The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-18
III BREAD QUESTION.

18o AeAAO GOA06tON'
Those housekeepers who complain of the
distance between ~high-priced bread and low
priced flour nave the remedy in their own
hands. Why don't they buy the -four and
make cheap bread for Observation-Disclosures
phia Record.
Your remedy will not bear inspection. By
the same means almost all our ills could be
cured, but the remedy might be regarded as
worse than the disease. If railway rates are
too high, we may avoid paying them by taking
a stage. hiring a rig from a stable, or by walk
ing. But nobody wants to walk in these days,
especially if he be in a hurry, or the distance
be long. The cars are a great convenience,
and in the matter of saving time
and in other ways are a great con-
venience. But it must be admitted that it
is possible to put the fare too high. The
butcher charges too much for meat. Must
we avoid this by doing our own "killing?'
The merchant asks extravagant prices for his
goods. Are we to drag out the spinning
wheel and loom9 No, that canno be done,
and the remedy lies in another direction. In
these later days cooperation, when one man
undertakes to furnish the meat of the com
munity, another the bread, another the fuel,
and yet another act as seller of
ries, there is such a thing as
a fair and honorable exchange rate. This
is generally based on the amount of profit to
be derived from the business. The merchant
who realizes 20 per cent. gross on wooden
fabrics when wool is worth 40 cents a pound,
would, if he mark not down the price at which
he sells, realize considerably more when wool
is selling at 20 cents per pound. 1t is exactly
so with the baker. With -four at $10a barrel,
he can afford to sell, say, a fo~urteen-ounce
loaf for five cents. Must he still tender
a fourteen-ounce or even nineteen ounce loaf
for a nickel" when -four is but S. and less a
barrell In this immediate connection we take
ground, not against the baker, but against
the remedy proposed. The baker might be
''boycotted" by bread consumers doing their
own baking; but "boycotting" is inconvenient
at best, and seldom hurts anybody as much
as those who undertake it. So it were better
that bakers, in common with other trades,
should show u reduction in price when there
is so marked a decrease in the price of flour.
But, turning from the consideration Of the
Records suggestion to the question of bread
on its merits, it cannot be denied that there
is widespread complaint Of the price Of bread,
or rather the size of %loaves, since the. price re
mains the same. The fve-cent loaf Of to-day
weighs nineteen ounces. To all outward ap-
pearances it is not different from the fve-cent
loaf Of the sixties, when -four was up to $12
and higher. The bakers business has grown
to such proportions that probably a majority
of families depend upon him for the daily sup
ply, and only the wealthy or well-to-do pre-
tend to do their own baking. Of course there
are exceptions. But it is safe to say that
most of the poor depend upon the baker for
any imposition practiced in the size of the
loaf. A writer in a Pittsburg paper presents
some truth in the following:
"The rich and the well to-do do not buy
bread as a rule. They prefer, as they have
reason to do. the homemade sort, which con-
tains no alum or other deliberations 1t is
therefore the poorer classes, whose small
wages go largely for bread, that enrich the
baker. But the rich and the well-to-do pay
their toll in tire shape of cakes, rolls, biscuits
and fancy baking. Wien flour was $12 a
barrel biscuits were sold at 16 cents a dozen,
at which price they are still SOLD, when flour
has gone down more than half. isot that
charming for the bakers7 The price of cakes,
fixed when -four was $40 a barrel, and when
eggs, butter and sugar were altitudinum, re-
mains the same to day, when -four has gone
Town more than 80 per cent, and the other in
gradients are also much cheaper. Isn't that
lovely for the bakersl Especially in view of
the fact that they can reduce the wages of
their assistants on the plea of hard times.
Really. it looks now as if the baker would
even out-rank the plumber"