44 BULLETIN 1442, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
The similarly weighted margin percentage for stores of the same class 
for the year 1923 was 22 per cent of sales. The results so obtained 
for 1919 and 1923 were $32.94 and $32.78. These amounts repre- 
sented for each of these years the retailer's average gross margin for 
handling and selling meats of a retail value of $100 in 1913. 
These amounts were, however, expressed in dollars of different 
purchasing power, since the general price level changed between 1919 
and 1923. In order to make comparison between these two amounts 
it was necessary to correct for this difference in purchasing power. 
When an index of the general price level 6 was applied to the two 
amounts, $32.94 and $32.78, thus referring to them to a common base, 
it was found that on the 1913 basis the gross margins became $17.71 
for 1919 and $18.11 for 1923, a difference of 40 cents. This was 
an increase of 0.4 per cent on sales when based on 1913 retail values. 
The significance of this fact was that between 1919 and 1923 the 
average gross margin, as determined through the medium of these 
two surveys, increased but 0.4 per cent, when related to a common 
base (1913). 
Variation in stores from which data were obtained and other 
minor factors rendered it impossible to conclude that there was 
an absolute increase of 0.4 per cent in the gross margin percentage. 
The close agreement of the figures, however, did lead to the con- 
clusion that between 1919 and 1923 but little change took place in 
the gross margin of carry stores, when corrections for variations 
in the level of retail meat prices and in the general price level were 
made. 
When total expenses in carry stores were similarly treated, it 
was found that between 1919 and 1923 the increase was 49 cents, 
an amount which was in close agreement with the 40-cent increase 
observed in gross margin. It would appear, then, that the increase 
in gross margin had been only sufficient to meet increases in total 
operating expenses. 
In carry stores the profits for 1919 and 1923 on meats of $100 
retail sales value in 1913 were $2.86 and $2.77, respectively, when 
the profits for both years were expressed in terms of 1913 dollars. 
For the purpose of comparison with the results of the 1919 
survey, the limited-delivery store class and the unlimited-delivery 
store class of the 1923 survey were combined and weighed accord- 
ing to the 1919 survey metnods, since delivery stores in the 1919 
survey were not divided according to these subdivisions. When all 
values were expressed in terms of the 1913 dollar, and were referred 
to a quantity of meats of retail value, of $100 in 1913, the gross 
margin for 1923 showed an increase of 20 cents over the 1919 
margin. Total expense for delivery stores in 1923 was 89 cents 
greater than in 1919, and profit showed a decrease of 69 cents. 
The significance of the exact numerical differences indicated by 
these comparisons may or may not have been important. It was 
previously pointed out that slight variations in methods of procedure 
in the collection of data might, together with variations in the 
groups of stores and cities from which data were secured, limit the 
value of any absolute numerical comparison. However, it was of 
Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Index of the General Price Level. 
