Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-01-24
War Time Prices.

and most of them in the course of
time reach the ears of the Maine food
administrator, DR.. Leon S. Merrill Of
Orono. The complaints include OBJ
Jections to reducing the consumption Of
meats, wheat, sugar and fats; because
some of the substitutes cost more than
the food they are asked to save for
their soldiers and allies on the other
side Of the ocean: and at various other
phases Of the food conservation pro-
gram.
"All right" says State Food Ad-
ministrator DR.. Leon 5. Merrill. sup
pose that we grant their complaint
about prices. But then let us look at
the thing from another angle. Prices
are high. There is no way to get
around that. War time prices have
always been high. They always will
be Highly But if we ate only the things
we liked fully as well as the things we
must save, and if we ate only suhsti-
tutes that were cheaper, how much OF
a sacrifice would we be making in Or
der to help win this war?
Suppose that the men who are
supplying our ammunition said it was
disgraceful to pay high prices for steel
when wood was so much cheaper. And
then just suppose that they used wood
to make our guns and our shells-it's
much cheaper and could he painted
and smoothed down to look like steel.
How long do YOU think our armies
could stay in the trenches with wooden
guns and wooden shells" They could
stay just about as long as they could
if we made prices the excuse for talk
| ing food out OF their mouths.
Prices or no prices we must eat to
win this war. Those people need
beef, pork and mutton. wheat, sugar
and fats. If we fail to save in. order
that they may have them we could
just as well close down our steel plants
and send them shells made OF wood.
Where there is war, food cannot be
produced. A steel pillow helps produc-
ton, but steel is not a good cutivator
when it breaks the land in the form of
a shell. That has been shown in
France, Italy, Belgium and ell the 9th :
er countries shattered by battle. But
a nation can be AT war and still main
tain production, if the battle lines do
not encroach on the farms That has
been shown in Germany and is being
shown in the United States. We have
been charged with the tremendous
task of feeding our associates in this
war, OF maintaining production on a
scale that will meet oar actual needs
and still leave enough to fill the gap
between Europe's production and con-
sumption. The only solution is to re-
duCe our own use of the foods most
needed abroad. We must employ sub
stitutes for beef. pork and mutton
wheat, sugar and fats. This war is rs
much ours as it is Europe's and there
is no reason why we should ask
Europe to bear all the sacrifices and
deprivations.
"Did you ever stop to wonder why
food prices are high in war times? Or
have YOU Just complained abou, the
fact that they are high, and then Won
dered why in the world the govern
ment hasn't stepped in and brough,
them back to the ante bellum lever
The next time YOU complain about
prices, stop to think of the farmer who
grew the things YOU are buying. Do
you know that he is paying 81 or 50 81
day for labor he could get befo.e the
war for 81 or s1.25-and that he is
having a mighty hard time getting
anybody at all? Do you know that
every railroad in the country is con-
, hat
cult to get farm products to market
than 1t was year ago? Do you know
that the man who buys food from the
farmers and then distributes it TO the
wholesale dealers. has to pay more for
! his labor than he did before the war
And do YOU know that all Of his necos-
sary expenses have been on the as
cendant? Do YOU know that the
! Wholesal" dealer is paying wages and
salaries that he could scarcely have
dreamed of few years agoo-and that
the same thing is true of the retail
ers?
/ And then, on the other hand. when
You wonder WHY the Government
hasn't taken hand have you stopped
| 10 CONSIDER that prices have risen on a
/ HUGH rover scale than has ruled in
other wars" Have you thought when
YOU paid ten cents for sugar. with the
country going through an actual
famine, that it would have gone much
higher had not the Government.
through the United States Food Ad-
mlnistration taken measures to stabil-
ize the market? Have You stopped to
wonder why the wholesale price of
flour is about $1,000 barrel, when it
went as high as $500 last summer
and threatened to keep mounting =
Have you remembered that the farmer
Is getting more money out of the
| $1,000 -four today than he got out of
the $500 and $500 -four six months
ago"
NO. You haven't thought of those
things. You just know that prices arc
high. and you wonder why Somebody
doesn't do something about it, II
you stopped to think. maybe your tone
would change from complaint to won
! der. Prices are high. but the wonde,
is that they are not higher, when you
you come to think Of it,
E,,N IN ha