The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1901-11-08
Bakers Are Excited Over the
Coming Of Kroger and
His Cheap Bread.
CALL 1T PHILANTHROPY.
Good Material, They Say, Of the
Regular Size Cannot Be Sold
for Less.

Baker. o. this city arc much excited
over the announcement that a bakery
will soon be started In New York which
VII! sell two ioayes OF bread for i've
cents. d. II. Krogcr. IA baker OF Gin
clnnatl. says THAI he will open a bakery
hero with capacity OF coo.cO ioavcs
day. and that he Is making arrange
rate OF two and half cents 4 loaf
1T IL an outrage on the public" he
Gays. TO charge I'VE ccats a loaf. The
poor people havr been robbed long
enough"
While tho local bakers who cry
ruin" every time II Is suggested that
they might sSil bread u: a lowrr price
than five cents l loa. aad stiil make a
good p1ofit. profess to believe that Mr..
Krogers enterprise Will result In TALL
ure. they indicate rlai.iy that ;,,-y 10
not relish tho coming form Of compc-
ti,icn.
Cannot Lower Prices.
.'KroEer may be able TO sell bread at
TWO and half cents n loaf out West.
they cry. but when he tries 1t hero he
will fail. We certainly cannot lower
our prices
And at the same time these bakers
ehccrfully admit that they make 10 per
cent. and not infreaucIily more. on
every loaf OF bread they sell.
An Evening World -epo.te. vtsIte>,
several OF the prominent bakers to-day
with view TO obtaining their opinion
on the proposition. Here Is what they
xah:
". L. Howard. manager OF B. A.
Cushmaa's bakery. at No. SIT sixth ave-
uue: Sell two Ioaves OF bread for nvo
cents and remain in business7 Wen.
hardly. Why It costs US two and one
half cents loaf out OF tho oven:' that
Is TO say. when tho bread II sent uD-
Eai.s. Our expenses have then only
begun. We must deliver the bread.
work up trade. collect bills. pay our
rent and our help and thousand and
one other things tha. you would not
dream Of.
Each Wagon $1,000 n Ysas.
Every delivery wagon. for Instance.
costs $1,000 n year to run. II we were
10 FELL our bread for any less than I'VE
CENTS n LOAF NO would eat up all our
profits. Those. ut best. are small.
"undc- normal conditions va cannot
make more than 10 per cent. a year.
OF oourse. years when fsur. butter,
lard and other ingredients are cheap.
we make more than that, but then
there nre years when. owing 20 the
high price 0. -four. our net profits fall
as low az S per cent.
"Out West. where labor Is cheap.
rents low and the delivery systems less
complicated. Mr.. Kroger may be able
to sell his bread \, TWO and one.halt
cents u loaf. But lie can't do !. here
that is. unless he either serves an
inferior quality Of bread or Is satisfied
With "A murh smaller margin OF profit
than a New York baker should have"
Regarded ns Philanthropy.
Mr. wall. OF J. Wall & Son. Forty
Htth street and Sixth avenue: "Mr
Kroscrs idea may be very good from
4 Isi,iIanthrop!st's point OF view. but II is
valuclcss from a good businessmans
have tried the .two-for-iivc' experiment
In the past forty years and every one
OF them has come to grief.
by putting cornmea in his bread
Mr.. krogcr might be able TO sell u
proftably a, the rate no proposes. But
II he uses as good ingredients and makes
as large loaves rs the average local
baker; ne VII, r lind IA. sas his books bal
How much profit do ! mako on my
bread? On. consider that ! am doing
remarkably. well " ! make 10 per cent.
They talk about rohbing tho poor people.
DO those who make the charge know
that tao loaf Of bread which tho east
side family buys from It's grocer costs
tho grocer himself I cei!ts?
'With his rent to pay he can hardly
afford to sell the loaf for less than 5
cents"
"Let 'Em All Come"
Representative Of Fleischmann's VI
erlna Model Bakery: Vest. have heard
that Mr. kroger intends coming on here
ssels u se nSw io ss Pfsas advsni
Will not bother us very much. Other
mistaken ph!lanthropists have come 70
si' Vial e th sn Roger RGS; said wer. ,ru. v.
", woula; BE- making profit Of more than
Wholesale baker Is very. glad to make a
% s5 cent Hoy Q! ,raa ass aGss 4 cost
II you'd Be- useless .:;I as criterion.
.ys VI ogke hc e ca,,Id be snrn OF selling
Il for less than nve cents. He never
knows. however. how much bread is
s ss s ssis Of that n' ss saa out Some !.
turned. This can be used only Tor
charitable purposes. or sold as stale
quently.. all tho loaves returned are
practically total loss
M: Il would be impossible for
his bread Tor less than five cents 4
loaf and get a good return on his
Investment While he aims to make
from ten to twenty per cent. pron',
money instead Of making IT.
Tho average consumer OF tho nve-