BULLETIN 999, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



highest price level was reached after the war closed, and in each case 

 there was an extremely violent drop in prices. 



Table I. — Index numbers of wholesale prices in the United States. 1 

 [ Five-year average, Aug-. 1909^-1914, equals 100.] 



Year. 



Index 

 No. 



Year. 



Index 

 No. 



Year. 



Index 

 No. 



Year. 



Index 

 No. 



1791 



107 

 113 

 119 



1824 



108 

 110 

 169> 



im 



104 



103 



100 



106 



108 



106 



99 



114 



127 



126 



121 



126 



108 



107 



99 



94 



94 



95 



98 



98 



93 



91 



94 



98 



95 



101 



104 



104 



104 



1857 



104 



94 



92 



92 



93 



109 



137 



176 



200 



176 



159 



148 



142 



131 



125 



128 



127 



123 



118 



109 



102 



93- 



89 



99 



97 



100 



98 



92 



S6 



85 



85 



87 



87 



1890. 



85 



1792 



1S25 



1858. 



1891 



85 



1793.. 



1826 



1859. . 



1 892 



80 



1794 



1827 



186© 



1S93. 



80 



1795 



158 



1828 



1861 



1894. 



73 



1796 



1829 



1862 



1S95. 



71 



1797 



170 

 167 

 160 



1830. .. 



1803. 



1836 



68 



1798 



1831 



1832 



1864 



1897. 



68 



1799 



1865 



1898. 



70 



1800 



1833. .. 



1866 



1899. 



77 



1801 



170 

 140 

 144 

 154 

 159 

 155 

 147 

 143 



1834 



1867 



1900. ... . 



84 



1802 



1835 



ISiiS 



1901 



82 



1803 



1S36 



1S69 



1902 



85 



1804 



1837 



1870 



1903 



1904 



85 



1805 



1838 



1871 



85 



1805 



1839 



1872 



1905 



87 



1807 



1830 



1873 



1906 



92 



1808 



1841 



1874 



1907 



93 



1809 



1842 



1843 



1844 



1845 



■ 184S 



184? 



1848™ - 



1849 



1850 



1S51 



1852 



1853 



1854 



1855 



1856 



1S75 



1908 



93 



1810..... 



165 

 160 

 162 

 189 

 235 

 185 

 157 

 159 

 155 

 137 

 117 

 112 

 115 

 110 



1S76 



1909 



96 



1811 



1877 



1878 



1910 



1911 



99 



1812 



98 



1-813 



1879. 



19-12 



101 



1814 



1880 



1881 



1913 



1914 



102 



1815 



102 



1816 



1882 



1915 



1916 



102 



1817 



1883 



126 



1818 



1884 



1917 



178 



1819 



1885 



1918 



200 



1820 



1S86 



1919 



219 



1821 



1SS7. 



1920 



250 



1822... . 



18S8 







1823 



j 1889 











1 American Statistical Association, New Series, No. 120, p. 846, December, 1917. U. S. Bur. Labor 

 Bui. 173, p. 137, and later reports. 



Note. — All index numbers are recalculated so that the hve-year average before the war, August, 1909, 

 to July, 1914, equals 100. Some of the original data are given on an 1860 base. Data for 1890 and 1S91 

 are given on both bases. When 1860 equals 100 the average for 1890 and 1891 is 92.25. When August, 

 1909, to July,1914, equals 100 the average for 1890 and 1S91 is 85.05. Data with I860 as a base are there- 

 fore divided by 92.25 and multiplied by 85.05. 



In many calculations in this bulletin one more decimal place was carried than is published. In some 

 cases this makes an apparent discrepancy. For example, 103.4-7-99.6= 103. S. The figures published would 

 be 103, 100, and 104. 



The rise in prices during the World War was much the same as 

 during the Civil War period, but continued longer after the close of 

 the war and resulted in a more violent drop than occurred after 

 either the War of 1812 or the Civil War. 



After each of the previous wars a very violent drop in prices 

 occurred, followed by partial recovery and somewhat stable prices 

 for a year or more, then again followed by a longer but less violent 

 drop and again followed by a period of somewhat stable prices. 



Prices by months for the World War period are given in Table II. 

 Based on five-year averages before the war as 100, prices during the 

 World War period reached a maximum of 276 in May, 1920, then 

 dropped to 151 in June, 1921. The drops for each month were as 

 follows : 



