Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1919-12-03
TELLS WHERE
FOOD MONEY GOES
An Experiment With Two Families
shows Formers Get Less Than
Half the Cost of Food Pro.
sitte $3.50, rssSs (luCed
WHAT 1T COST
TO FEED TWO FAMILIES
The Results Are Interesting, for
They Show Where the Money
Goes and How Much for
Mood


Every time city folks gather to
discuss ways and means of reducing
the cost of living, the farmer gets
more than his share of the blame for
high prices. He produces the stnf,
and, naturally, gets the money, so
the people think.
But when the farm bureau COM
mittee went to Washington and ale
a meal that cost $11, it was figurn,l
the farmer got SS cents as his e1ti
of the cost. Better than SO was adj
ded to the cost somewhere between
the farm and the table.
And so 1t goes with our food con-
modities, as is shown by the results
of an experiment conducted by tho
Illinois Agricultural Assoc. .ation,
which just finished. The association
through It's secretary. d. o. Thon,p-
son, fed two families in Chicago for
a whole week and kept track OF the
amount and cost Of the food. The re-
suits are interesting, for they show
where the money goes, and low
much OF every dollar spent for food
gets back to the farmer.
Gust Lindh, the father of seven
kiddieD ranging from seven montns
to IL years.. paid out $s.S5 in the
week Ter the four necessities of life
that como most direct from Illinois
farms. That included 1sM ioaves OF
bread, SIX pounds OF meat, SO
tQnares of milk and 8 pounds Of po-
|tatoes. OF thaa $s.S5 the farmer
gets tss4S and 4ors cnsr eass gets
$AS1. The ls.1a loayAs of bread cost
43.20. and the farmsr gets 81 cents
for the wheat, that, goes into II.
Others get sS.8s. II; would mean that
farmers would have to reduce wheat
75-scants q bushel to make loaf Of
bread cost o. penny, less. It would
mean farmers would have to take
less than 1t cost to produce the
wheat this year. :If the farmer gave
his wheat for nothing 10 cent one
pound loaf Of bread would cost about
cents.
Mr.. Lindh gets $40 week, and
does some extra work at nights and
Sunday, so 1t keeps him rustling to
make the money 60 around. In spite
of that milk was used every meal,
because Mrs. Lindh says milk is the
best food for the children. .rThe %
quarts OF milk cost 1920. IN the "a
hours between the time the milk
left the farm until It reached the
back porch some one else added 100
per cent to the cost. OF the $500
the farmer got half.
Meat was not used for breakfast
and none on Friday, Only the cheap
est cuts were used at all. The hgnr-
les show that the farmer gets 80 cents
of the $1.zs spent for So pound Of
meat. The 8 pounds Of potatoes used
/. cost "a cents, and again some one
added 100 per cent to the cost from
the time they left the farm until
they were purchased at the sroc-
Iery.
The figures show that the farmer
gets 42 per cent of the money this
family spent on meat. milk. bread
and potatoes. A family was picked
that used cheap food and showed
economy in purchasing, SO the ngures
would be fair. Another family. With
only two children used little high
er class Of food and moro Of it, This
family spent $10.1S for the four
farm. products and the farmer got
II PEI, cent, or $4.2S.
These figures indicate that any rea-
sonable reduction In prices of farm
Iproducts would mot make much dif-
terrence in the price to the consum-
or. It would take Is cents OF per 100
pounds OF milk to make cent less
9 quart, and 70 cents on bushel Of
wheat to make bread,a penny cheap
'er. In either case farmers would not
" getting the cost of production.
I Another recent example is the hos
price dropping 10 cents in 80 days
With very little change in prices Of
stork. City people know they cannot
afford to eat food that is sold for less
than cost OF production by the farm
er, II would mean farmers wonld
lsrsd dually raise lsss and food w0Rld
~ higher latsr. Farmers are feady q
cait the cost Of living to~thS tesy
limit II others will % the say1es IN
they cannot a. Il aions. nFesy tolh1