At the beginning of the Prime Minister’s term, Mr. Cholaku said that PSD’s first fight “will be with prices and speculation.” Yesterday, the governor of the BNR said that the increase in indirect taxes (VAT) will lead to an increase in prices.

Since earlier this month, prices on some staples have been capped until the end of the year, with the Competition Council’s leadership confirming that average food prices have fallen.

However, after the withdrawal of the “anaesthetic”, it is possible that the prices of products will rise again. This is without taking into account the increase in fees and taxes, which will also be reflected in future price increases.

But nothing new under the sun. The increase in food prices, although today it is “packaged” in sometimes incomprehensible economic terms for the population, occurs in any more delicate period of history – pandemics, epidemics, droughts, wars, etc. Recently, there has been talk of price increases due to corporate greed (greedflation) or through methods of maintaining a constant price for low-weight products (shrinkflation). Techniques that have worked for hundreds of years, only they had different names.

Vode Ypsilanti: In his time, Bucharest was plentiful and cheap

One of the best economic periods (with low prices and material prosperity) is the reign of Wode Ypsilanti. But he was afraid of the townspeople, so he went to great lengths to please them. Another Phanariot gentleman, Vode Karaja, also strongly condemns the “speculation” practiced by those who seek to “make evil gains”.

Alexander Vode Ypsilanti was the ruler during the following periods: in Wallachia – September 15, 1774 – February 1782 and August 1796 – December 1797. Then he ruled Moldova from December 1786 to April 19, 1788.

Take a look at what the 1935 anti-trust law looked like

“During his time, there was abundance and cheapness in Bucharest,” say the chroniclers

We learn the details from IG Ionescu-Gion, Istoria Bucureştilor, IV Socec, Bucharest, 1899, p. 466 (taken from Mihai Tătărăm, La margine de Bucharest, Sport-Turism Publishing House, Bucharest, 1983, p. 105-107) : plow 10 lei; dairy cow 6 lei; a good riding horse 20 lei; lamb with lamb 1 lei; oranges, sugar, olives, cinnamon, pepper, meat – a pear, sometimes no more than two. Wine cabinet in the pub – 2 parals. Eggs – 10 pears. Big turkey – 15 parallel. Wheat flour – oh cocoa. Coffee – 2 zlotys each time. Wood oil – 20 parale okaua. Cow butter – 6 parales okaua.

Industrial goods were quite spicy, as they were imported from the north-west of Europe, and the road, especially by land, was also expensive and with numerous customs.

The supply produced in England (Englitera) was 8 lei per cubit, at most 10 lei. Inferior quality was 2 zlotys per cubit and even 1 lei.

But Ypsilanti Vodka wanted people to have low prices, not necessarily out of love for the people, but because they were afraid of the townspeople. Therefore, he constantly makes significant efforts to satisfy him, we learn from the book of the Romanian researcher Constanci Vintila (Passion and pleasure).

Vode Karagea categorically condemns the speculation of those who seek to “acquire evil benefits”

Another Phanariot gentleman, Vode Karaja, also strongly condemns the “speculation” practiced by those who seek to “make evil gains”.

Bucharest is never “in full”. Illegal business practices deprive the population of their daily food and force them to bear large expenses that they cannot afford.

For everyone who has wheat flour, sorghum, barley (for sale, of course), Voda Caragea creates a market (at first it was called meidan, from Turkish – wide place, maidan – the name that eventually became “market” after the Italian piazza) : the square near the houses of Ban Costache Gica, a “wide place” able to accommodate everyone. Measures are being taken to prevent the city from starving.

But the variety of products on the market does not mean their presence on the tables of fairs. The bag makes the difference again.

The food on the table of Dr. Stefan Episcupescu, a doctor from the capital of Bucharest, between 1805 and 1847, is very measured: “three or four courses, two greens for lunch, steak in the evening with an intoxicating drink of wine. , which does not exceed a liter, about two with water, and in the morning only sweet with water and coffee (Ilie Cojocaru, Documents on the Economy of Țării Româneşti, 1800-1850, Bucharest, 1959, I, February 4, 1813, pp. 151-152. )

The shortage of goods had the same reasons as today: bad harvests, bad roads, heavy rains, trade blockades. This can also be read from a merchant’s letter addressed to his customer: “in short, the goods do not come from there, as you think.”

Even a limited price set by the government (snowboard) can delay the sale of some products. “The price of sugar and pepper has fallen so much that sugar should be sold no more than 60 parali. “But I used to sell for 75 parale ocaua,” writes Tudoran Mihaly from Craiova. In the same year 1786, pepper is even worse: “pepper costs 2 lei per eye, but I tried very hard to give, and could not, because there were 2 eyes left unsold, and enough to give to grocers without money?”

