The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-10-03
WHOLESALERS PREDICT PRICE OF FLOUR WILL
 ADVANCE STILL HIGHER
Consensus of Opinion Opposes Proposed Embargo Being Un fair to Farmers Who Are Entitled to the Fruits of Their Labor--Best Grade of Flour Now Retails for $1O
 Per Barrel and Is Still Going Up

100000 bushels for milling and seeding. It is estimated that the per capita use of flour in this country is one barrel. If by virtue of the exports of grain there will be only 100000 600 bushels avail able, the price of flour, to meet the demand, must rise. As to just how high this price will soar I cannot state but I do not believe that it will go much in eexcess of $10 barrell"
 V. S. Gage of Tyler Grocery company does not view the situation with alarm. He does not advise the retailer to load up on flour at the present figures, for he feels that it will not advance over $1 barrel more.
 We are offering flour to the retailer at figures from $7.5O to $9," MT. Gage said last night. q do not believe that flour will advance more than S1 a barrel during the approaching winter, It is true that the crop is short in compari- son to that of 1915, but l do not view the situation with alarm.
 q do not favor an embargo as a means of holding wheat in the United States. For many years Congress has passed legislation favorable to the farm CT and has urged him to plant grain upon his lands. Now that the farmer is reap ing the large harvest in dollars it would be utterly inconsistent for Congress 10 interpose and prevent him from filling his orders for export trade. An embargo would be blow to trade that we are building up with the other foreign na- tions. We have striven to get these trade relations, and an embargo would prove a serious setback to our efforts to carry on commercial business
 eve must economize. The manner in which the people ought to offset the high CT prices in flour is by using more corn lAr. ,,s,o 4I-- 4 IT-. with flour, but is cheaper and ought to supplant the wheat commodity in favor.
 "Foodstuffs are rising in price. Frank ly, it seems that it will be impossible for the laborer earning s1.50 and $2 a day to make ends meet. Wages must go up, or else prices must fall"
 FURTHER ADVANCES
 Charles G. Davis of B. F. Roden Gro- cery company said: ''We are quoting flour at prices ranging from SS.25 to S9. .25 barrel As wheat rises 1t will be necessary to increase the price of flour. For every cent that wheat rises per bushel flour will advance cents a bar rel. Today wheat scared from 1.531a to 1.567s. This is equivalent to a 15c ad- vance in the price of a barrel of the best flour.
 Within three or four months I believe that a barrel will bring $10. It is possi- ble that it will go even higher during the winter. During the last month a rise of about 75 cents a barrel was noted.
 T haven't given the embargo idea much thought. It would be hard to de- prive the farmer of legitimate profits"
 The retailer is in more serious plight, for his relations are with the consumers and the advances are noted in critical manner according to S. P. Fowlkes of Fowlkes & Myatt.
 "The best grade of flour is being sold at s10 a barrel,'' MT. Fowlkes stated. "The cheapest brand that we handle IS quoted at $9.25. In view of the shortage of the wheat crop I am inclined 10 think that it will go much higher. In the west I hear that they are talking of $14-a-barrel flour.
 Meal has ascended in value with flour The rise is sympathetic, for when wheat jumps, so does meal. Meal is now sell ing at 35 cents a peck. It may soon at tain 40 cents or even 45 cents.
 We are helpless to prevent increases The embargo on wheat. if it will keep the prices from being raised should be enacted by Congress. With the crop admittedly short I think that the farmers of the United States should feed the hungry of our nation first and then SUD- ply the foreign demands. If the harvest exceeds the demands for wheat in the United States, there is no objection to the exportation of the surplus.
 we ought to do all in our power to hold the cost of living down."