The morning times., 1896-10-27
DOES NOT AFFECT The LOAF
Dealers Say the Wheat Advance
Will Not Raise the Price of Bread.
Flour Has Gone Up Slightly and VIII
Follow the Market as 1t
Eluctuates.

The fluctuations in wheat have had
I their influence on the price of flour, as
coisunjefs have already learned, and all
| grades Of the latter are selling today for
| twenty-five cents or more on the barrel
| in excess OF what they brought week
| ago. The Increase Will continue 10 be
made slowly as ihe price In wheat ad
vances, while IL the price OF the cereal
declines these prices Will go down ac-
cordingly.
There is no immediate danger, and in
deed very lille remote fear however.
mat the charges for bread Will change and
The inan who PAID five cents II loaf al the
beginning of the year can get the same
, make and quality for The same money now.
Furthermore, wheat may continue To Climb
The ladder until 10 reaches point where
the farmer VIII find IL necessary TO close
his mouth tight 10 keep his heart within
his throat, and still the man who buys
his daily bread VIII get the same stuff
lie has been getting for exactly the same
money. The merchants and bakers VIII
suffer first and The consumer last, while
jhe farmer VIII gain throughout the whole
transaction.
Even IL We have dollar wheat. the
thing for Inch the farmer prays." said
an experienced grocer TO a Times reporter.
Il do not believe that ii will make an
appreciable difference in the price of bread
Bread costs us the same money and We
sell III for the same that We did two weeks
ago. or course, the baker does not make
quite SO much as he did before. Sun
his difference is not large and he is not
making it at a loss by long ways.
.'on flour the grocer always hurres to
follow the change downward. but he is
slow to advance his prices. The reason is
evident. He lowers his prices in order to
be the first in his field of competitors
He is slow to raise the price OF the com
modify because he Would be ahead OF his
rivals.
Flour has gone up, though. 1t retails
now at four and five cents Il pound. The
same grades Il fortnight ago brought three
and four cents respectively. The miller
advanced the price on the grocer because
his wheat went up. lam ready to speculate
on 5000 barrels OF flour today, under the
Impression that wheat will not go any
lower than 1T is now.
1t is not fair estimate, however, to
calculate the differences in price by the
pound. Those who bake their own bread
buy flour by the barrel or fraction of u
barrel. Grades that week ago brought
S5.2o barrel now sell at $500 a grade
that then sold III the eighth barrel, or
24 1-2 pound sack, Ior eighty cents, will
today cost the consumer eighty-five cents
Three weeks ago the same sack sold for
seventy-fiye cents, while it brought sixty
five oE seventy when wheat was at the
lowest"
Further inveSti cation showed that n
rise of a dollar "a barrel on flour Will
not produce any difference in tue price of
bread. 1t is in this necessity that the
consumers of Washington are most inter
ested. Those who make and bake their
own bread are in the vast minority. Grocers
say that the bulk of their flour trade is
among patrons WHO use it for incidental
Cooking purposes, While rich and Door
alike buy the bread they use.
There is no prospect of bread going
higher and the same grades may be eX-
pected for the same money, whatever rea
sonable changes there may be in the prices
tue farmer gets for his wheat.