TABLE 3.--AVERAGE RETAIL PRICES OF SPECIFIED ARTICLES OF FOOD AND AMOUNT PURCHASABLE FOR $1, IN EACH YEAR, 1913 TO 1921, AND IN AUGUST, 1922. Index Numbers of Retail Prices of Food in the United States. IN TABLE 4 index numbers are given which show the changes in the retail prices of each of 22 food articles, by years from 1907 to 1921, and by months for 1921, and for January, February, March, April, May, June, July, and August, 1922. These index numbers, or relative prices, are based on the year 1913 as 100 and are computed by dividing the average price of each commodity for each month and each year by the average price of that commodity for 1913. These figures must be used with caution. For example, the relative price of rib roast for the year 1920 was 168, which means that the average money price for the year 1920 was 68 per cent higher than the average money price for the year 1913. The relative price of bacon for the year 1919 was 205 and for the year 1920, 194, which figures show a drop of 11 points but a decrease of only 5 per cent in the year. In the last column of Table 4 are given index numbers showing the changes in the retail cost of all articles of food combined. From January, 1913, to December, 1920, 22 articles have been included in the index, and beginning with January, 1921, 43 articles have been used. For an explanation of the method used in making the link between the cost of the market basket of 22 articles, weighted according to the average family consumption in 1901, and the cost of the market basket based on 43 articles and weighted according to the consumption in 1918, see MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW for March, 1921 (p. 25). The curve shown in the chart on page 31 pictures more readily to the eye the changes in the cost of the family market basket and the trend in the cost of the food budget than do the index numbers given in the table. The retail cost of the food articles included in the index has decreased since July, 1920, until the curve is brought down in August, 1922, to approximately where it was in March, 1917. The chart has been shown on the logarithmic scale," because the percentages of increase or decrease are more accurately shown than on the arithmetic scale. 4 See note 2, p. 25. 5 For index numbers of each month, January, 1913, to December, 1920, see MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW for February, 1921, pp. 19-21. 6 For a discussion of the logarithmic chart see article on "Comparison of arithmetic and ratio charts" by Lucian W. Chaney, MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW for March, 1919, pp. 20-34. Also, The 'ratio' charts," by Prof. Irving Fisher, reprinted from Quarterly Publications of the American Statistical Association, June, 1917, 24 pp. TABLE 4.-INDEX NUMBERS SHOWING CHANGES IN THE RETAIL PRICES OF THE PRINCIPAL ARTICLES OF FOOD IN THE UNITED STATES, BY YEARS, 1907 TO 1921, AND BY MONTHS FOR 1921 AND A PART OF 1922. [Average for year 1913=100.] Sirloin Round Rib Chuck Plate Pork Ba Ham. Lard. Hens. Eggs. Butter. Cheese. Milk. Bread. Flour. Corn meal. Rice. Pota- Su- Coftoes. gar. fee. Tea. Year and month. steak. steak. roast. roast. beef. chops. con. TREND IN THE RETAIL COST OF ALL ARTICLES OF FOOD, COMBINED, FOR THE UNITED STATES, BY MONTHS, JANUARY, 1913, TO AUGUST, 1922. Retail Prices of Food in 51 AVERAGE retail food prices are shown in Table 5 for 39 cities for August 15, 1921. For 12 other cities prices are shown for the not scheduled by the bureau until after 1913. TABLE 5.-AVERAGE RETAIL PRICES OF THE PRINCIPAL ARTICLES [The prices shown in this table are computed from reports sent monthly to the bureau by retail dealers. 1 The steak for which prices are here quoted is called "sirloin" in this city, but in most of the other cities included in this report it would be known as porterhouse steak. 21.0 22.6 22.4 18.6 18.8 18.7 33.1 25.0 24.3 28.6 23.1 21.6 27.5 27.3 25.4 28.4 25.0 25.0 36.6 34.5 33.0 59.0 71.5 85.7 60.7 70.8 72.9 53.1 62.6 70.5 |