The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1922-01-27
Bread Produced for Three Cents /;
Loaf

The farmer is getting less for his
wheat today than at any time since
1913. The price of flour has dropped
from $13 barrel to $3.50 within a
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 peo-
pie. 1t is the mainstay of every
workers table. The poorer the work
er is, the more completely he relies
for his existence on 'the staff of
life" To profiteer in bread is to
pinch mems stomachs. 1t is only less
criminal than would be monopolistic
eXtortion for the air men must
breathe or the water they must drink.
Except greed for profits, there is
no reason why a 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
214 cents, according to Senator f..
F. Ladd of North Dakota, the emin-
ent authority on grain. The total
cost OF the other OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
salt and sugar, does not exceed "A
cent 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
5 cent loaf is adequate compensation
for those who make and distribute
our bread.
100 Profiteers
The workers are now compelled to
pay 7 cents to 10 cents for pound
loaf. Who grabs the extra profit ?
Statistics just presented to Commits
sioner of Markets O'Malley of New
York City by expert economists rep
,resenting the Bakery Workers Union
prove that the big bakers of that
city are profiteering from 1870 tC
1000 in bread and other bakery pro.
ducts. A congressional committee
investigating the high cost of living
in the District of Columbia founC
that one of the large bakers made q
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 ar
| increase of a cent loaf in his pro.
ducts! 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 Amer.
! lea.
But the bakers and retailers are
not the only ones who are profiteer-
ing on the peoples universal neeC
for bread. The wheat millers stanC
convicted by the Federal Trade Com.
mission, in its report on profiteering
| to the u. S. Senate, of squeezing the
people for an average profit of 38%t
-"profits that are indefensible, con
| sidering that an average profit OF
| one mill for six months of the year
shows as high as. So a BARREL" as
against an average profit of 1917
cents a barrel before the war. A
| Nebraska court OF inquiry finds that
one of the large mills in that state
secures $2.61 hundred for the pro
ducts of wheat costing $1.80 hun
dred Today the British Cooperative
Wholesale society is selling it's best
flour, made from American wheat
at 2 cents a pound, while the lowest
quotation in the big markets of thi;
country is g cents pound.
Wheat Gamblers Make Millions a.
Peoples Expense
Next to the miller stands the job
Der. through whom all but the big
gest bakers buy their flour. The
| Federal Trade Commission reported
that jobbers who were content with
an average profit of Is cents bar
rel in 1914 have increased theil
exaction to so cents barrel. Be
tween the miller and the farmer
stands the owner of the grain eleva
tor, the wheat speculator, and {
whole horde of brokers, wheat pii
manipulators, and other parasitic
indictment. Each one of these gets
his dig out of the price of wheat
which is added to the cost of floul
| and to the ultimate price of bread tt
the consumer. The enormous profits
| of the elevator men are notorious
while within the past three months
one Of the big operators" is est