New-York tribune., 1917-06-17
Tinkerine Food Problems

as reported 10 the house Dy lnc Noi"ii's~S
on Agriculture, and the President is ABOUT
to be given unlimited power over the pros
ducton, transportation, storage, sale ana
final distribution Of food.
The sweeping sumptuary measurea
and this acquisition of imperial authority
are appauded everywhere and not least ~
the labor interests, who are making pros
test against food cornering. Asslstant
Secretary of Agriculture Carl Vrooman
voiced this protest after recent tour OF
the states. in the following bitter phrases}
Everywhere have found a growing feeling
that there must soon come a reckoning WITH
those manipulation. Of the food supply-thost
sordid. unscrupulous denizens OF the busineSa
Jungle who arc intent only upon filling theT
own pockets with the price of economic tre1
son to the republic and the blood-money o3
hungry men, women and children.
The Administration food bill authorizes
the President to take possession OF aA
facilities, processes, methods and activities
of and for the manufacture, procuremenI
storage, distribution, sale, marketing,
pledging. financing and consumption of
necessaries; to issue licenses for importaS
ton. expectation, manufacture, storage or
distribution of foodstuffs; to revoke aD
such licenses; to purchase or provide for
the production, storage and distribution OF
necessaries; to requisition factories, mines
or plants in which foodstuffs are pros
duced; to issue regulations to prevent uns
due fluctuations of prices or market ma
nipulation, and to limit the amount OF
grains used in the manufacture of intoxl-
eating liquors, if essential to do so.
This measure has the warm approval
of Food Administrator Herbert c. Hoover,
and embodes a prohibition rider, ".,.
reserves for the President a personal re.
sponsiblity for certain aspects of the
liquor traffic.
Tha Canadian -gayerpments is- Abeet -
appoint wheat commission to control,
jointly with the already appointed Amer
lean commission, the surplus wheat supply
of the continent For their share of the
Looled wheat the Canadians propose a
maximum price of 81 bushel and mimi
mum of s1.75, +. 0. b. Fort William. Their
surplus wheat crop estimate is l75,OOO,OOQ
bushels, as last year.
From Minneapolis come assurances that
the rather pessimstic government crop res
port, issued earlier in the week, has unders
estimated the Northwest crops as usual
The crops of grains and roots in Minnes
sofa, Montana and the Dakotas are prog
nounced ideal The French Minister Of
Agriculture reports all French crops aS
being greatly improved" despite the
spring ravages and winter wheat losses.
Meanwhile, Captain Charles Bathurst
British parliamentary secretary TO thA
Food Control Department, speaking in tho
House of Commons, urges the United
States to send all possible food supplies
and "The Daily Chronicle" London, des
plores the delay in Congress.
Concerned over the heavy purchases o$
grain by neutral countries, Administration
leaders especially urged upon Congress th9
need for the prompt passage of export
restrictions. The neutrals have been buya
ing heavily in the Southwest.
Governor Whitman has signed the bill
which creates a council of farms and mare
kets, for the purpose of stimulating proc
duction and furthering food economies id
the state. The New York retailers ard
reaping rich profits on food Large ship,
ments are received and wholesale prices
for vegetables and dairy products hava
dropped. but there is no decrease in cost
to the housewife. Some retailers are max.
ing profit Of 300 per cent on onions.
Congressman Nolan, speaking for th1
labor group. proposes to learn from Presis
dent, Wilson himself why it is that in
France thirty -fve-ounce loaf of bread can
be bought for about eight cents, while in
the United States, which furnishes France
with much of the material for bread, a
fourteen ounce loaf costs 10 cents. Scott
Nearing, writing in "The Public" under
the caption, Farewell to Meat" prophe-
sizes still higher meat prices, if not the
disappearance Of meat entirely from the
workers bill of fare. His figures show
that the number Of live meat animals in
the United States is falling off at an
alarming rate, all Of which means enforced
vegetaranism for the low-paid level Of
American workers.
Steps are being taken to enforce no.
return system for bread, leading bakers
estimating the waste from return bread
at large percentage, while medical men
assert that no bread is fit for human con.
sumption unless it is stale. The govern.
ment has issued warnings against waste.
The New York Produce Exchange recoms
mends more general use of other cereals,
especially corn, which would revive the
"hoe-cake."
Cames fha annaAanr ga ardener TO the