AVERAGE RETAIL PRICES OF COAL PER TON OF 2,000 POUNDS, FOR HOUSEHOLD USE, ON JANUARY 15 AND JULY 15, 1913, AUGUST 15, 1923, AND JULY 15 AND AUGUST 15, 1924-Continued

AVERAGE RETAIL PRICES OF COAL PER TON OF 2,000 POUNDS, FOR HOUSEHOLD USE, ON JANUARY 15 AND JULY 15, 1913, AUGUST 15, 1923, AND JULY 15 AND AUGUST 15, 1924-Concluded

Per 25-bushel lots (1,900 pounds).

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; August, 1923, and July and August, 1924, $1.25. These charges have been included in the price.

A

Index Numbers of Wholesale Prices in August, 1924

FURTHER upward movement of wholesale prices is shown for August 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, rose to 149.7 for August, compared with 147.0 for July and 150.1 for August, 1923.

Large increases in cost of farm products and foods were again chiefly responsible for the rise in the general price level. Among farm products advances in the price of grains, hogs, eggs, hay, hides, tobacco, and wool offset declines in the price of lambs, cotton and cottonseed, onions, and potatoes, resulting in a net increase of 3 per cent for the group. In foods there were substantial increases in the price of fresh and cured pork, hams, coffee, rye and wheat flour, lard, lemons, oranges, and vegetable oils. The net increase in this group approximated 4 per cent. Important articles in the groups of cloths and clothing, chemicals and drugs, and miscellaneous commodities also showed price increases.

Building materials and house-furnishing goods were slightly higher in price than in July, while fuels were cheaper. No change in the general price level was reported for the group of metals and metal products.

Of the 404 commodities or price series for which comparable data for July and August were collected, increases were shown in 167 instances and decreases in 99 instances. In the case of 138 commodities no change in price was reported.

INDEX NUMBERS OF WHOLESALE PRICES, BY GROUPS OF COMMODITIES

Comparing prices in August with those of a year ago, as measured by changes in the index number, it is seen that the general level has slightly declined. Considerable decreases took place in the groups of fuel and lighting materials, metals and metal products, building materials, and house-furnishing goods, while smaller decreases are shown for cloths and clothing and miscellaneous commodities. Farm products, foods, and chemicals and drugs, on the other hand, averaged higher than in August, 1923.

The course of wholesale prices, since December, 1914, is shown in the logarithmic chart on the following page.

19132100

125

Comparison of Retail Price Changes in the United States and Foreign Countries

TH

HE principal index numbers of retail prices published by foreign countries have been brought together with those of this bureau in the subjoined table after having been reduced in most cases to a common base, namely, prices for July, 1914, equal 100. This base was selected instead of the average for the year 1913, which is used in other tables of index numbers compiled by the bureau, because of the fact that in numerous instances satisfactory information for 1913 was not available. A part of the countries shown in the table now publish index numbers of retail prices on the July, 1914, base. In such cases, therefore, the index numbers are reproduced as published. For other countries the index numbers here shown have been obtained by dividing the index for each month specified in the table by the index for July, 1914, or the nearest period thereto as published in the original sources. As stated in the table, the number of articles included in the index numbers for the different countries differs widely. These results should not, therefore, be considered as closely comparable with one another. In certain instances, also, the figures are not absolutely comparable from month to month over the entire period, owing to slight changes in the list of commodities and the localities included at successive dates.

INDEX NUMBERS OF RETAIL PRICES IN THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER COUNTRIES