Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1875 — Family Necessities. [ARTICLE]

Family Necessities.

In these times when money is scarce, trade is depressed and values are inflated, it is cheering to ffie that a few of the actual necessities of life can still be purchased at reasonable figures. The price-list of wild animals has just been issued and received in this city. It is very gratifying, at a time when people feel obliged to economize, to learn that many of the most desirable and useful beasts and reptiles are lower. You can get a sound lion now for from $1,500 to $2,000. Lions are down. A great many people during the past hard winter have been compelled to deprive themselves of lions on account of their high price. Some families, not accustomed to habits of self-denial, it is true paid the largest figures rather than be without lions, but the majority have been obliged to wait until the Hon market was easier. But the prices which now prevail leave no excuse for the man who would suitably provide for the comfort of his family. With lions at such cheap rates scarcely a householder need be without one. The father who would deny his home-circle the pleasures of a lion now would make his wife take in washing and his children strip tobacco. Every one will be glad to know that elephants are easier. They are quoted frem $2,000 to $6,000, according to size. A neat, reliable elephant, suitable for a cottage-house and a small family, can be obtained for the inside figures. The largest ones, appropriate for the spacious drawing-rooms of Calumet avenue palaces, of course, are much higher. But from the wide range of prices everybody will be able to select a very good style of elephant at a cost within his means.

I^.ll ,<1 i»i I.n. J lIJTI. .. . ,1.1.,.. As the public become aware of the fact that they are no longer held at exorbitant figures elephants will be restored to their proper place in the domestic circle. No one who makes any pretensions to wealth or social distinction will hereafter incur the taunts and sneers of fashionable neighbors by being without one. A single elephant will do very well for a family of ordinary size and means. The proud and affluent, however, will indulge in more. A good parlor camel can be obtained for a mere song. The best ones can be purchased for S6OO. This fact will make them unpopular among the affluent classes, who will not look with favor upon anything cheap; whatever may be its intrinsic merits. Tne camel has his good points, but he is erratic about his meals, and is said to be an intractable pet, as he gets his back up with no apparent reason. But the cheapness of camels will always recommend them to the humbler classes.

We are disappointed in giraffes. They are still very high. We had hoped, in common with thousands of others, that these important essentials to the happiness of every home would be furnished this season at more reasonable rates. It is hard to do without one’s giraffe. ’ It is painful to pay SB,OOO for such an actual necessity during these hard times. The result of this high rate will be that people, especially the poor, will retain their last year’s giraffes, and, consequently, the suffering will be much less than at first might be supposed. But if giraffes are high we find an agreeable recompense in the next item — anacondas. These fashionable and popular reptiles are much easier. The fears that were entertained during the winter that the great demand for anacondas would cause a marked advance in their price have proved groundless. They are lower than ever before. A handsome, trustworthy anaconda can be purchased for SSOO. This is by the single serpent, mind you. Families who desire a dozen or more, in all probability, can supply themselves at more favorable rates. There certainly need be no cause for grumbling this year at the price of anacondas. People who have been borrowing trouble about the anaconda market may now rest easy. It is quite probable that larger orders than usual will be the rule, in anticipation of an advance. It is not safe to assume that anacondas will remain long at the present low figures. Leopards are very reasonable, being quoted at SSOO, while bears —a home commodity—are rated at $1,200. The latter figure seems high, but it must be remembered that Custer’s and other expeditions to the Black Hills have made bears scarce. People who have been greatly annoyed at the discovery of the povery which the want of a rhinoceros betrays, and have determined this year to be on a par with their more stylish neighbors in this respect, will be pleased to know that rhinoceroses are quite reasonable. A very good one can be purchased for $5,000, and the most elegant and stylish can be had for SIO,OOO. This will bring them within the reach of almost everybody. A person who would complain at these rates would walk a mile to ride in a three-cent stage and would try to beat down on the price of a paper collar. There is one item on the list which will cause astonishment, and cast a shadow upon many happy hearthstones. “ Hippopotamuses, $12,000 to $15,000.” This is a' cruel, heartless extortion. Everybody requires a hippopotamus. A person may go hungry, and sleep in a hard bed, but he will not willingly deny his wife and family the comfort of a hippopotamus. Even the poor and lowly cannot be without one. What is home without a hippopotamus? There is no good reason in this advance of one of the necessities of life. No information has been received of a short crop of hippopotamuses. It looks very much as if this rise in price was the result of a ring, a diabolical combination formed to put up the cost in the face of a great demand. If this is so, the base, infamous scheme should be at once exposed. . If there is a hippopotamus corner the people should know it, and the sooner the better; and the fiendish manipulators who would ruthlessly deprive the poor man of his hippopotamus should be held up to public execration and contempt.— Chicago Tribune.