78 THIRTY CENT BREAD 



anxious consideration. Just prices and fair wages 

 are two hinges on which revolves the economic wel- 

 fare of the world. 



§ 55 — THS SHORT DOI.I.AR 



March 29, 191 7, the Department of Labor an- 

 nounced at Washington, D. C, that the annual food 

 bill of the average family had grown from $339.30 

 in 1913 to $425.54 at the prices prevailing in March, 

 1917. 



"In ten years the advance in the cost of food," 

 declared the Department of Labor, "has so far out- 

 stripped wage increases that the workman who drew 

 $3 a day in 1907 now finds himself just 69 cents a 

 day worse off. 



"Despite the average increase of 19 per cent, an 

 hour in wages in the last ten years," says the de- 

 partment's statement, "the rising cost of foods has 

 operated to reduce the pay of the American working- 

 man about 16 per cent., expressed in terms of food 

 his dollar will buy. 



"The workingman who made $3 a day in 1907 

 working ten hours a day, in 1916 worked nine hou^s 

 and thirty-six minutes a day and drew $3.48 ; but it 

 cost him $4.17 to buy the same quantity of food 

 his $3 would cover in 1907. 



"Cold storage, rebilling, reshipping, and withhold- 

 ing of commodities from the market are suspected 

 of contributing to the present abnormal rise in the 

 prices of food. There is reason to fear that other 

 elements than crop shortages and war are conspir- 

 ing to raise prices." 



The Department of Labor, expressing its views 



