Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-19
BAKERS HELPLESS
WITH 6-CENT BREAD
PROFITS VANISHED
Little Man. Nervously
w atching g Wholesalers
and Gamblers, Threatens
to Quit Baking.

The small baker OF Philadelphia. be-
tween the devil and the deep blue sea.
uncertain whether to raise the price OF
his bread. whether to suffer a temporary
lose by selling II at the usual price OF
cents, or whether to stop baking al
together and wait until the crisis passes,
Is in a quandary today such as he has
never been in before.
From Kensington to West Philadelphia
the little man Is waiting to see what
the big wholesale people are going to do
and these in turn are Keeping an eagle
eve on the speCulators. one and all they
declare that, in face of the present un-
precedented situation. scent and oven j.
cent bread would nc justihable.
Yesterday Frederick MelNner, of 1901
Springfield avenue. announced that he had
raised the price to 6 cents. regardless of
public opinion, and today Mrs. Charles f.
Christmas, VITO uas uaIeshop at 324g
Woodland avenue, said with tears in her
voice that she, too would be forced in n
day or two to take this step
The bakers simply can't make a living
on 5-cent bread at the present price of
flour and only those can continue to sell
at that price who have a large stock OF
flour on hand" she said
IF the price OF meat goes up one-half
cent the butcher does not hesitate TO
raise his price several cents the pound,
and yet when the baker does the same
thing howl goes up on all sides.
Something has got to be done to keep
the price of flour down. The President
ought to be made to take some step
to keep the wheat in this country,
QUITS BAKING BREAD"
Unable to bake bread at cents Loaf
and fearing to raise his prices. Louis
Weller, a baker of SOth street and Hunt
ington avenue. declared this morning that
he had 'quit baking bread until the
cloud passes over
81 simply can't continue to lose
money on it, and so I've just stopped"
he said. "I'll start up when things be-
gin to look better"
According to Mrs. NJ Ketchum, secre-
tary of the Richmond Soup Society. the
situation in Kensington looks ominous.
Every year" she said, during the
season that the soup house is open, we
give away 800 to 500 loaves of bread daily,
and never before have | had any diff
Guilty in getting a contract. But this
year l cannot get one. because the whole
sale dealers are afraid to tie themselves
up, not knowing just how things are 60
ing to turn out
Furthermore, have always been able
to get from a philanthroplc dealer d
pound of bread for three cents. Now he
charges me cents for q of pound. The
outlook is very dark for the poor peo-
pie dependent on us"
In the opinion of Frank Weigel. of 2l27
Kcnsington avenue, the bakers OF Kens-
ington will either have to lose money or
go out of business; they cannot get
higher price from the residents of that
district.
CAN'T RAISE PRICE IN KENSING-
TON.
"The people must have bread" said he,
"and they can't pay more than cents,
so Wen have to be content with little or
no profit out here. The bakers Of more
well-to-do nc!ghborhoods will undoubted-
~ raise, and some of them have already.
their prices; but we out here cannot"
That the retail bakers are entirely jus
titled in the stand they are taking and
that they can do nothing else was the
Eist of a statement made today by w. II.
Jones, of he Samuel Bell Co, flour mer-
chants.
"Flour has advanced from 40 to so
per cent with the demand from the
war zone" he said, land the bakers
will have to raise their prices. This may
be very hard on the poor people of our
country, but ii will have to be borne.
There are 33,OOOOOO agrIculturists in the
United States today and this is their big
opportunity: we cannot blame them for
wanting to take advantage of IL. This
is their one chance, and l do not see
how anything practical can be done to
prevent their taking advantage of it."