The herald., 1893-05-14
BRe.>p IS roo DEAR.


A New York Paper WAKES EIoqnant over
the Extortions Of Millionaire Bakers.
The cry is for bread.
Throughout this severe winter. with
its pinching cold, its billiards. and its
almost unparalleled SHOWS, the great
army OF the unemployed has been having
q grim battle with want. For tho 65 900
people now and for weeks past out Of
work there lisa daily and nightly strug-
gle to keep the wolf from the door. to
procure somehow the "etaff Of life, y and
how this is to be successfully accom-
pushed is' a grave question indeed for
the consideration of the 1,150,000 Of
New York's citizens. Strong fuen turn
aside from any suggestion of charity.
but what they want is chance to buy.
with the few remaining pennies of the
little hoard, the necessaries Of life.
Bread is too dear.
! With this broad land OVERLOOKING with
wholesome food the poor people Of this
city feel that they are, paying too much
for every article of daily need In the
| modest household. America is called
the great granary of the world, and this
must be true, for the enormous stock of
wheaS from the last harvest is Cutting
the markets. everywhere. Railroad IA
cilities have been taxed to the utmost to
move the crops from the west. The
storehouses out there, we are told, are
bullying with grain, and wheat has be-
come such drug on the exchanges that
even the spectators have been unable
to manipulate corner OF keep prices
from going down, down, until the finest
wheat raised in the world is worth little
more than q cent pound. Out Of this
great abundance the workingman ought
to be able to live more cheaply than. he
does. It is true that trusts and monop-
olies have something to do with main
tanning retail prices of commodities on a
fictitious plane, but still there must be
some other fact to which is also partly
due the high price of bread.
Bread must be cheaper,
Wheat is away down to rock bottom
figures, and even so. Europe wants but
little of our golden grain, because Of the |
enormous crops of India, Australia and
southern Russia. Flour is also very low;
In fact, is worth less in this market today |
than for many years before, Trainloads |
OF the choicest flour of the west are COM
ing in every day, and our warehouses are
piled to the roof beams with hundreds |
of thousands Of barrels and sacks. Go
down among the commission merchants
of Washington street OF to the Produce
Exchange and you can buy flour as low
as $3.50 a barrel This Is unprecedented.
The grade called 'superfine" is quoted at
only SO, and if that is not good enough
for most of us there must be something
wrong in the men who gave the brand
such q taking name. It is true that
housewives probably prefer the higher
priced patent" so called, or ''rosler"
flour, but as breadmaking in private
families is practically q lost art in this
city, at least thing of the past, atten-
ton Is directed solely to the baker when
ever the question of flour is discussed,
Bakers are growing rich. Il
There can be no disputing the fact that
the 1900 bakers in New York are thriv-
ing. Look at the wholesale bakers
Most of them have erected new build
ings within the past year or two, and all
of them have introduced new machinery,
fittings e -. end appliances and. haxfGbvl@b5
men are becoming wealthy out of the
profits of breadnaking cannot be ques-
toned for moment. In fact, they ac-
knowledge frankly that they are making
hand over fist. Nobody begrudges
their prosperity, but an inquiry as to the
rate Of profits is pertinent at this time of
sore need among a very large class Of our
What is a fair profit for the
big and little factories which in the ag-
gregate turn out $50, 900 pounds Of bread
every day except Sunday? Is 100 per
cent too much2 Half the people think it
is, and the other half believe TINT it
s,nacks of extortion. "But," say the
rich wholesale bakers, "the price of
bread has remained practically un-
changed for 20 years, and if -four hap
pens to be wonderfully cheap just now
there is no harm in taking the profits
which come our way" That is true n
enough, but there must certainly besome
way for the consumer to get his share Of
this prosperity. York Advertiser.