The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1917-04-18
HOUSEWIVES
ARE BLAMED


nutritious and palatable food.
There are substitutes for every
other high-priced food.
THE supply of most every
thing in the market today is nor
NAL, but the great drain on the
dealers, caused by panicky house
wives, is causing an unusual run
on the market with result that
prices keep going up"
Up to Buyers.
f. A. Younglove, president of
the Younglove Grocery Co., whole
salers, says that prices could be
kept down practically to normal,
If the people would keep their
heads.
I'VE should use a little common
sense about the food situation"
says Younglove. Even il prices
do advance a trifle, now that we
have entered the war and are ex-
pected to help feed our allies, 1t is
unpatriotic and selfish for those
who can afford it, to rush into the
market and buy up a years stock
of staple groceries and canned
goods. The poor man, who can't
buy big stock, is forced to suuf-
fer"
The food supply I'm wholesale
houses and warehouses in Taco
ma Is normal for this time of the
year, with the exception of pota-
toes, according to everyone con-
neeed with the food business.
There is no shortage of food at
present. If shortage comes, the
housewives can expect to receive
part of the blame.
This Is what w. Fl Paulhamus.
president Of the Puyallup q Sum-
ner Fruit Growers association.
thinks about 1t The association
is composed Of growers, who are
themselves consumers. II puts
up its own products and sells
them. 1t maintains a general
store, at which its members can
buy>supplies OF every kind. Con-
sequently, he can view the sub
ject from nearly all its many
sides.
There certainly can be no seri-
GUS food shortage" says he. THE
state of Washington, II planted
intensively, could produce many
times what 1t can consume. In
the valleys between Tacoma and
Seattle every available acre is be-
ing cultivated. There Is surely
going to be such a production of
staples this year as will keep
prices down.
"As to canned goods, I see no
likelihood of shortage. We are
contracting for our cans NOT. 1t
is true, It is hard to get cans, be-
cause they are made of steel
washed with tin, and the steel is
wanted for munitions, shipbuild-
ing, etc. But the government is
looking into the matter, and we
have no doubt at all of a record
pack this year.
II see no reason at all for
heavy buying by consumers now. /"
Canada is laughing at us q lit
tie not ill-naturedly, because 1t
has been through the same thing
itself; but with the knowledge,
born of experience, that country
of wide and fertile spaces may be
actively at war for two or three
years, and yet not be short of
food.
A headline on the Vancouver
Daily Province market page last
Friday said "Hysterical U. s.
Buyers Boost Foodstuffs to Sky"
Evidently" observes the Ca
madam paper. "the United States
is experiencing similar condi-
lions to those prevailing in
Canada after the outbreak of
war, when wild buying of food
stuffs by consumers automatical-
ly forced prices skyward.
In Chicago, the other day, Sol
Westerfield. vice president of
the National Association of Re-
tail Grocers, told the association
that the public was becoming
hysterical and playing into the
hands of spectators by buying
great quantities of food which
they did not need.
The department of agricul-
ture announced from Washing
ton on Saturday that 100 cars
of onions a day from Texas are
on their way to bring down the
prices of that necessity. The
crop is two weeks late this sea-
son, says the department, but
10 per- cent larger than usual.