New Britain herald., 1917-07-11

stuffs has passed into the hands of spectators. for some one must buy
 and hold not only tho normal flow
 from the farmer but this probable
 glut.
 Sell Flour, Not Wheat.
 A With great reduction in the con- sumption of wheat bread now fOrtu-
 nately in progress, the employment of
 our mills must be greatly diminished and with the reduction of domestic flour production and our daily feed from wheat residues will be greatly curtailed. Therefore we must induce
 foreign buyers to accept flour Instead
 of wheat.
 "5 In order to du justice to the pro- ducers who have shown great patri-
 otism in a special effort to increase production in 1917. and to stimulate further the efforts of 1918, 1t Is ab- solutely vital that we shall protect the farmer from a slump in price this year due to glut as above or from the uncontrolled decisions of any one ! buyer. I am informed that most of
 the allied countries have fixed a price
 of wheat to the farmer at $1.so d bushel and many of their producers believe that as allies it is our duty to furnish wheat at a price which. de- 1 livered to them, will not exceed their
 domestic price-in other words about
 $1.5O a bushel in Chicago.
 Neither their responsible officials nor I hold this view, because l 1 consider the stimulation to produc- | tion, if no other reason, IS Tn the long
 run in the interest of the allies. Ihere Is, however. a limit to prices Whlcn | so trespass upon the rights of the con- | sumner as to defeat its own object
 through strikes, raises in wages ana
 social disturbances in the country. It
 is with the view of finding a solution | for these problems, filled with the l greatest dangers to both our pro-
 ducers and consumers, that leg1sla-
 ton has been proposed and pressed | for speedy enactment.
 l 6. The proposed food adm1nlstra- 1 tion has conferred with many nun
 dred patriotic men engaged in produc- | tion and has investigated the oond1- ] ton of the consumers In many cen l ters as well. Many plans have heen 1 tentatively put forward and aban- | doned and others have developed, but l in any case, none has or can be set 1 tied until legislation has been com | pleted. Three facts stand out plain | ly enough from our investigation:
 Farmers and Public Unprotected. ! 'First that in this situation the 1 farmer will need protection as to the l price of wheat second, that large 1 masses of people in the consuming l centers are being actually under 1 nourished today. due to the exorbitant l cost of living, and that these condl- l tions. unless some remedy is found,
 are likely to repeat themselves in 1 even more vicious form at this time 1 next year; third. the speculator, legit- | innate or vicious, has taken a large 1 part of the money now being paid by
 the consumer.
 "7 It seems to be overlooked in l some quarters that the marketing of
 this years wheat Is surrounded with ! circumstances new to history, and
 that the old distributing safeguards
 are torn away by isolation from the
 reciprocal markets abroad and the 1 extinction of a free export market and
 free export transportation.
 "The harvest has begun to move, | and from these very causes the price l of wheat has begun to drop, and if the 1 farmer Is to sell his wheat, either 1 the speculator must return to the
 market to buy and carry on not only l the normal flow from the farmer in ] excess of domestic and foreign re- ] uuirements but also the glut due to l the restriction upon the outlet of the 1 latter. He must necessarily charge his toll to the producer and the consum er and this latter probably upon a
 more extensive scale than last year,
 as his risks will be greater.
 "Practically the export buyer must fix his own price for export wheat from the sole outlook of his own clents and in execution of his duty
 he will in all normal circumstances
 follow the market down by buying
 only his time to time requirements,
 as he cannot be expected to carry tthe
 load of our domestic accumulation.
 "Or. on the other hand, the gov
 ernment must buy the surplus wheat
 at some reasonable minimum price
 allowing the normal domestic trade
 of the country to proceed with prop CT safeguards against speculation. Nor
 would the services of the speculator
 be necessary, for the government should be able to stabilize the price of wheat without his assistance and can control the price and quantity of export wheat. We are practically helpless to safeguard either the far mer or the consumer until the pend- ing legislation is passed.'