Arizona republican., 1919-08-18
PRICE IF WHEAT
 RESP PONS|bLE
 FORFLOUR PR|CE
Editor Tells Just Why Mills Can't Make Cheap Flour From High Priced Wheat Its All Very Simple

Cheap flour cannot be made from dear wheat.
 This is the crushing answer that w. C.. Edgar. editor of The North western Miller, the largest flour organ of the flour manufacturing trade, gives the hordes of officials and citizens who are crying out for cheaper flour asI the remedy to the high cost of living. Tt cannot be done,1 MT. Edgar re- signedly states in commenting on the possibility of producing cheaper flour Official Washington is now. up in arms against the price of flour-after hav- ing guaranteed the farmers $2.26 a bushel for their wheat-and it was in answer to it's plans to bring back the old s6 or s9 a barrel flour that MT. Edgar presented for the first time the miller's side of the case, in the North western Miller of August 6.
 Mir. Edgar's article is the old, old story of you can't make cheap goods from high priced raw materials. As he sets forth the facts in clear, easily understood detail, the reason for the high price of flour becomes painfully apparent It is briefly, the high price of wheat.
 MT. Edgar's article in the North western Miller follows:
 The price of flour with wheat at two dollars and twenty-six cents bushel could easily have been figured out by any schoolboy who had mastered the multiplication table, when the wheat guaranty bill was passed. Assuredly any Washington official who cared to take his pencil in hand might have accomplished the same simple task
 It was no mystery, yet after passing the bill, fixing the price and provid- ing by another act for administering it's provisions Washington authorizes suddenly awake to the fact that the price of a barrel of flour is mon strously high and propose to make somebody suffer for it.
 Salaried men not belonging to unions and unable to strike for in- creased wages. professors, clergymen and clerks, men and women of fixed and limited incomes, all such realized what would be the price of flour, bur when the wheat guaranty bill was being considered they were ignoredI the farmer must be encouraged to raise a great crop of wheat, and money was the only inducement that would reach him.
 When the representatives of power ful railway unions protested against the high cost of living and demanded that, having themselves received the maximum pay they could expect, it should be lowered, it was an entirely different matter. Something must be done about it immediately, and there fore Washington is aroused and ready to take drastic action.
 The first thing to do is to find a scapegoat, and flour. being pre- -emin- ent among the daily needs. although infinitesimal in the sum of the indi- viduafs annual expenditure, one bal = rel sufficing to supply him for an entire year, which even at present prices represents the magnificent out lay of less than four cents a day, is selected for the sacrifice.
 The farmer, who receives $2.26 for a bushel of wheat is of course. ignored. No one in Washington would dare ac- cuse him of profiteering, but the miller and the baker are not exempt, and upon them must fall the brunt of the first savage onslaught.
 Tere are the figures, based on Min neapolis:
 $ 2.26 cost of bushel of wheat.
 Az number of bushels to barrel -- of flour.
 s1o.17 cost of wheat in bbl. of flour.
 1.2O manufacturing and selling -- cost.
 ITS deduction for feed produced, -- from wheat at $2.26 a bushel. 9.62 cost of barrel of flour at mill
 in bulk
 so cost of package.
 .69 freight to New York
 IS jobber's margin for handling
 1.25 retailers charge for selling - and delivery. i $1291 cost to consumer.
 In the face of this, it is proposed that l the government buy flour from millers at SS barrel, which it is alleged. will l give them "a fair profit" deduct s and self it to the consemure at St a barrel.
 Another brilliant proposal is that the government buy wheat from the | farmer at $2.26 a bushel stand a loss on it of s1 a bushel and sell it to the miller at SIPS. Assuming that it would take 500, 000, GOO bushels of wheat to supply the people of the United States with flour for year, this would mean a loss to the government oi $500, 900. 900 and would result in flour to the consumer on the following ! basis:
 s1.26 cost of bushel of wheat.
 41z number of bushels to barrel
 of flour.
 $567 cost of wheat in bbl. of flour 1.20 manufacturing and selling cost ss.87
 III deduction for feeding produced
 wheat at s1.26 a bushel. s5.76 cost of barrel of flour at mil in bulk.
 50 cost of package.
 69. freight to New York.
 75. jobbers margin for handling. 1.25 retailers charge for selling and -- delivery.
 $9.05 cost to consumer.
 Even at this, representing an enor- nous loss to the government, flou would still be some distance from s11 dollars a barrel and the dear olt much-to- be- desired politically 5-cen loaf of bread.
 The cost of living is no chimera it is real thing, and cannot be over. come by the pursuit of chimeras. | is the legitimate result of the war, ant imitation. Congress cannot reduce by legislation, and higher wages vii only increase it. It can only be over
  NGERG