The Coconino sun., 1918-06-21
AMERICA TOO LATE ID TRIUMPH OVER
 GERMAN KULTUR?
WHEAT AND SUGAR SAVING A MILITARY NECESSITY; REVIEW OF FOOD CONSERVATION FOR FIRST YEAR. ..
By TIMOTHY A. RIORDAN, Federal Food Administrator for Ari.
 zOna.

man history, the race between the
 tlnIted States and Germany; Germany
 trying to close up the war before
 Amerlca can get into it, and Amerlca
 trying to get Tn before it is too late.
 heard altogether too often in this
 great crisis"
 quote from recent address of Dr.
 Ray Lyman Wilbur, one of the dollar
 a-year men of the United States Food Administration, made to an organiza- tion composed of the wives and daugh- ters of United States. congressman.
 Whether America will be too late to
 stem the tide of German kultur, de- bends largely on whether the Ameri- can housewife will be too late in real izing the vital importance of food con- servation, with especial reference at this time to wheat and sugar saving.
 While Arizona as state has reason to be proud of her accomplishments in the Red Cross, the Thrift Stamp and Liberty Loan drives and other pa triotic movements, and of the recor, she has made in conservation, 1 am oftimes dismayed by the casual re marks of patriotic housewives, which sadly reveal that though their inten- lions may be all right, few are be hind the times" in the matter of food conservation.
 ''Our family is on an entirely wheat less diet now, proudly stated cer- tain estimable woman to me the other day, "T make bread entirely of gra- ham and rye flour"
 Now it happens that graham flour is composed entirely of wheat and that rye flour is being shipped to France on par with wheat. Neither are now on the official substitute list nor ever have been as far as the regulations effecting households are concerned. The lady in question is not contribut- ing to the cause of conservation.
 Speaking of substitutes, there is at least one point on which the average housewife of Arizona is thoroughly alive and that is the high prices which have been maintained for corn meal, milo maize flour, barley flour and the other substitutes commonly used in Arizona.
 Prices are undoubtedly too high on these commodities. Mir. Hoover real izes this and a nationwide survey is at this moment being conducted to as- certain the profits of every handler of the coarser grains from the time that the grain enters the mill door until it is handed out to the ultimate con sumer. Our office is taking an active interest in this campaign for lower prices in Arizona.
 Easing our opinion on data which has thus far been gathered, we are in- clined to the belief that the present high prices are due to excessive prof its on the part of the large mills of the country and the jobbers rather than the wholesaler and retailer. A number of instances of violations of the reasonable profit" rule among the latter class have been uncovered, however, and in every instance this has been followed up with a preempt- ory order to reduce profits to the maximum prescribed in the food regu- lations.
 Few people realize the height to which food prices would have risen by this time, but for the regulatory measures which have been carried out by the food administration.
 Here, briefly stated, are a few of the results of the food administration during it's first year:
 At the time MT. Hoover was ap- pointed, that is on May 15, 1917, the price of flour per barrel at Minneap- oils was $16.75, while on May 4, 1918, it was $9.S0, decrease of 41 per cent. On the former date, the difference be- tween what the farmer got for his wheat and the wholesale price of flour was equivalent to $5.68 barrel, while on the latter date this difference to only GA cenys.
 Producers prices for March, 1918, l when weighed with the relative value of the product for the nutrition of the nation show a marked increase over 1917, but for all this, con- sumers' prices on the same basis have decreased, though not to so great an extent.
 As for sugar, the wholesale price of the refined article at the end of 1917 was 7.3 cents pound, while year ago it was 8.33 cents pound, de- crease of 12 per cent. At the same tlme the margin between the price or | raw and refined sugar has been re- duced from PIP cents to 1.3 cents per pound. During the Civil War sugar went toB0 cents a pound, with no real shortage in the world. A rise of | ore cent on pound costs the Ameri- can people S80,000,000 a year.
 So much for us. What food admin istration in the United States has | meant to the Allies is indicated by the 
 From July 1, 1917; to March 31, 1918, we had exported to the Allies | 30 ,000, ,000 bushels of wheat and flour, or 124 per cent of the amount avail able for export on July 1, while year ago during the same period we export ed to the Allies only 51 per cent of | the amount available for export on July 1.
 Exports of pork products for March, 1918, were more than 50 per cent I larger than in any previous month in the past seven years and almost three | times as great as the highest amount | exported in any month in the four