The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-18
Price of Bread Will Be Raised In London By All
 the Bakers
WHEAT EXPERTS TRY ID
 EXPLAIN CONDITIONS
British Wheat Dealers Do Not Say Pat ten Is Responsible, But Give Him Credit for Looking
 Far Ahead.

London, April 11-6Special 1.-The in- ] articulate millions of England dwelling in l the industrial slums of great cities Ike London, Liverpool Birmingham and Glas-
 sow, have only known the name of Jim
 Patten for the past week. but despite l their brief acquaintance with the genius
 of the Chicago wheat pit they have be-
 come vocal and have been cursinR his 1 name roundly for many days l The chorus of curses will become unan-
 imous on Monday when. by the action of
 the wholesale and retail bakers of all the
 great cities of Great Britain, 1 cent will
 be added to the price of loaf of bread everywhere.
 1 An increase of 1 cent on a two-pound ] loaf may not mean much to the prosper ous protected masses of the United States, | but it frequently spells tragedy in the cities of Great Britain where in the best of circumstances 25 per cent of the pop l ulation are registered paupers, and the margin between the line of comfortable living and deprivation is dellmited by ] even 1-cent increase In the price of | daily bread.
 Who Is Responsible? Whether Jim Patten is responsible for l the new economic crisis thrust upon the masses Of the great cities of England or not, those masses do not care. The mar | ket experts of England admit that Patten 1 has merely seen his chance and seized it. | They admit that the alarming advance In l the price of wheat and the consequent in- | crease in the price of the baked loaf is l due primarily to a shortage in the world g l supply and noi to Pattefs corner
 Mark Mayhew one of the greatest
 wheat alid flour dealers in England, sad i today:
 Tine world is not suffering so much fo-
 day from the scarcity of last years har-
 vest as from the paucity of the previous
 harvest"
 J. R. Carthew one of Englands s great est experts on wheat and flour production, 1 said:
 It is true that the population of the 1 world is increasing yearly and naturally
 more bread is being consumed. but that Is
 not new. l believe that the additional supplies of wheat derivabe from the enor-
 nous tracts of unc1ltivated land in tho 1 United States, Canada, Argentina, Aus
 tralia and Russia will keep pace with tAe 1 WOiih lHtI6dsSu COHSullptlOn. twenty 1 years ago, Argentina exported no wheat l 1t is now the second largest exporter In
 the world. The universal shortage of
 wheat or anything approaching it is in- | conceivable that the present high prices l of wheat will so stimulate production that ! prices will be bound to decrease within few years"
 1 An Editors View. | The editor of Mark Lane Express, a ! famous English organ on the wheat and i flour trade of the world, said: Apart from the questions of the ma 1 nipulation of the American markets by 1 a single individual or clique with tha | object of forcing prices to fictitious ] level, We cannot deny that the tendency ! of wheat, flour and bread prices are to i become dearer Undoubtedly the manipu- i lations in America have excited the wheat markets of the world, but the causes of
 the recent advances in England are not
 due 10 manipulations in the pit in Chl- ! cago but to a shortage of supply and ab-
 senee of stocks in this country"
 The editor of the Mark Lane Express argues that America is rapidly catching
 mp in consumption with Its own produe- ton, thereby limiting the amount of grain produce available for export. Ths editor believed that the decrease in this years Argentine crop has depleted the English stocks, thus increasing prices. iiS QuolSS SAdllSblCS SlOWlIB tndl Ll5 gradual Increase in the price of wheat from all the worlds sources during ths past nine years is an increase of ap- proximateiy 75 per cent. Forecasting tho immediate future, the editor asserts that durln the next month England ought to see a drop in prices of shilling 10 three shillings per quarter of eight bush- els or 240 pounds. He believes that ths average of prices will continue higher, however, than for many years past.
 Bread Goes Up.
 All the bakers unions in England have agreed to raise the price of tho two pound loaf which is the popular sized loaf in England cent on Monday. The poor of England expect to face an additional increase of cent within u month.
 The Daily News quotes the laws of Germany and France providing for ef- tective regulations against gambling in the necessities of life and concludes cyn- ically:
 Tt is by the strangest irony that tho great democracy of the west is left to easy and absolute prey of a gambler in food"
 Meanwhile the masses In English cities who never read editorials or the specula- tions of the market experts know but one man the author of the increase In the price of their daily bread His mama is Jim Patten. All the working forces ol England curse him roundy.