"By the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen the advance in living costs between 1914 and 1917 was placed at 43 per cent. Conditions among ship-building workers on the Pacific coast, as arrived at by the United States Shipping Board, indicated that between June, 1916, and February, 1918, living costs had gone up 46 per cent. A table is given which shows relative increase in the cost of food as measured by wholesale and retail prices for the past six years."
| Year and Month | Relative Wholesale Price of | Relative Retail Price of Food | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farm Products | Food, Etc. | ||
| 1913 | |||
| Average for year | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| January | 97 | 99 | 98 |
| April | 97 | 96 | 98 |
| July | 101 | 101 | 100 |
| October | 103 | 102 | 104 |
| 1914 | |||
| Average for year | 103 | 103 | 102 |
| January | 101 | 102 | 104 |
| April | 103 | 95 | 97 |
| July | 104 | 103 | 102 |
| October | 103 | 107 | 105 |
| 1915 | |||
| Average for year | 105 | 104 | 101 |
| January | 102 | 106 | 103 |
| April | 107 | 105 | 99 |
| July | 108 | 104 | 100 |
| October | 105 | 104 | 103 |
| 1916 | |||
| Average for year | 122 | 126 | 114 |
| January | 108 | 114 | 107 |
| April | 114 | 117 | 109 |
| July | 118 | 121 | 111 |
| October | 136 | 140 | 121 |
| 1917 | |||
| Average for year | 188 | 177 | 146 |
| January | 147 | 150 | 128 |
| April | 180 | 182 | 145 |
| July | 198 | 180 | 146 |
| October | 207 | 183 | 157 |
| 1918 | |||
| January | 208 | 188 | 160 |
| April | 217 | 179 | 154 |
CIVIL WAR COST OF LIVING
The Civil War years of the United States were always remembered as the era of high prices. Yet it is interesting to know that the increase in living cost after the United States had been in war one year was greater than the increases in the fourth year of the Civil War. During the Civil War prices rose from 100 to 117 per cent., but necessities were relatively cheaper than at present because the currency was depreciated. In January, 1864, gold was at a premium of 52 per cent.
Emerson David Fite, assistant professor of history in Yale University, describes "Social and Industrial Conditions During the Civil War" as follows:
"The situation in New York City at the end of the year 1863 is typical of the period. Eggs had then reached 25 cents per dozen, from 15 cents in 1861; cheese, 18 cents from 8 cents; potatoes, $2.25 from $1.50 per bushel, and for all the necessities of life there was an advance ranging from 60 to 75 and in some cases even 100 per cent. Wages, on the other hand, lagged behind; the blacksmith's increase was only from $1.75 to $2 per day, that of common laborers from $1 to $1.25, that of bricklayers from $1.25 to $2, and the average increase in all the trades was about 25 per cent., or less than one-half the increase of prices. The winter of 1863—64 and the ensuing months were accordingly a time of unusual industrial unrest, which increased in severity as the discrepancy between wages and prices continued. The dollar was slowly but surely diminishing in value, and labor engaged in a determined struggle to force wages up, capital to keep them down. The advantage lay with the employing classes, but labor in 1864 recovered much of the ground that had been lost in the two previous years, and the war closed with wages much nearer prices than a year earlier. It was generally agreed at the time that prices during the entire war period advanced approximately 100 per cent. and wages from 50 to 60 per cent."
WHERE THE COST OF LIVES WEIGHED THE MOST
The rapid rise in the cost of living was much more severely felt by the classes of the population dependent upon small or less rigid incomes. In many industries wages increased faster than everage average living expenses. Figures published by the New York Labor Bureau show that the sum distributed in wages to industrial workers was substantially doubled in the four years of warfare. Investigation conducted by the National Industrial Board of Boston showed that there had been an increase of 50 to 55 per cent. in the budget of the average wage earner from July, 1914, to June, 1918.
"The increases for the different items are given as follows:
| Food | 62% |
| Rent | 15% |
| Clothing | 77% |
| Fuel and light | 45% |
| Sundries | 50% |
| Average increase (depending on apportionment of these respective items in the family budget) | 50% to 55% |