Republican farmer., 1919-08-22
82 CENTS WAS FARMERS SHARE
 0F SII DINNER
Delegates Who Ate It Dis close This Fact to
 President

Washington, Aug. 1.-The farmers of the nation as represented by dele gates of the National Federation of State Farm Bureaus, laid their side of the high cost of living problem before President Wilson today as- serting that high prices were not caused by the rapacity of producers but by a combination of causes, in cluding proffteering and speculation by the middleman, extravaganza by the public, strikes and stagnation In the production of manufactured goods and prepared foodstuffs.
 The delegates, from bureaus in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, were with the President for nearly an hour, and were apparently well satisfied with the result of their in terview. They urged the President to let wheat alone, and stated that he had said the Government was not disposed at this time to interfere with the price of wheat. He added, they said, that he was working out a so- lution of the problem entirely along the lines which he had suggested in his address to Congress.
 The farmers had prepared a state ment which dealt in some detail with their viewpoint, and emphasized that it was essential that they should know what the future held in store for them, as the time had come when they must plan for the 1920 harvest.
 In presenting their argument the delegates cited their dinner at what they described as a modest hotel'' in Washington to illustrate their conten- ton that profiteering is being carried ar h1- a hatvraar1 and the ultimate consumer. Five of them paid s11 for none too elaborate dinner, exclusive of tips. Their fig ures showed that of the. s11, S2 cents had gone to the farmers who pro- duced the food
 Food on the table costs out of all proportion to the price to the pro- ducer,' they told the President. Part of this is due to the short hours and high wages of labor, part to the ex- orbitant prices of the several middle men between the producer and the consumer, and a considerable part to the extravagant practices of the con- sumer in purchasing.
 Without going into an analys!s of who gets it, compare the difference in price of choice beef on the hoof at IS cents per pound with that of a moderate meal for five at one of Washington's modest hotels, the meal consisting of steak, potatoes, corn, bread and butter, and coffee, and costing S11.
 ''Of this s11, the producer of the food, the farmer, got about as fol- lows:
 Beef, two pounds, 36 cents; pota- toes, 3 cents; bread, ? cents; butter. cents; coffee, cream and sugar. 4 z1ws- of S2 cents This is about per cent of the total.
 "A 50 per cent. reduction in the price of these products to the pro- ducer would have lessened the total cost of the whole meal on the hotel table only fl cents, smaller by half than the customary 10 per cent tip. which by the way Is not included in the above price for the meal
 This illustration shows the ex- tremes of exorbitant profits of the middlemen and of extravagant prac- tices of the consumers in purchasing including probably all the evils that arec contributing in large measure to the high cost of living to the con- sumer. A reduction to the producer in the price of these foodstuffs to a point which would stagnate produc- ton of grains and meats, would have an inconsequential effect upon final prices to the consumer"
 The five delegates who ate the s11 dinner were J. C. Crocker. president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau; O. F. Bradfute. president of the Ohio Bu- reau; J. c. Brown, president of the Indiana Bureau; J. R. Howard, president of the Iowa Bureau. and D. o. Thompson. secretary of the IT. linois Bureau