Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-14
See Food Law Need
After End of War
By Frederic J. Haskin.


Food administration IN some form or
other is question that rs receiving much
discuSsion NJ present in the national
capltsI MANY views are eNnrcsScd
som, believe that these powers should
he transferred to the Department ~
Agriculture some think that the Depart
rnent of ahor should inherit them, and
the Federal Trade Commission Is also
roent,oned The Food Administration
ITSELF in the absence Of Mr. Hoover,
has nothing "a say on the subject
Congress also Is silent ON tins im-
nortant question. although Congress VIII
eventually decide IT, Unless the necessary
legislation Is passed before the President
declares that the war IS over the o"d
Administration viii simply cease I" ne
II will die a natural death a'd 'hc
consumers Will ne the chlel mourh'rs
Thousands ~ lcticrS are now pouring
into the headquarters ~ the food "a
ministration here, complaining tha' prices
have suddenly Iumpcd IN many localities
subsoo,,ont to thr slenrng II the arms
tice and EXPRESSING the hope that n
least the fair pricc lists viii not hc dls-
continued with the declaration 81 peace.
RrrATIrFs DEFY PUBLIC
These consumer. il appears have not
hosr ,n,stalen As soon Is u became
aDDarent that Germany was hc9tcu re-
tailers All over the country started rM>hlr
their prices. and when rehuked ny th'lr
customers they declared that thc VIZ
was over and they could do as They pleased
Not All retailers did thus. q course H'.'
due credit must be gwen 70 those Who
have continued - follow the tar pnce
costs. but the general rise N pu'c> vas
sufficiently alarming n csuS' u, l"'d
Administration lpmciIateiN T. tt>uipr
Us pressure toward bringing thcm i'wn
Moreover. in several eases where the
admins, ration had purpasclv relaxed its
vigilance. believing II 10 longer u be
necessary tho results were 50 unfortunate
that il was again Compelled 70 cNcfciSc
control For cNauple, when u removed
all restrictions regar.ing mil tcods. tie
pricc of mil feeds IN middle western
CITY ,uu ped IN one day from less man
So ~ SD The mcrcasc IN the prices
II q ~ food CONN odlties las been onT-
respondirGlv rl
EXper cnce has shown thst prices are
usually hiChcr IN tho period immediately
following war than thoy are during 81"
var rset Thus statistics show thai
food prices were considerably higher ~
The period from lS66 to 1870. than fhcN
we're during the four years 81 the 'lvil
War There was no Worldwide shortage
Of food then such as that which eNlstS
TODAY, and the ONLY reason for the eNor-
hitani prices charged was speculation
Prices scared without rcstnctlon
rrAR room SPECULATION.
To-day the scarcity cf food and the
higher costs 81 production make high
prices inevitable Il j. onlv when they
reach an unreasonable altitude that the
government attempts 70 regulate them
And so successfully has tins been done
that a COMPARISON ui price hsts Of the
two periodS-lS66 and 1918 shows these
of 1918 70 be much lower But vii this
remarkable comparison hold when the
Food Administration goes out Of existence
Most people fear that II viii not They
look forward "a a period Of food Specula-
tlon equally as disastrous as that following
the Civil War. which, IN view of the scar
city Of food, VIII be extremely dangerous
10 the nation For i the people At home
will not pay the prices demanded 10y the
spectators, agents from Europe will,
and 4 no check i placed upon the ship
ment Of food out Of the country, Americans
will face 3 famine such a. has never oc-
CURED before
an illustration Of what NAV happen
when the government releases lts con-
troll OF the food markets. At one stage
during tho past year there was a great
shortage OF wheat in this country
30 great, in fact, that the information
was carefully kept from the people
Only the food administration knew
that there was only a ten day supply
on hand. II there had been no system
of government control, IL would have
been possible for any man 10 corner |
the nation entire wheat supply and /
sell il bushel by bushel at his own fig |
ure
That there must be some central |
authority II the government for regu- /
latlng the expectation Of food 10 Europe !
during the reconstruction period, Is gen /
orally admitted even by those lndividu- (
ais who believe that there is no longer 1
any excuse for the present system Of /
food administration Mr. Hoover him !
sell IS one OF these. l.
White the expiration OF the Lever
Law can be faced without anxiety. the (
other functions Of the food admlnIstra-
tIon must continue. was the opinion
he expressed before going TO Europe
''Some organization must be continued
our distribution Of food abroad, Il il
shall reach the most deserving and the
most necessitous The vast purchases
for export are now all IN the hands Of
the governments, many OF them acting I
IA common and their powers IN buyIng
could II misused, rum our producers,
or, lternatyely, do infinite harm 10
our consumer An utter chaos Of gDecu-
lation and proiiteering would reign If
these buyers were not co-ordinated and
Z. S. OFFICIALS ANXIOUS.
There are other Washington officials
however, who do not believe that the
expiration Of the Lever Law can be
faced without anxiety This is the law
which gives the food administration
the power 10 control the prices charged
by wholesalers through the federal IL
Dcnse system. and these charged by re-
Iailers through the iar price llsts that
have become 50 popular with the con-
stunlng public. j he producer was ex-
snpted from regulation IN this la~
or II has been shown again and agaIn
that The producer, who Is usually a
armer, rarely makes al unfair profit
il Is 10 It's !ourLey from the farmer
10 the consumer that food becomes
expensive. In 1913, for example the
farmer was getting but - cents for the
amount Of wheat used IN making dol
ars worth Of bread tie miller & cents
! bile o. cents was added between the
louT at the mill and the bread on the
consumers table nder tho food adj
min istratiOn this condition has been