HE year 1940 opens with a new record figure for the cost of living of Shanghai workers.
The January general index is 325.44, surpassing the 1936 index by 225.44 per cent, that of) January 1939 by 114.57 per cent., and that of last December, which was the highest on record, by 7.03 per cent. Consequently the purchasing power of the dollar has been reduced from $0.3289 of its 1936 value in last December to $0.3073 in the present month, All group indices show increases over the December figures as well.
The extent of rise is shown below:—
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.