Bread is sold according to the wheat harvest

If the harvest is bad, then bread is expensive; if there is a lot of wheat, then bread is cheap and affordable. For example, in 1807, a year of war and Russian occupation, a loaf worth 70 drams cost a penny. Vodă Ypsilanti hopes that this price will remain in place until “a supply of new wheat arrives”, but the war does not bring the long-awaited supply. In contrast, the next year bread costs 8 parali, and in 1809 it reached almost double the price: a loaf of bread costs 14 parali.

The quality of bread is evaluated as follows: “white, clean and well baked.” From the “recipes” translated by the doctor Dimitrii Samourkas (1818), we learn that there are two varieties: “black ordinary bread” and “white homemade bread”. The law stipulates that bread must be “white, clean and well-baked” and, above all, adhere to the weight.

That’s right, a large consumption of polenta makes bread not so popular. And when a city is struggling with poverty or plague or drought, Voda remembers its people and tries to satisfy their hunger by taking protective measures: fixed prices for basic food

The bread that the bakers take out, after its shortage, is even worse

In 1810, bakers from Bucharest were forced to make “crumbs” needed by the Russian army, and the city ran out of bread. Called to account, the bakers defend themselves by showing that they no longer have the time and bread to feed the people, and demand an alliance with those belonging to the simigiri and gimblar guilds so that the city does not lack basic food.

Their request is granted, but it brings peace only for a short time; soon it turns out that “the bread and jam that the bakers take out, because they are in short supply, are even worse.” Residents do not hesitate to complain again, the authorities intervene and order to resolve the situation, demanding under penalty of punishment that the bread corresponds to the required weight.

Bakers ignore the weight of the bread, cheating by “sneaking” the baked bread, thus making the bread large, forcing the poor to buy more than their pockets allow. Although I would like more, the poor man only has money for the fateful measure. Pitakul decrees: the bakers “let them bring out half an eye of eight and four parals each, so that it will be for the poor,” and not just “sixteen parals of bread.” In short: “plenty of bread and jam”

Bakers who bake small and bad bread should be tied by one ear to the door of a shop or house, and the goods should be distributed to the poor.

One German tells us that in Bucharest in 1830 it was accepted that “bakers who prepare too small and bad bread should be tied by the ear to the door of a shop or house. [lor], and give all good things to the poor. The punishment, which is painful and also leaves traces, does not scare the bakers, because the German is a witness to numerous executions, and on the street he daily encounters many such “offenders”, whom he recognizes “by their torn foreheads”. ears,” writes Constanza Vintila in Passion and Pleasure.

The punishment is not new, the chronicler Manolake Dragichi says that Alexander Mavrokordat Delibei, who became the ruler of Moldova in 1782, walked “incognito” in the Iași market, observing the execution of the prince’s orders. And who “from the butchers and pitaris dared to sell, that’s why his punishment was known: to beat him by the ear on the fire, where he would stand all day in front of the public, and many would remain useless and crazy. until the end of life”. These same practices are recorded by Dumitru Papazoglu in his book on the history of the foundation of Bucharest.

About this Alexander Deli Bey it is also said that he was in the habit of throwing carts full of bread and meat into the street to feed the poor, and the goods were confiscated from those who were caught in violations. Thus, every time he went out “in teptil”, as Manolache Drăghici writes, he was accompanied by groups of poor people who hoped to “agonize” something. Penal sanctions are recorded in the case of pitari from Phokshani. In 1848, the city administration introduced a number of fines to the budget for those who did not follow the rules for making bread.

Contracts were concluded under the “supervision and responsibility” of the police chief

To avoid any speculation, the official gazettes announce the prices of wheat and cattle every day. Of course, all of these rules apply to wheat, millet, spelt, and all seeds that can eventually be turned into flour.

Contracts must be concluded under the “eye and responsibility” of the chief of police, “the president and members of the ephoria (of the city of Iasi), face to face with the elders of corporations and leading businessmen” (George Fotino). , From the time of the national revival of the Romanian country Boierii Golești, Imprimeria Naţională, Bucharest, 1939, volume II, p. 147, July 1840).

But not everyone eats bread. During a statistical analysis in 1849, Nicolae Sutsu discovered that the vast majority of Moldavians did not know the concept of bread. Only 120,409 Moldovans out of 1,341,696 inhabitants eat bread, the rest eat dollop flour. Even in Iasi, those who consume bread are not many, about a third, documentary sources also testify.

Used sources: Constanța Vintilă (Passion and pleasure), (George Fotino, From the time of the national revival of the Romanian country. Boierii Golești, Imprimeria Naţională, Bucharest, 1939, volume II, page 147, July 1840, (Nicolae Sutsu, Economic Works, Scientific Publishing, Bucharest , 1957, p. 216. Simion Câlţia, Urban or rural settlements? The cities of the Romanian countries from the end of the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century, Bucharest University Press, Bucharest, 2011, pp. 400-401.), digital library of his BKU