Arizona republican., 1917-07-11
.|S HELPLESS TO
 GUARD INTERESTS
 OF THE CONSUMER
rRennhlican A. P. Leased WlreI


 WASHINGTON. July 10.-A rport on the food situation prepared for Presi- dent Wilson by Herbert Hoover, hold ing that both the farmer and the con- suming public are suffering while food speculators make unearned profits from the delay in enactment of food control legislation was given out to- night at the White House
 Unless strong and efficient govern ment action is immediately taken the food administrator reported, the farm CTS will face a slump in wheat prices and consumers will be caught in a sit nation even more serious than that which already is resulting in actual under nourishment" in the great con- suming centers The speculator, it is declared, is taking a large part of the prices now paid by consumers.
 We are practically helpless to safe guard either the farmer or the con- sumer' concludes MT Hoover, until the pending legislation is passed
 The report. in the form of letter to the president, was issued through the public information committee with the statement that publicity was given it "in order that the country may know how serious and far reaching the con- sequences may be both to the farmers of the country and to the consumers, of the present delays in passing the pending food legislation
 No comment by the president ac- companied the report, although he has more than once demonstrated his inn patience over the repeated delays in congress which have kept the entire food control program in state of un- certainty for weeks. MT. Hoover's let ter follows:
 Dear Mir. President: In response to your request l send you herewith the following notes compiled by myself and my associates upon the present Situa- tion with regard to wheat
 '1-The 1917 harvest promises to yield 67S000000 bushels The normal internal consumption and seed require ments (assuming a carry over of same volume in 1918 as in 1917) amounts to about 600, 900, GOO bushels, thus leaving q theoretical export balance of 7S,000,- 0J0 bushels. The conservation meas ures are already having a marked eff feet and it is not too much to hope that the national saving may be SO,- GOO, ,000 to 100, 000, 900 bushels and there before, the export balance increased to. say, 15S, 000,00 to 180,00G,0 900 bushels.
 '2-The experience this year in the rampant speculation, eXtOrtionate prof it's and the prospect of even narrower supplies than 1916 harvest and carry oVer must cause the deepest anxiety. No better proof of the hardship worked upon our people during the past year needs be announced than the recitation of the fact that the producer received an average of $1.51 per bushel for the 1916 wheat harvest; yet wheat has been as high as $225 at Chicago and the price of flour has been from time to time based upon this speculative price of wheat, so that through one evil cause or another. the consumer has suffered from 50 to 100 per cent and the producer gained nothing.
 After much study and investigation it is evident that this unbearable in- crease in the margin between producer and consumer is due not only to rank speculation but more largely to the wide margin of profit demanded by every link in the chain to insure then from the great hazards of trade in the widely fluctuating and dangerous price situation during a year when all nor maj stabiliZation has been lost through the interruption of world trade anC war. All these factors render it vitally necessary to initiate systematic meas ures which will absolutely eliminate al possibility of speculation and effec proper distribution and reStiction or exports to d point within our own pro lection. These measures cannot be ac complshed by punitive punishments O evil doers, but only by proper and an ticipatory organization and regulation all along the distribution chain
 "3-During recent months the allied governments have consolidated thei buying into one hand in order tha they might relieve the burden of specu lation from their own consumers ant as the restricted exports to neutral are but a minor item, the export price if not controlled is subject to the vii of the allied buyer, so that in a grea measure the American producer is lief
 Continued on Page Two)