Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-04-20

Flour mas advanced ~ SACK
and sugar - hundredweisht
within the past month as result
Of excessive buying and small sup
piles.
Chicago, April 10. Soaring prices o
canned goods today brought home thu
possibility that the fight for adequate
food supply is not merely struggle t.
increase production and decrease con
sumption but may be battle will
gamblers who are trying to reap enor
NOUS profits by capitalizing the
peoples fear of famine.
Purchase Of canned goods for sum
mer delivery has pushed up the price
of the new crop, not yet planted, II
I some instances 100 per cent. The re
mainder Of last years canning has
risen proportionately.
Housewives Aid Gamblers.
Housewives have taken fright and
are laying in huge stocks at huge
prices. In so doing they are said to
lbe playing into the gamblers hands
lfor the reduction OF the present supply
1s forcing retailers to make purchases
1ex,f flltn1ad de|ixaE 1ises 1 se 81 atosa
The enormous purchases OF canned
goods and other staples has forced
many retailers to set limits on market.
ing. Grocers in residential districts de-
clare the demand for supplies has been
so great that they cannot meet it. Re-
strictions have been placed on the sale
of canned goods. -four, sugar and soap.
Bread Prices May Rise.
"This boarding threatens to become
@ disaster to the nation" said Sol Wes-
terfeld, president Of the National Retail
Grocers and Butchers association. "The
food supply is adequate If consumers
only will act reasonably. In crisis
like this it is unfair for the person with
large or even moderate means to buy
in huge quantities. leaving the poor to
buy from depleted store at advanced
prices"
A rise in the price of bread is look
ed on by bakers as inevitable in view
of the advance in -four. The suggestion
said to meet with most favor among
bakers is to do away with the six cent
loaf, the recent successor to the old
Ave cent loaf and to reduce the size of
the ten cent loaf.
Flour Cost Ascends.
Flour in some stores has increased
from $11 to SIS barrel in the last ten
days, sugar has ascended to ten cents
a pound and canned goods have in
creased in many cases from fifty to
eighty per cent. These figures, said to
be the highest since the civil war, are
declared to be largely the result of ex.
cited buying.
Potatoes are selling as high as 81
IA bushel and beans touched twenty
cents pound.
Wheat Climbs Again.
Sharp advances in wheat on opening
trades today, surmounting those of yes
,terday, marked complete recovery of
prices from the slump occasioned by
the removal Of duty on Canadian
wheat.
July wheat, which closed yesterday
at $1.97A, sold up to $2.02A, passing
the previous high level Of week ago
by three-quarters Of a cent. May wheat
rose 4Ac to $2.37, or nc under the pre-.
vious record for altitude.
At Minneapolis the -four mills were
reported as swamped by shipping or.
ders and embarrassed by inability to
get enough cars.
Further sensational advances mark.
ed the first half hour Of trading in
wheat futures today. May rose 7Ac to
$2.40 and July sac to $2.05lk.
July later touched $2.O7h and the
close was with advance we'll held.
Corn advanced to cents also.
A probable increase of twenty-five
cents ton for soft coal to consumers
was forseen in Chicago today as a re.
suit Of the advance in miners wages
~-~ou~ooA IL, Nauy vorl, ,,oo&o~S~,,