Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1918-06-20
BIG BUSINESS HIT
BY FOOD EXPERT
1'Hindering the Big Job for Priv
ate Profits, Says Or.
Wiley.


all commodities in the price-fixing
scheme" DR.. Harvey w. Wiley, tlles
best known food expert OF the United
States, gives emphatic Endorsement OF
the position of the organized farm.
ers. in the current issue Of Good
Housekeeping. Those who oppose
general price fixing, he says, are
"Hindering the Big Job"
"As an illustration of how not to
do things in accordance with this
formula" says DR.. Wiley. II may call
attention to the fact that congress
authorized the fixing of the price of
wheat, but did not authorize the fix
ing of the price OF -four or bread.
Nor did it authorize the fixing of the
price of anything the farmer employs
in cultivating his crop.
THUS, as the president says, the
farmer justly complains Of an artifi-
cial price fixing which limits his in
come and does not in any way pro-
tect him against the greed of those
who have things to sell to him. He
feels that he is entitled to this pro-
lection. He also feels that the con-
sumer of the bread made from his
wheat is entitled to protection"
DR.. Wiley says that on his way to
the office recently he stopped at one
OF the best retail grocery stores in
Washington to ask the price Of Ave.
pound package of whole-wheat -four.
1t was so cents, or 10 cents a pound.
The farmer got II cents at the most
for the wheat needed to make 1t, leav-
ing margin Of 33 cents. Il pay
at mill near my farm 10 cents q
bushel for grinding wheat. For grind
ing five pounds of wheat the charge
would be not quite one cent, which
leaves 30 cents for the container,
the cost of transportation and the
profit of Dealers"
AS the Nonpartisan league has fire.
quently shown, this proportion of one.
third for the farmer and about two.
thirds for the middlemen is almos,
universal. It represents an ineffi
cheney in marketing which no nation
even the rich United States, can long
endure. This is what DIR. Wiley
means by "Hindering the Big Job
We cannot prosecute the war to
best advantage with such wretched
means Of marketing the food for our
people and the Allies. Who is hin
dering? Not the farmers, but the
big interests who are making money
from this tnefficiency. According tc
DR.. Wiley, they are using congress
to do it. II think" he says, "that
congress should without any delay au
thorize the president to correct the
inequities of which he SO Justly
| speaks"
Mr.. Alfred McCann. another well
known expert. fearless in the fght
for the people, declared last fall tina
the misery and deaths in Belgium
were due solely to the fact that oul
grain gamblers palmed of some
spoiled grain on the Belgian Relic
commission for full market prices.
Few people know also that the
| wheat which we set apart for the
Allies must, through the influence o
the milling interests, be ground here
It is we'll to remember" declares
Wiley, that II the 9O,000000 bushel.
of wheat were to be sent to Englan.
in the berry and milled there, theJ
would make, 756,OoO,OO0 pounds Of
flour more than will be made here
1t is true that this would keep SOM
millions of dollars out of the pocket,
of the millers here. but 1t is common
ly supposed that we are in this wa
to win it in tie most expedition
manner possible, not to enrich any
body or any corporation"