The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1918-10-26
PEOFITS OF MIDDLEMAN
GIVEN TO CONSUMERS
Money Saved by the Food Admins.
tratlOn For Both the Producer
and Consumer.


Louisville, October 26 - Figures
compiled by the Food Administration
shows that the farmer, going to mar
ket this summer to sell his produce,
got $1.27 for every dollar that he re-
ceived last summer; and the house,
wife, going to market to buy her sup
plies, and paid 81 cents for every dol
lar that she paid last summer.
The difference has been saved out
of the profits of the middleman.
For instance, the price of -four in
the spring of 1917 was $16.75 4 barrel
wholesale in Minneapolis. THIS spring
it was $3.50 a barrel. The difference
between the selling price of a farm
er's wheat and the selling price of the
-four that was made from that wheat
was $5.6S in May, 1917. In May, 1918,
it was only Ga cents.
These reductions have been made
despite the fact thath we have taken
out of our markets enough food to
save our Allies in Europe from ia
mine. We have shipped 100 million
bushels of wheat instead of the 20
million bushels that we thought would
be our limit. De have exported 81
million pounds of beef month in
stead of only million pounds. And
instead of only so million pounds of
pork a month, we have shipped as
much as 3OS million pounds.
In a campaign to prevent profteer-
ing and food wastage, the Food Ad
ministration in ten months imposed
some S15 penalties on wholesale and
retail dealers, commission men, mill
ers, bakers, cold storage companies.
brokers, grocers, restaurant men, and
so forth. About $50 companies and
individuals have been ordered to alb
stain from business in licensed com
modities either permanently or for
stated periods. The others have been
regulated by fines or minor penalties.
In many cases, the desired result has
been obtained by means of warnings.
And besides this work of the Wash
ington headquarters, the Federal Food
Administrators in their respective
States have disposed of vast number
of cases on their own authority.
There is still profteering going on,
and against it the Government is max
ing a broad campaign. but shortage OF
shipping has become one of the great
causes of the high cost of living, and
that difficulty can only be overcome
by building ships.
The price of bananas has increased
because half the banana boats been
taken as army transports. There is a
huge crop of sugar in Cuba, Porto
Rico and Hawaii, but there are not
ships enough to move it. Ocean freight
rates on rice and tea and tapioca from
China, India and the straits settle
ments have become very high. On tea,
for instance, the rate has risen from
one cent to five cents a pound
We used to import great quantities
of hides from China, and we bring a
tanning extract, called quelbracho,
from South America. Ocean freight
rates on hides have increased 500 per
cent and on quelbracho 600 per cent,
Our farmers use nitrate of soda from
Chilli for fertilizer The rate on it has
increased from IS to $50 ton. Equal
increases have helped to raise the
price of pute and hemp, urbber, tin
and wool.
Those are part of the inevitable
hardships of war. The gradual defeat
of the submarine campaign and the
gradual suppressio nof profteering
are working together to reduce food
prices. Both take time.