Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1918-04-03
ISSUE WARMING To SEED
STOCK SPECTATORS
Food Administrator Leon s. Merrill
Says Effort is Being Made to Pre-
vent Extortionate Charges.


ministrator for Maine. The Food
Administration cooperating with the
United States Department of Agri-
culture is making every effort to
I prevent extortionate charges or other
| obstacles to prevent an adequate and
prompt distribution OF seed.
All wholesale seed dealers, and re-
| tailers doing business of one hundred
thousand dollars year or others who
| handle peas, beans and corn seed are
I now operating under Federal license.
! Resales at unreasonable prices are
| held by the administration as partic-
niarly Objectionable at this time when
every effort is being made to encour-
| age the widest possible cultivation OF
! the soil.
Reports have been received from
various parts of the country. indicat-
| ing extortionate prices for seed corn
| The food administration frowns upon
| any such transactions on the ground
| that they are inimical to the public
welfare and will be treated as such,
should agents of the government es-
tablish proof OF wilful speculation.
! High Return for Wheat.
| Dr. Raymond Pearl, formerly
| member of the faculty of the Univer-
| sity of Maine and now statistician OF
\ the United States Food Administra-
l ton, says that though there has been
| some misapprehension the American
farmer still receives a higher return
per bushel from wheat than for any
other cereal crop. DR.. Pearl, taking
| his information from the published re-
| ports OF the T. s. Agricultural depart
ment, finds that the average price re-
| ceived by the farmer for wheat for
the three years before the war was
So go cents a bushei. He receives
now s2006 bushel, a percentage in
| crease OF 1871. Corn comes next with
q percentage increase OF 100 and oats
and barley are tied with percentage
Increase OF los.
All bakers must now use twenty
per cent OF wheat -four substitutes In
bread and rolls or must cease baking
these products according to regula-
lions issued by Federal Food Admin
istrator Leon s. Merrill, who has act
ed upon instructions received from
the Food Administration in Washing
ton.
committee of Federal Food Ad-
ministrators and the baking division
OF the Food Administration has deter
| mined to make the slogan Victory
Bread or Close" effective after March
20. Where a surplus of potatoes ex-
lists bakers are being urged to make
Use of them as substitutes TO the linn
IL OF their ability, Four pounds OF po-
tatoes are reaulrsd in the place OF one
pound of the other substitutes. Po-
tatoes are not a substitute for con
sumner customers Cfamilies).
Young Americas Part.
Thousands Of Maine school children
assisted in the recent campaign of the
new Home Card issued by the Food
Administration. About 100000 OF the
new Home Cards were distributed in
this State and for the most part the
work was accomplished by the school
children.
The Food Administration is now
making a big drive to enlist the ser
| vices OF every school teacher and
school child in Maine as 1t is believed
that the school children will carry to
the homes the facts concerning food
conservation.
Teachers OF the schools are urged
to use every means and device they
know-games, plays. stories, pictures,
compositions. essays and letters-to
| appeal to the children in their
| charge
Keep WheatIess Days.
Are you keeping wheatless Mon
DAYS and Wednesdays in your home?
| The responsibility OF supplying our
associates in this war with wheat I'M
III next summer has now been shifted
to the shoulders of the American
| housekeeper. according to the Food
Administration.
The farmer and the shipper have
dome their work as far as the wheat
crop ia concerned. The harvest has
been gathered and the surplus has
heen shipped to France,
There will not be another wheat
crop until the coming summer. From
now until then every loaf of bread
! that hnds its way lover there" to the
home of a worn and burdened mother
or into the outstretched hands OF a
hungry child will mean that someone
In America has kept Wheatless Days
Close Butcher Shops.
So short ia the meat supply in Eng
land that the recent sinking OF two
meat laden ships from Argentine
closed every butcher shop In London.
Compulsory rationing began In Eng
land February 25. While the scheme
starts with butter and margarine, IL
is expected It will extend to other
commodities later. Special cards VIII
be issued to children below certain
age and persons employed in manual
labor.
Hoe Friend of Bayonet.
War Is making bare the worlds
cupboards; the granaries are being
emptied, the iocks thinned, the herds
butchered. the mines scraped War
is making everything dear except hu-
man life; the destructive monster is
consuming more food essentials than
II Is producing. Want follows hard
In the wake Of the chariot wheels OF
Mars, and the whole world is threat
| ened with hunger, the menace OF