Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-05-24

BucuoS Aires, and freight paid on II.
less than the usual rates by virtue of
arrangements by the commission with
tho railway companies at Buenos Aires.
A cargo would be taken up by one OF
tho regular steamers of the commits
| sion. Inasmuch as the commission had
negotiated an arrangement with all of
the bcllSercnt governments that ships
! Hying the commissions flag would be
immune from attack at sea. they were
able to charter ships and obtain rates
Mt less than normal. This cargo. in
duo time. arrived at Rotterdam and
, was there discharged into lighters.
which are under time charter to the
commission. These lighters arc lowed
down the canals from Rotterdam into
Belgium. and discharged into one Of
the five milling ccnters in Belgium.
The -four mills in these five cities are
operated on behalf of the comm ssion,
whereby the commission agrees to pay
| for the labor and actual cost of opera
ton. Tho wheat is milled into so per
cent flour, and 90 per cent bran. and
the bran is sold to the municipal dairies
to feed the cattle and thereby main
| tain the cycle of milk supply for the
| baby cantcens. The -four is again
loaded into lighters and is distributed
into provincial warehouses of the COM
mission. From these warehouses IL is
again distributed into ACCOMPLISHMENT
warehouses; The communal authori-
| tics come to the ACCOMPLISHMENT ware
houses for their supplies. The com
munes pay in cash to the arrondissc-
mcnt managers the stipulated price of
-four. and having removed 1t to the
communal warehouses there begins one
of the most interesting phenomena in
the detailed measures taken to secure
absolute economy and Justice in the
method of distribution. In the case
of -four. in the first instance, the Joint
organizations required the communes
to secure from all of the bakers COM
plete list of their customers These
lists were compared with the communal
record and a defpite number of per-
sons are assigned to each baker for
him to supply with bread. The baker
is put in bond to supply 325 grammes
Of good bread made from no other
material than that of the commission
Gin order to prevent adulteration)
daily to each adult customer and at
price fixed by the commission For
this purpose he received daily from
the communal warehouse $50 prammcs
of -four per adult. The communes sell
the -four to the baker ut tho same
price which they pay for it, The
baker is compelled to sell the bread TO
his customers for the same price that
he pays for the -four. hut. inasmuch
as bread made from $50 grammes of
-four increases to 325 Crammcs of
bread. by virtue of the water incor-
porated in baking, the baker thus oh
tains n small margin of profit with
which TO pay his workmen. Any con-
travention by the baker of the minute
rule set down means the punishment
of having his list of customers as
signed to some competitor.
The same system applies to the
handling of other materials On the
benevolent side, those who cannot af-
or their groceries from the grocer. APP
ply to the communal authorities. and
on investigation. are given tickets on
the communal store. These tickets
equal n certain ration per head in each
family per diem. The communal store
is stocked with foodstuffs partly i'm
ported and as stated above, partly pur-
chased locally by the communes from
tho cash partially supplied to them by
the communes. In addition TO the
handling of the imported food supplies
the commission now handles con-
siderable amount of internal food pro-
| ducc, rs it has been necessary to buy
potatoes in some portions OF Belgium
and send them to other parts aside
from the very large quantity of pota
| toes now being imported. The com
mission recently purchased 5000 tons
OF coffee from the stores commandered
at Antwerp and has resold this
throughout the country.