The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1922-01-21
BY ALBERT Il. COYIE.

The farmer is getting less for his
wheat today than at any time since
1913. The price Of flour has dropped
from $13 a barrel to $3.50 within
year. Yet the bakers have not
only failed to reduce bread to pre-
war prices, but in several large
cities they are. now Announcing an
increase in price Of from one to
two cents a loaf.
Everybody eats bread. About
twelve billion loaves Of it are con-
sumed annually by the. American
people,, It is the rnainstay of every
workers table. The poorer the
worker is. the more completely he
relies for his existence on "the staff
of life" To proflteer> in bread is
to pinch mems stomachs. It is only
less criminal than would be monop-
olistic extortion for the air men
must breathe or the water they must
drink.
Except greed for profits, there is
no reason why pound loaf of bread
should cost more than cents today.
And that would leave cents mar
gin for the baker and retailer. The
flour in pound loaf costs less than
2k cents according to Senator E. r.
Ladd of North Dakota, the eminent
authority on grain. The total cost
of the other ingredients-yeast, salt,
and sugar. does not exceed one-quar-
ter of cent a loaf, and the same
amount will cover the labor cost
Of making and baking under large
scale machine production. Surely 2
cents out of a cent loaf is ade-
quate compensation for those who
make and distribute our bread.
The workers are now compelled
to pay cents to 10 cents for a
pound loaf. Who grabs the extra
profit? Statistics just presented to
Commissioner of Markets O'Malley
Of New York City by expert econ
omists representing the Bakery
Workers Union prove that the big
bakers of that city, are profiteering
from IS to 100 per cent in bread
and other bakery products.
A congressional committee inves-
tigating the high cost of living in
the District of Columbia found that
one Of the large bakers made a.
profit Of $315,059 in one year, not
counting his own salary Of $4,000.
Flour then cost twice what it does
now. And yet within the past week
this same baker has announced an
increase of a cent a loaf in his
products.
During the four years of the world
war, Great Britain, France, Italy
and Belgium sold pound of bread
made from American wheat, with
heavy transatlantic freight costs
added, for less than half the price
we had to pay for it in America.
But the bakers and retailers are
not the only ones who are prof.
teering on the peoples universal
need for bread. The wheat millers
stand convicted by the Federal Trade
Commission, in it's report on prof.
teerins to the United States senate,
Of squeezing the people for an aver
age profit Of SO per cent-"profits
that are indefensible, considering
that an average profit of one mill
for six months Of the year shows
as high as 81 a barrell," as against
an average profit Of 1871 cents a
Darrell before the war.
A Nebraska court of inquiry finds
that one of the large mills in that
state secures 1921 hundred for
the products of wheat costing $3.50
a hundred. Today the British Co.
operative Wholesale Society is SELL
ing it's best flour, made from Amer
lean wheat. at cents pound, while
the lowest quotation in the big mar