AVERAGE RETAIL PRICES OF COAL PER TON OF 2,000 POUNDS, FOR HOUSEHOLD USE, ON JANUARY 15 AND JULY 15, 1913, MAY 15, 1924, AND APRIL 15 AND MAY 15, 1925-Continued

Fifty cents per ton additional is charged for "binning." Most customers require binning or basketing the coal into the cellar.

All coal sold in Savannah is weighed by the city. A charge of 10 cents per ton or half ton is made. This additional charge has been included in the above prices.

Prices in Zone A. The cartage charges in Zone A were as follows: January and July, 1913, $0.50; April, 1924, and March and April, 1925, $1.25. These charges have been included in the price.

C

Index Numbers of Wholesale Prices in May, 1925

ONTINUED recession of wholesale prices is shown for May by information gathered in representative markets by the United States Department of Labor through the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 'bureau's weighted index number, which includes. 404 commodities or price series, declined to 155.2 for May, compared with 156.2 for the preceding month.

While prices in all groups except house-furnishing goods and miscellaneous commodities averaged lower than in April, the decreases in all cases were slight. In only one group, metals and metal products, was the decrease over 1 per cent. Farm products and clothing materials were three-fourths of 1 per cent cheaper than in April, while in other groups the average was below one-half of 1 per cent. No change in the general price level is shown for house furnishing goods. Miscellaneous commodities, including among others such important articles as cattle feed and rubber, increased approximately 2 per cent.

Of the 404 commodities or price series for which comparable data for April and May were collected, increases were shown in 76 instances and decreases in 154 instances. In 174 instances no change in price was reported.

INDEX NUMBERS OF WHOLESALE PRICES, BY GROUPS OF COMMODITIES

Comparing prices in May with those of a year ago, as measured by changes in the index numbers, it is seen that the general level increased approximately 54 per cent. The greatest increase is shown for the group of miscellaneous commodities, in which prices were 17 per cent higher than in May, 1924. Farm products averaged 114 per cent higher and foods 124 per cent higher than in the corresponding month of last year, while small increases were shown for cloths and clothing and chemicals and drugs. On the other hand, prices in the groups of fuel and lighting materials, metals and metal products, building materials, and house-furnishing goods averaged lower than in May, 1924.

Trend of Wholesale Prices in the United States, 1801 to 1924

trend of wholesale prices in the United States since the

Tbeginning of the last century is shown by the figures in the

following table. The index numbers for the years 1801 to 1840 are arithmetic means of unweighted relative prices of commodities, as published on pages 235 to 248 of Bulletin No. 367 of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They were originally computed by Alvin H. Hansen of the University of Minnesota on prices in the year 1825 as the base, but are here converted to the 1913 base in conformity with the bureau's practice.

For the years 1801 to 1815 the index numbers were constructed from monthly quotations of commodities appearing in the Boston Gazette, and for the years 1816 to 1825 from quotations in the Boston Patriot. The index numbers for 1825 to 1840 were made from monthly prices at New York as published in the report of the Secretary of the Treasury for 1863. The quotations were taken for the first of each month, or as close thereto as possible. When a range of prices was shown, the arithmetic mean of the quotations was used. The average annual price for each commodity was found by adding the monthly quotations and dividing the sum by the number of months for which quotations were given. For some years it was not possible to obtain quotations for all months. The Boston quotations include 79 commodities and the New York quotations 63 commodities.

The index numbers for 1841 to 1889 also are arithmetic averages of unweighted relative prices and have been taken from the Report of Committee on Finance of the United States Senate on Wholesale Prices, Wages, and Transportation, March 3, 1893 (52d Cong., 2d sess., Report No. 1394, Pt. I, p. 9). As originally published, these figures were computed with 1860 as the base year. They are here changed to 1913 as 100. The prices used are in currency and the number of commodities varies from approximately 150 in the earlier years to 250 in the later years of the period.

The index numbers from 1890 to 1924 are the bureau's regular weighted series. In using the data in this table it should be borne in mind that the figures in the three series here joined are not strictly comparable, since they are based on different lists of commodities in different markets and are, moreover, unweighted for the years prior to 1890. It is believed, however, that they reflect with a fair degree of accuracy wholesale price changes in general over the period stated.

TH

HE United States Bureau of Agricultural Economics has made several studies to determine what becomes of the consumer's dollar spent for various commodities. Five of these studies trace the amounts spent for bread, meat (2 reports), fruits and vegetables, and cotton cloth, respectively. Some of the findings from these reports are given in the present article.

Bread

THIS study covered 1-pound loaves of baked bread in seven cities for the period October, 1922, to March, 1923, and was made with a view to ascertaining what part of the retail price accrued to the grower of the wheat. "One interesting result which the study

1 United States. Department of Agriculture. Bureau of Agricultural Economics. Analysis of the retail price of bread in 7 cities, October, 1922, to March, 1923-preliminary report (February, 1924); Retail marketing of meats (Department Bul. No. 1317); Influences of methods and costs of retailing and consumers' habits upon the market for meat-preliminary report (December, 1924); Some facts about margins and costs in marketing fruits and vegetables in the Port of New York district (April, 1925) (study made in cooperation with the Port of New York Authority); and an analysis of the difference between the retail price of cotton cloth and the price of cotton-preliminary report (November, 1923).

indicates is the extent to which the value of the flour in the producer's wheat is entirely submerged in the service cost of getting it to the ultimate consumer." In the cities studied, the producer received from 15 to 18 per cent while about 83 per cent went to the other cies engaged in the manufacture and distribution of bread.

agen

The following table, taken from the report, shows the distribution of the price paid by the consumer in the seven cities. It should be borne in mind that all margins are for a one-pound loaf, and that they cover not only profits, but expenses, overhead, etc., as well.

ANALYSIS OF RETAIL PRICES OF ONE-POUND LOAF OF BREAD, OCTOBER, 1922, TO MARCH, 1923 1

1 Sources of data: Retail bread prices, from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics; wholesale bread prices collected by fruit and vegetable division of Bureau of Agricultural Economies; transportation rates furnished by Interstate Commerce Commission; flour prices, from Northwestern Miller; wheat prices, from Price Current Grain Reporter; and mill-feed prices from the Price Current Grain Reporter and the Northwestern Miller.

"Margin" covers cost of other baking ingredients and also operating expenses.

Meat

TWO studies were made of the retail distribution of meat, the first of which (Bul. No. 1307) covered 1919, and the second, certain periods of 1923 and 1924. These studies deal with the agencies of distribution and their methods and practices of retailing; margins, expenses, and profits in retailing meat; and analysis of "consumer habits" in buying meat.

Methods and Practices of Retailing

The data on this point were gathered by personal interview with retail meat dealers, local and State representatives of retail associations, local health authorities, and others well informed on the subject