I have followed with much interest the discussions of last week re comparative values, the past with now.  While it is with respect that I read the CPI estimates of the Govt. suggested by one researcher here, I simply do not believe those numbers work with any accuracy whatever if one is speaking of the ordinary lower or low middle class to which groups most of our ancestors belonged AND if we consider the huge variances in the weather between such as Maine and Georgia and Miss.

I use the following multipliers for the common man and his family and all others who ate and lived in a frugal un-fancy way.  Considering those caveats, I use 60 for the late 17th century, 55 for the period 1700-1750, 50 for the Revolutionary War years, 45 from 1785-1835ish, 40 for the years 1840-1855, 35 for the Civil War (in the North, and in the South, IF in reckoning one considers the collapse of the Confed. currency), 30 for the years 1865-1895, 25 for the turn of the 20th century, 20 for the years to the beginning of WW2, 15 from after that war till about 1955, and 10 from about the year 1960 to 1980, and 2 for the years 1980-now.

While all can debate those numbers, I won't, since the same work for me.  I arrived at these numbers  by comparing the prices of 5 lbs of sugar and 5 of flour or corn meal, 5 lbs of good smoked ham, a 100 lb. front quarter of beef, 10 lbs of spare ribs, 5 lbs. of bacon, 10 lbs. of butter, 50 baby chicks, 20 chickens for eating, a man's suit, shoes for a woman and for children, a chest of drawers of ordinary craftsmanship, a table from which 6 folks could eat and made of oak, the price charged by MDs for obstetrics, a hair cut for men (2-3 cents in the 1st of the 18th century), 500 bd. ft. of ordinary building pine lumber, 10 lbs of 12p nails, a bushel of apples, the price of a grade mare for riding or recreation, the wages of a house servant, a day of labor for a common man, the average income for a small farmer, and the salary of a ordinary preacher.

If accuracy is what you truly want, try it yourself for YOUR area of the country and your time period in question, as those condition will reveal wide variances.  Go to Ebay and buy a reproduction Sears catalog from 1900 or thereabouts; such are very inexpensive.  Then read a county history from PA, KY, OH, IL, NY or some other middle state; there you will find many costs, prices, and values stated for this and that.  

A couple examples will suffice; a gallon of maple syrup in the deep South in 1825 was MUCH more costly at every period than has been the price of the same in New England.  Similarly, wheat for flour was much cheaper in Ohio in the 1840s than it was in GA, where corn meal was the mainstay for breads.  Finally, fruits and vegetables were highly seasonal and the prices in the South varied widely from those states north of the Mason Dixon line.

As Mr. Justice Holmes said, "No generalization is worth a damn."
 
Paul

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