New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-24
When the Worm Turns

The extraordinary rise III lOou PiiN1
now under way with the worst to come
next winter and spring. may have one
good result. 1t may stir the long-suifer-
ing. indolent public and the lawmakers and
administrative officials who naturally trail
along behind the public to some action
which will be Of permanent benefit
If the consumer is squeezed hard enough
he may run wild for time-long enough
TO smash the costly and inefficient system
of food distribution which his own sloth
has allowed greedy middlemen to impose
on him.
In the endeavor to find some quick and
easy way out of the present crisis many
will clamor for an embargo on food ex-
ports. But an embargo is, at best, two
edged weapon. 1t is essentially war
measure-a measure Of last resort. IL
would hurt us as we'll as help us. 1t might
bring temporary relief, but its imposition
would create a fierce resentment on the
part of the farming interests. which would
see themselves cut of from the profits of
the European war, already so lavishly
reaped by other classes Of producers, by
manufacturers and by the banking, ship
ping and commercial interests.
An embargo, moreover, would not get us
any further ahead with the problem of re-
ducing the present excessive cost of food
distribution within our own territory. 1t
is claimed, of course, by defenders of the
present system that food prices are fixed
by the law of supply and demand. But the
public-especially the public of the big
cities-no longer has any faith in that
claim. 1t knows that until within a couple
Of years the producers share in the retail
selling value of his product has been, to
say the least, modest. 1t knows that dis
proportionate item in the high cost of liv-
ing in cities has been the profit of the
distributing agencies. 1t is the city mans
firm conviction that, as rule, the distrbu-
ter has been squeezing both producer and
consumer.
The city buyers have been ineXcusably
submissive and tolerant. They have grum-
bled. but they have not organized to pro-
tect themselves. Once in while we have
seen a little furry like an egg boycott or
something of that sort. But the revolt has
been spasmodic. We have quickly fallen
back into the old rut Of grudgingly &C
cepting a system of distribution with which
we are profoundly dissatisfied.
Now the opportunity seems to have ar
rived to turn dissatisfaction to some prac-
teal purpose. If the pressure of high food
prices increases the people in the cities
will undoubtedly insist on legislative and
administrative experiments in the way of
director dealings between them and the
producers. City markets, distribution
under state control, a breaking down Of
the enormous power now welded by the
wholesale middlemen, will be features Of
the reorganization which the hard driven
city populations will demand.
The first steps toward community bar
gaining and community control may not
bring relief to the extent to which it is
desired. They may even fail at the start
10 III lily any lIdbtild l itlltAs lDhb VIC pun
lie will not rest until it has seen the ex-
pertinent tried out. 1t believes that the
food supply of this and other cities is arti-
ficially controlled, that prices have been
artfully boosted and supply has been in
tenticnally restricted. 1t wants to test
that belief
1t cannot understand, for instance, why,
with an abundant supply of fish in adj
iacent waters, fish have become a luxury
in this city Is there a conspiracy to limit
the consumption of fish in order to keep
up the price of meat?
Careless buying, shiftless housekeeping,
Iextravagant demands in the way of prompt
delivery for the smallest purchases, are to
blame to some extent for the cost Of food in
the home. But at bottom it isn't the re-
taller or the housekeeper who is at fault.
II is the distribution system, which takes
its crushing toll on food products as they
pass from the farmer TO the city dining
table
If, therefore, we are to have some meat
less, eggless and BUTTERFLIES days this win
ter and spring, let us hope that some per-
manent good comes out of them. We can
at least discover what virtue there is in
municipal and state regulation to restore
fairer balance between the price which the
farmer receives for foods and the price
cxacted for them from the ultimate con-
sumner.
The Triumph of Golf
From The Pittsbpt0 GG.ctts Times)