FISCAL: The Vanishing Jitney

Even a nickel wasn’t worth five cents any more. In a survey of Manhattan, the Daily Mirror found that a candy bar cost 7¢, shoelaces were two for 15¢. In a penny arcade, slot-machine psychoanalysis was 2¢ throw. Quipped one shopkeeper, overhauling his price lists on patent medicines: “If you experience stomach distress due to hyperacidity, it will now cost you 6¢.”