BULLETIN OF THE U. S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. WHOLE NO. 125. WASHINGTON. JUNE 28, 1913. RETAIL PRICES, 1890 TO APRIL, 1913.' PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF FRED C. CROXTON, FOOD. The price at retail for several of the principal articles of food was slightly lower on April 15, 1913, than on the 15th of the preceding month, but the increase for meats was so marked that prices of food as a whole advanced. Fifteen articles of food enter into the relative prices in this report, representing approximately two-thirds of the expenditure for food by the average workingman's family, and reports of prices are included from 39 industrial cities in which live onefifth of the total number of people in continental United States. The changes during the one month period from March 15 to April 15 in each of the three years, 1911, 1912, and 1913, are shown as follows: PER CENT OF INCREASE OR DECREASE IN RETAIL PRICES OF THE PRINCIPAL ARTICLES OF FOOD: PRICE ON APRIL 15 COMPARED WITH PRICE ON MARCH 15, EACH YEAR 1911, 1912, AND 1913. This report summarizes data published in previous retail price reports of the Bureau (Eighteenth Annual Report and Bulletins Nos. 59, 65, 71, 77, 105, 106, 108, 110, 113, and 115), and thus furnishes a comparison of retail prices of food from 1890 to April, 1913. Actual retail prices of the principal articles of food and actual bread weights are shown in this report for March 15 and April 15, 1913, and for purposes of comparison for corresponding dates in 1912. For explanation of the scope of this report and of the method of collecting data see page 19, et seq. * No change. During the period from March 15 to April 15, 1913, 8 of the 15 articles for which relative prices are computed in this report advanced, 1 made no change, and 6 declined in price. The articles which advanced were sirloin steak, round steak, rib roast, pork chops, bacon, ham, lard, and hens. The price of flour was unchanged. The articles which declined were corn meal, eggs, butter, potatoes, sugar, and milk. Comparing prices on April 15, 1913, with prices on April 15, 1912, 11 articles advanced and 4 declined in price. Potatoes, sugar, flour, and corn meal declined in price, and the change was 47, 16.8, 4.1, and 1.6 per cent, respectively. The per cent of advance for the 11 articles. which increased in price varied from 0.4 per cent for eggs to 19 per cent for round steak. Seven of the 15 articles advanced more than 10 per cent. The table which follows compares for each of the 15 articles the price on March 15 and April 15, 1913, with the price on the corresponding date in 1912. PER CENT OF INCREASE OR DECREASE IN RETAIL PRICES OF THE PRINCIPAL ARTICLES OF FOOD: PRICE ON MARCH 15 AND APRIL 15, 1913, COMPARED WITH PRICE ON THE CORRESPONDING DATE IN 1912, BY ARTICLES. The next table compares for each of the 15 articles the price on March 15 and April 15, 1913, with the average price for the 10-year period, 1890 to 1899. Comparing the price on April 15, 1913, with the average price for the 10-year period, 1890 to 1899, sugar shows a decline of 7.3 per cent, and all other articles show an advance, the per cent of advance varying from 19.2 per cent for potatoes to 122.9 |