Page:Stephen Graham - Russia in 1916 (1917).djvu/51

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Moscow Dearer than Berlin

means dearness of living, and it is the commonest in the townsman's vocabulary this season of the war.[1] The price of nearly every commodity in Russia has doubled or trebled since the outbreak of war. One would expect the price of manufactured goods to rise there; but the surprising phenomenon is that, despite the overwhelming abundance of foodstuffs in Russia and Russia's inability to export any of that abundance, food has become, on the whole, dearer than in Berlin. The Russian Word has a long list of comparative prices, showing that out of sixteen common articles of food ten have increased more in price in Moscow than in Germany. The price of mutton has increased 180 per cent. in Berlin, but it has increased 281 per cent. in Moscow; pork 114 per cent. in Berlin, 142 per cent. in Moscow; white bread 27 per cent. in Berlin, 45 per cent. in Moscow; sugar,

  1. ↑ The wages of professional people and of governmental and municipal employees, as well as of railway workers and clerks, have been raised 20 per cent. all round, as a recognition of the increased cost of living.

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