Cost of Living Rose 80-plus Percent During War and Additional 10 Percent Since Armistice Signed, Feb. 13, 1920

From The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Feb. 13, 1920

Costs Still Going Up

According to a resume given out on the last of December by the National Industrial Conference Board the cost of living has increased between 80 and 85 per cent since the beginning of the war. Living costs have increase 10.4 per cent, since the Armistice.

During December last food prices increased 5 per cent. Figures compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Department of Labor show that the general trend of prices upwards during the month for all necessities.

Schedule of increases from July 1914, to November 1919 is as follows:

Food, 92 per cent

Shelter, 38 per cent

Clothing, 135 per cent

Fuel, heat and light, 48 per cent

Sundries, 75 per cent.

The table of increases from July to November 1919 is as follows:

Food, 1 per cent

Shelter 7.8 per cent

Clothing, 15 per cent

Fuel, heat and light, 4 per cent

Sundries, 7 per cent.