Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-05-10
DILLON CANE
NEAR BEING A
FOOD DICTATOR
New York Commission on
Foods and Markets Held
Unique Position.
If Minimum Prices are Fix.
ed, He Says, Federal Mar
ket Control will be Needed
(By Basn nj. Manlx.l

| ~ AN00k1 VI MAxlNYsy
New York. May 10.-The only man
In this country who, in peace came
nearest to being a food controller or
dictator. ts Commissioner John j.
Dillon Of the New York state depart
ment OF foods and markets.
stopping in New York city on my
tour of the nations vital food cen,ers
ana 1000 prices. I called on Dillon.
round him a hard-headed man.
one who was originally a farmer and
VINO. as farmer and commissioner,
mas studied the ~wholesaling and re-
failing Of farmers produce for many
years.
I put the following question to him:
and a at your disposal the $cs.-
100000 fund congress has just app
propriated for the department, Of az
riculture, what would you doo"
Said Dillon:
You can't solve thu problem Of in.
creasing the food supply and Of giving
the people food It reasonable prices
oy hanging spectators or by dilly-
dallying with palliatives. Guarantee
ing minimum prices to the farmer
liking maximum prices for the re-
tai might induce larger
crops Tor next yea and relieve the
immediate necessities Of the people;
u 1t Is a mighty dangerous propo-
sition-it almost upset the whole
WORKS IN Germany and France.
"But II the government should
decide { NJ minimum prices for
next years crops as an induce.
ment to the farmer to produce to
his utmost capacity, 1t will be
necessary to have federal control
OF the markets In order to make
price fixing effective.
l., All tns farmer really wants to
or1ng out his utmost efforts is assur-
ance that he will have a fair market
Tor whatever he produces. He must
have this assurance because he has
been robbed by the highwaymen who
control the marketing Of food for so
lon he has become skeptical and dis
couraged.
All the consumer asks is that the
food be sold to him with the smallest
possible margin between the farm
price and the retail price.
sold In the market today under the
fair conditions outlined above. and
that Is California fruits.
They are sold at a price that
brings the orange and lemon grower
q fair return and yet the entire mar
keting cost is only 2 1-2 per cen of
their value. while almost every other
class OF produce carries a marketing
burden Of 40. so and ever a hundred
per cent Of the value. The result In
California was achieved by the CO.
operation Of the fruit growers after
they had finally wearied of being sys-
tematically robbed by commission
men and fruit dealers.
III 1 were food dictator of the
United States I would give every
farmer and food producer the
QnVNn0 LIND ~ -n>-R~~A A. ~y-nAA-
MIA fruit growers have.
Food prices are now at %exorbitant
levels because all foods under the
present system of distribution pass
through the hands Of a large num-
Der Of mtddlemen and become the
objects Of speculation at least once
and sometimes three or four times in
the curse Of their travels from the
producer to the consumer.
Everybody knows the process SO
we'll it need not be described.
Every factor in the transaction
takes his profit and boosts the price
all he can. That is why potatoes for
which the farmer got less than a dol
lar a bushel last fall are now selling
at $3.50.
THE shortage has made it possible
for the highwaymen to hold up the
purchasers and they have not hest
tated to make them stand and de.
liverl'
Furthermore. there is i~ncalculable
waste in the present process of dis
tribution. Food rots on the farms
while the market is being depressed
and people go hungry for want Of it
IF I were food dictator I would
begin by communicating at a
price to be later determined by
the courts all the grain elevators
stock yards and commission