Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-09-29
WHOLESALE GROCER WARNS
PUBLIC NOT TO EXPECT GOV.
EMINENT PRICES.
SCARCITY OF SUGAR
is THE REASON GIVEN
No Sugar to BE Had at Government
Oct. I Price Of $725.-Canned Goods
Prices All to Be High Because Of Do.
mand and Short Packs Turnout the
Country.


There is no hope Of the government
price of 1925 for the refiner at New
York being realized. in spite OF the
fact that the governments food control
board has fixed that price. The rea-
son is the sugar is not to be had at
scarcely any price, and the probability
is that sugar prices to the consumer
will he somewhat higher after oct. l
than they now are Prices Of practi-
cally all canned goods will be high for
the double reason that mdny of the
packs are short and the demand is ire
mcndous.
These were some of the interesting
things regarding the market outlook
for staples that W. I. Smith, manager
of Let's Fletcher Company, told an
audience Of retail grocers Friday night.
Sugar Has All Been Sold.
The situation. as Mr.. Smith eX-
planned it. is this: The government
has fixed retiners' price of 1925
f. o. b. New York. effective Oct. !. but
the difficulty of enforcing this price
is that there is next to no sugar to be
sou ny ItliutIS JUST ~ Siiis sAAiiN' L iN~>
tically all the visible supply of sugar
has already been marketed and Stats
ticians. Mr.. Smith said. have estimated
that the country is 100000 bags short
of its normal supply for the current
demand up to Nov. /.
Practically all of the Cuban raw
sugar of the last crop has been sold.
The refiner has been paying approXi-
mately 81 a hundred delivered at New
York for raw sugar and the govern
ment regulation can not reach into
Cuba to control the price OF raw sugar.
Hence the Cuban grower is not going
10 sell to the refiner at price low
enough so the refiner can pay his re-
timing cost. take his profit, and sell the
refined sugar at the government price
of s7.25.
Refineries Have Shut Down.
One reason for the shortage of sugar
is that the refineries have shut down.
Being unable TO buy raw sugar at a
price that will allow them to refine and
sell it at the government price. the re-
fineries have simply quit business for
the time being, or until they can get
the raw sugar at a price to allow them
to comply with the government regu-
lations.
The beet sugar situation is much the
same, Mr.. Smith said. There is a
shortage of that commodity, the out
put from last years crop practically
all having been sold. The government
| is proposing that the western sugar
from California be distributed east Of
the Mississippi river. and that the CEN
trail west depend on the beet sugar in
dustry for its sugar.
Mr.. Smith cautioned his audience not
to understand that there was going to
be an actual sugar famine. and that
the trade would be supplied from time
to time, but that neither the whole
saler nor the retailer was going to be
able to pile up much of any stock OF
sugar.
Canned Goods Prices High.
There was not a variety of canned
goods Mr.. Smith mentioned which had
not advanced N price. even since sum-
mer orders were taken for future de-
liverE. Reasons for the advance are
demand and short packs. This applied
TO canned corn, tomatoes practically
all berries. and salmon.
He quoted the Baltimore canning
market of Tuesday as paying s1.75 a
bushel for raw tomatoes. with the sup
ply limited. The supply OF salmon
available, he said, represented only a
comparatively small part of the de-
mand. and probably in no cases would
iobbers be able to deliver probably
more than part Of future orders
taken for most Of these kinds of canned
goods.