Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-05-10
SENATORS WILL
INVESTIGATE RISE
IN BREAD PRICE
Mr.. Capper. Author of Reso'
luton, Declares Increase
Here Not Warranted.

The increased price OF pFedu III the
District of Columbia. which goes into
effect today. will be investigated by
the Senate District committee under
resolution adopted by the Senate
today.
Senator Capper of Kansas. author of
the resolution, declared that in the
light of the testimony given before
the District committee when it in
vestigated profteering last year. the
rev increase in the price of bread
was not warranted.
Cites COrby ns Profiteer.
Discussing the bread situation. Sem
ator Capper said.
THE hearing before the District
committee showed. for one thing, that
the chief of the profiteers in the city
of Washington was man by the
name of Corby, engaged in the bread
making business: that he sold about
one-haIf of all the bread baked and
consumed by the Washington public.
1t showed that he had In a very short
time become a millionaire. The com
mittee required him to bring MS
books before it. The figures are rath-
er interesting. They showed that ne
had made net profits in the year 1918
at one of his bakeries-he had two
large bakeries-of $294,0a9. after a.
lowing himself a salary of s2o.ooo. he
had another bakery, which .at the
same time, made him $4,000 net
profit after allowing him another SAL
ary for the same year of $4,000.
'Including both bakeries and the
salary allowed himself. Corbys pronts
ON one years baking bus!ness-the
year 1a1S-amounted to about one
third of a million dollars. ana you
will find all this on page 6n4 OF tnls
very interesting report OF this near
ing conducted by the District OF Co
lumbia.
Profits steadily Increase.
According to this testimony taken
by the committee, CorbXs sins pron.s had
In 1914. the year before the war.
his largest bakery made S44.06S
rrofit. This increased in 1913 to
s5s.294: in 1916. to SS1,3l0; In 1871
xI42.202. and in 1918. to S294.059. Ac-
cording to the information which
came to the committee. his pronts
were equally as large in 1919. In fact.
they were increasing during the hrst
half of 1919.
this morning. 1 noticed pair of shoes
in one of the leading shoe stores
marked at $3.50. In this connection
i, might be interesting to know
what this report shows as TO pronts
of some of these shoe dealers. while
we are on the subject of the high cost
Of living in the District of Columbia.
Rich & Sons filed statement with the
committee. and you will md It on.
page 70 of this report. which says that
their net profits jumped from $2.O44
in 1914 to $4,000 in 1917; and then
S64,743 in 1913, with every indication
that since then the profits have been
fully as large. This net profit OF $64.-
743 in 1918 was made after each men,
Der of the firm had taken ont salary
Of s6.50o.'
$4,000 Years Net Profit.
The total capital invested at that
time was $111,924. according to their
statement. on which the net proht IN
one year was $4,000, and the profits
were increasing when the report was
made to our committee.
Another shoe firm. VIM. Hahn Co..
made net profit Of $3S.819 in 1916.
s40.so7 in 1917 and $54.9o4 in 1913.
The report filed by Snyder & Lit
tie showed that their net profits had
jumped from $7.429 in 1916 to $1l.7
in 1917 and to $4,000 in 1918, and in
all these cases they were increasing
during the year 1919. although our
investigation, Of course. concluded in
July OF last year.
Worst I'm WashinEtOn.
"Profteering seems to be now ram
nant al: over the country, but l think
tighter grip on the city OF Washing
ton than any other city i know OF.
and it has become SO shameless that
they take advantage even OF Mothers
day. Here yesterday they were nolu-
ing up people all over the city for 20
cents for a little carnation. selling
them even by the dozen III most OF the
leading florist shops for 80 a dozen
ON Mothers day. ah increase vi some
400 or 500 per cent, because or the
sh
m&nd for them here.
Pleads for Clerks.
There are thousands Of govern
ment clerks here who are trying to
support family on $1,000 year
They have reached the limit. and d
demand now of II per cent increase
in the price of bread, which amounts
to about 81 600. 900. and will be exacted
from the consuming public Of WASH
ington is unreasonable. and III my
opinion there is no basis for it, For
that reason / think the committee on
the District of Columbia ought to be
authorized to Investigate TINS mat
ter
Senator Reed of Missouri asked Sem
ator Capper whether there We're any
public markets here and how they
we're regulated. He asked Senator
Capper If he was prepared TO go into
the fixing of prices by the government
in this city and elsewhere.
Senator Capper replied he thought
there was enough law now to prose-
cute persons who made undue profits
Senator Reed maintained that it was
unwise for the government to en-
deavor to regulate the price Of any
one commodity without also resulat-
ing the prices of the constituent ma
terials that go into the articles and
the cost of labor.
Text of Resolution.
The resolution introduced by Senator
Capper follows
increase in the price of bread in the
District of Columbia. and
such increase Will place an addi
tional living cost burden upon the
people Of the District. which great
many citizens believe is unwarranted
al this time. and out of harmony with
the nationwide effort that is being
made TO stabilize prices.
The committee on the District OF
Columbia be. and it is hereby. directed
proposed increase in the price OF
bread and make such recommends
tions as the situation warrants
Would License Dealers.
The licensing of retail and whole
sale establishments III the District
was suggested by Senator King OF
Utah. The license, he said. could be
taken away under his proposal II II Is
shown that the dealers were engaged
IN a monopoly or in profiteering He
said that a committee had waited
upon him urging that a law be passed
fixing the charges which may be made
by hotels and inkeepers here.
Senator Harrison of Mississippi
asked what had been done about q
bill introduced by Senator Jones OF
Washington to limit the car fare In
The District of Columbia to 6A