Friday, September 29, 1916.

“The bread furnished Saratogians is about to join the bread of other cities throughout the country in a jump in prices,” The Saratogian reports today as a headline proclaims, “FIVE-CENT BREAD LOAF SOON TO GO.”

The first step toward a uniform price hike to six cents for a small loaf of bread is taken by M. J. Rowland’s bakery, which announces that the new price will take effect next Monday. The price of the large loaf will remain ten cents. Six cents in 1916 is equivalent in buying power to $1.32 in 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Rowland also announces “a small advance in the price of pastry and cakes.” He blames a recent jump in the prices of flour, shortening, sugar and cooking oil, driven by wartime demand in Europe, for the higher prices. The price of bread flour alone has more than doubled, from $4.50 to $9.25, since the European war began in the summer of 1914.

“It was one of those things; raise the price, decrease the size or go bankrupt, and the first seemed more feasible,” Rowland tells a reporter.

The Warehouse Bakery had already raised the price of cakes from ten cents to twelve cents a dozen at the start of September. Lampe’s Bakery “has not yet decided concerning the proposal to increase,” but both bakeries are expected to join Rowland in adopting the six-cent loaf.

ST. MICHAEL’S FESTIVAL. “Today is the feast of the great archangel, Saint Michael,” The Saratogian reports, “and due honor was done the name of the Christian Mars by the Italian citizens of the town.”

Saratoga Springs’ Italian neighborhoods celebrate the saint’s day “with all the enthusiasm that is a characteristic of their people, and as a consequence there is no lack of excitement, color or noise in the region of Beekman, Oak and Ash streets today.”

The festivities begin with Mass at St. Peter’s Church and a sermon in Italian. The “secular portion of the observance” is a procession featuring an oil painting of the saint, “clad in armor and ready for battle with the powers of Satan.

The reporter on the scene describes “A curious Italian custom….At each side or [the portrait] walked two little girls, clad in white, wearing white wreaths and carrying white ribbons that were attached to the picture. As a mark of reverence to the Saint, the Italians pinned gifts of money on these ribbons in whatever amount they could afford.” The $84 donated will go toward next year’s celebration. This year’s event closes with a 7:30 p.m. parade and a 9 p.m. fireworks display. – Kevin Gilbert