Evening star., 1918-07-26
HANDICAP IN FOOD
/ TRADE HERE SHOWN
Dealers and Officials Take
Exception to Comparisons
With Some Cities.
HAVE RAIL DIFFICULTIES

There are two sides to the COM
parison Of prices Of food produce In
Washington and elsewhere, according
to leading produce dealers in this
city. who show correspondence. tele-
grams and drafts to indicate the DIFF
ferentials in transportation costs. re-
frigeration and transfer levies that
the Washington dealers must pay.
Probably the biggest handicap un-
der which they have been trying to.
supply the abnormal demands in
Washington, and about which the
public has known nothing. Is that
there has been an embargo in oper-
alton east of Chicago on less than
full car lots. On perishable goods this
has been a hardship way beyond the
transportation charge, because the
less-than-car lots have had to be sent
BY express instead Of freight, with
greater refrigeration difficulties, so
that oftentimes the goods reached
this market In deteriorated condi-
tion.
Butter Shipment Experience.
Here is specific illustration. A
Washington dealer ordered shipment
Of several hundred tubs of butter from
Wisconsin plant whose entire output
he Is under contract to take. This
was ready for shipment on July 2. He
then learned that there was an embar-
go east OF Chicago. The consignment It
came through by express, reaching
him on July Is, with the butter sofl
! SO that 1t could net be soio to first
class trade and had to go into the
cooking trade. Meanwhile he had
honored draft on July II for thou
sands Of dollars in payment for this
Shipment
Under the railroad administrator
pooling OF freight 1t is impossible for
, the local dealer or jo5ber to get his
shipments made over any particular
railroad. He may prefer to have the
| goods come in over the Baltimore and
Ohio. because the trucking would be
easier to his place of business, but the
railroad administration sends the
goods in by the Pennsylvania, or vice
versa. This Is a matter Of greater i'm
portance to the local jobber now than
ever before because Of the shortage OF
trained labor.
In the case of butter any variation
In price between Washington or Chi
cago and st. Louis would naturally be
in favor OF Chicago and st. Louis
because they are nearer to the pro-
ductng section. have shorter hauls
without the transfer at q railroad
junction. and because the cos. Of re-
1 20 ~ -L
tion in hot weather would be much
smaller.
Attention also has been called by
dealers here to price comparison
which they say are unfair in not CONS
pairing quality of the goods at the
same time. A member Of the price,
nxing committee Of the local food ad-
ninistration calls particular attention
| to an article printed in The S.ar
which said: Lamb chops, so cents
here. only 1s cents In Scranton"
| Sell Rocky Mountain Goat.
This official took the trouble to
send to reliable dealer in Scranton
for statement on the price of lamb
chops The reply said: 'sThe so-called
lamb chops sold in Scranton at 1s
cents are nothing but Rocky noun
tain goat. as am told by one butcher,
They are sold mostly to foreigners,
We are getting SO cents per pound
for the best spring lamb chops and
your prices mentioned on beef are
about as ours"
It is explained that Rocky noun
tain goats are grazed on the noun
tain side. feeding on the shrubbery
instead of on tender grass in inclosed
pastures. and that the meat has a
coarser flavor and is more scrawny.
The Washington dealers and off,
cials of the food administration sux-
gest that the Washington house
wives can do much to hold down food
prices by showing a spirit Of CO.
operation in trading with the food
dealers who are trying to meet alb
normal conditions. It is urged that
the consumer should not ask unrea-
sonable service from the dealers. For
example, one stcrekeeper was forced
to make Ave delivery trips to one
apartment in one day. and one Of the
trips was to deliver a loaf of bread.
The average cost of each delivery
was 20 cents. The dealers say that
the habit of ordering supplies over
the telephone and expecting the
storekeepers to respond promptly to
each call. no matter how small tbe
article, is greatly increasing the cost
of running stores. especially at this
time when labor is SO scarce