Assuming that to be true — which is possible, I don’t know what one person or institution devalued the currency so greatly.

1914 sugar was 59 cents/#. Last month under 23 cents/#, a 61% drop, not even counting that sugar back then was bought with silver coins.

1914 gasoline 12 cents/gallon versus $3.37 in Brewton — 28 times as high.

A dozen 1914 eggs more than 35 cents, usually less than a dollar now so less than three times as much. Potatoes: 18 cents per pound versus less than 50 cents per pound now — around 2.8 times as expensive in dollar amounts, still ignoring the change from gold and silver to pure promises.

A 1914 four cylinder Dodge was $785 versus $21,000 for a 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan with a 3.6-liter V6 engine, 6-speed automatic transmission, sliding doors, sound system, CD/DVD/MP3 player, anti-lock braking, airbags, a 3-year/36,000-mile warranty.

About 27 times as much cost, but you aren’t really comparing apples to apples since the 1914 Dodge lacked several of the features mentioned.

Further, if you had that $785 in 1914 dimes or quarters, they’d be worth around $16,300 so the Caravan would only cost 1.29 times as much as a brand new 1914 four cylinder Dodge.

Confusing isn’t it? That’s because nothing has an absolute value — not food, not money, not cars. Some things exist now that couldn’t be bought at ANY price ten years ago. Some things valued at thousands of dollars ten years ago are considered junk today even if they haven’t changed a bit.

David in a changing world

My son saw where someone said he could buy a gallon of gas for a quarter in his youth. JEG then looked up how much a silver quarter sold for nowadays and it was over seven dollars.

He pondered the change and noted, “That same quarter will now buy over two gallons of gas.”

David contemplating the fluctuating nature of currency

Yes, the oil and gas companies have us well trained, don’t they? We consider $3.37 a gallon to be cheap! I remember when I could get it for about 65 cents a gallon! Those were the days…….