The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-09-14
THE HIGH COST or LIVING

says. the State Marketing Bureau.
Fixing a price on raw. staples pro-
duced by the farmer Is coming to. be
a rule, but here seems to be no limit
in price fixing after being manipula-
ted into packages sold in the stores.
For example, the price Of wheat is
placed at $500 a bushel. This wheat
is put up in various forms. 1t is
run through a machine and 'puffed"
and this is sold in the groceries at
fifteen cents package. On the pack
age Is printed: Weight four ounces
net This is at the rate of practically
sixty cents a pound or $500 bush
ed. In round figures the producer
gets $500 a bushel for his wheat, and
it "puffed" to the consumer at a cost
Of $4,000. The producer gets less
than four cents pound for wheat
and it reaches the consumer as
cream" or shredded" at a cent or
more an ounce, the same being quite
Ia profit for somebody along the way.
Rice is also "puffed" to the con-
sumner at cost proportionated to that
10 wheat, and prices of many other
things are "puffed" at least in price
The raw hog goes to market at Is
cents pound and is "puffed" into go
cent bacon. Before the war a bottle
of mucilage cost five cents. Now it
Is ten cents, and so it is all along the
line.
The middleman, the dealer, is a
necessary factor in the business Of
the country and entitled to a fair
profit for all he does. The excess
prices are largely in non-perishable
products. Is 1t fair to hold down the
producer who assumes all the risk OF
production, with only small profit,
while dealers are allowed profits un.
fair or excessive to the ultimate con.
sumner?
Wages in some industries are high
er than ever before, quite in proper
ton to some Of the prices charged
for necessaries, but the hard hit
persons are under salary, the pro.
fessional classes, and those Of small
and more or less rigid incomes. The
solution is not an easy one but it
should be attempted.
One solution would be to discon.
tinue the manufacture and sale of
fancy brands Of cereals, put up in
pretty packages, and save paper
unless sold at reasonable adj
vance over cost, or else limit the sale
to flour and meal. DR.. H. w. Wiley
the food expert, says: corn bread
corn meal, any one of hundred corn
meal dishes, applies and other fruits
supply a perfect balanced diet Ce
reals bought in bulk supply the great
est amount Of chew, heat and energy
for the least money. And of all ce
reals corn is the cheapest. | have
proved 1t by long practice. I havt
a man working for me who spends
more money for food than / do. My
corn meal must cost about six cent.
a pound. He eats breakfast cereal a
a cost Of rs cents a pound. My plar
Is plain, but this country must com,
to plain living"
/ No one could or should complain
of fair profits, but there seems to, be
there is, a wide difference In tn
charges between corn meal by til
pound and when baked hard wit
molasse and sold in fancy package
). as brain food" or when corn
faxed" and few ounces sold Q
several times higher cost than mes
and the latter just as nourishing, wit
j the advantage of being used in
hundred different ways. Fancy bi
cults and crackers, put in two ount
packages, are In the market at fiftee
cents. These preparations are turn,
! out by machinery.
Washington, Jefferson, Frankfi
. Lincoln and our grand parents, /
: deed the parents Of the adult reade
! of this, never had any of these fan
foods, and no one can question the
: strength, virility and ability. We mu
" get back to plain and Just as 90
q food in this crisis of scarcity and ds
q ger.