Evening star., 1916-12-14
PROVIDES APUBL|C
BAKERY IN CAPITAL
Bill by Representative Young
Proposes Plant Here to
Cost $4,000.
ALSO WANTS FLOUR MILL

| !
| Designed to throw the Searchlights
upon present prices of wheat and bread
two bills were this afternoon introduced
in the House by Representative Young
of North Dakota. One of the bills pro-
| vides for the establishment of a munich
pal bakery for the city of Washington
| and the other for the installation of an
experimental -four mill and chemical and
| baking laboratories at the Department OF
Agriculture. Mr.. Young declares that
the big leaks which are responsible fol-
the present exorbitant prices occur in
the grading of the wheat and in the big
country.
The bill for the municipal bakery in
the District provides that the District
Commissioners be instructed by Con-
gress to construct such an enterprise
out of an appropriation of s5o,ooO, and
thereafter to sell bread made there at
such a price as will realize a reason
able interest upon the investment. An
nual reports upon the information OBJ
tanned in the running of the bakery
are to be made to Congress and to the
Secretary of Agriculture and the fed
eral trade commission.
Predicts Five-Cent Bread.
II am sure that such a bakery could
sell bread to the local consumers at 5
cents a loaf, or less" said Mr.. Young.
1T is my firm conviction that action
along the lines proposed IN these bills
is what is needed, instead of the en-
barge legislation, about which we hear
the bakers shouting SO loudly.
The demand for an embargo on the part
Of the bakers is voiced merely in an sf-
fort to cover their present exorbitant
charge of cents a loaf. They merely
want to take the minds of the public off
same principle as a crook yelling Stop
thief when making his own getaway.
The crowd starts looking for the other
fellow"
Mr.. Young went on to point out that
bakers had charged the nat rate OF .
cents a loaf of bread when wheat was
selling at 40 cents bushel.
Either they should have dropped
their prices at that time to 4 cents a
Loaf he said, ''or they should main
Tain their fat rate at the present time
and be satisfied with a smaller profit
than they are accustomed to. And
firmly believe that having put the price
up to and even Z cents loaf under
tuS "a cuUdI co. IuSy propose 10
keep it there after the war is over.
My bills put it up to the bakers to
come to Congress and show their hand
sary."
support Of the bill for the estab-
lishment of a municipal bakery. Mr..
Young states that bread 10 cheaper IN
London than in any Of the American
cities, in spite Of the fact that IT is
located farther away from the wheat
fields.
"A recent dispatch from London
quotes bread at n cents per loaf, but
loaf OF bread in England weighs sixty
-FOUR ounces. and is sold in quarter
loaves, or In other words. for S cents
and farthing for sixteen ounces" he
saio. In our money we could not make
tne change, but 1t would be the same as
u cents for a full avoirdupois pound
OF breard containing sixteen ounces
This IL the same as one-third of cent
per ounce: Even before the war start
ed American bakers were charging
more than that, or cents for a twelve
ounce loaf. and they now charge cents
Tor twelve-ounce loaf, or one-half
cent per ounce"
$25, 600 for Flour Mill.
The other bill introduced by Mr..
Young, providing for the experimental
-four mill and chemical and baking
laboratories at the Department of
Agriculture. asks an appropriation of
$4,000. While MIR. Young was a mem
Der of the North Dakota legislature he
secured the passage of the Young act,
which provided for the installation of
similar experimental apparatus for the
North Dakota Agricultural College. Ex
periments there during this crop year
demonstrate that both the producers
and the consumers have been feeced by
crooked grading.
In regard to the bill Mr.. Young said:
Tine bakers poin. to the high quota
tion for wheat. at times upward of 81
per bushsl Bu; those quotations are
for No. l northern wheat. Very little
Of that kind OF wheat was proc uced il,
the country this year. and the farmers
have been paid around 81 % per pushel
by reason OF crooked system of
standards for grading. Experiments at
conducted by DR.. Ladd. show that this
wheat sold by the farmers at prices
around 81 makes excellent -four, and
it has been demonstrated that flour
made from this very wheat Is being
sold by the millers to supply their best
trade.
We don't want an embargo" con-
cluded MIR. Young: that will do more
harm than good We want the search
light turned upon the rascals who do
the grading, and who gamble with the
grain. at the great exchanges. and the
long fingered bakers who were charg-
ing before the war began more than
is now charged during war times in the
belligerent countries