Evening star., 1923-06-13

The market price of flour falls 30
cents a barrel, and the market price
of bread rises l cent a Loaf. rms
refers to the price of Minneapolis
flour. Local bakers of Washington
| belittle that fall on the alleged
ground that it comes from zone par
ticular mill"
Minneapolis is the largest primary
grain market in the world and tue
largest flour producing city in the
, world, with the largest individual
mills in the world; hence it is as
sumed that as goes Minneapolis
-four, so goes the -four of the whole
market.
Thirty cents a barrel does not seem
to the layman to be much or a ran
in price. yet it is said to exceed the
usual total milling profit on -four.
AS a barrel of flour G96 pounds)
makes from 2S0 to 800 pound loaves
of bread, 80 cents drop Wouid make
no appreciable difference in the cost
of the bread-nor should 80 cents
rise The difference between l3b
rounds of -four and ESQ or 800 pounds
| of bread is said to represent the milk,
potatoes. lard, sugar and water Whlch
are the ingredients aside from four.
Practically all ingredients have tend
ed to decrease. Even susar-whlch
! is not a great item in bread--is com
ing down.
The only element which has risen
in cost is the wages of the bakers.
Just what the increase in wages
| would figure in loaf of bread would
require an efficiency expert to COM
pute, but the workmen claim that
their increase of wages amounts to q
mere fraction of cent loaf, Wnlie
the bakeries are adding a cent loaI
| to the customer. and harvesting the
difference as their own added pront.
X X X
The Department of Agriculture re-
PORTS that during the last two weeks
at eleven principal grain markets
the price of wheat has fallen an av-
| erage of II cents bushel.. 1t takes
| four and one-half bushels of wheat
to make a barrel Of -four. therefore
| the fail in the price of wheat Is
| equivalent to about so cents barrel
! of -four. while the millers give the
! public the benefit of only 80 cents.
An Agricultural Department official
remarks:
| This appears TO be concrete ex-
ample Of how the advantages stick
| to the fingers of the good folks be-
| tween-alias middlemen-the millers
| profiting 20 cents net. when the
! farmers lose 80 cents. and the bak-
cries paying their workmen a slight
increase of wages and charging the
| public several times the amount in
| the increased cost of bread"
| = IL L
/ The average consumption of -four
! per person is about one barrel a year
not all In bread. but in all forms
! Reducing it all to terms of bread.
! with it's increase of 1 cent a loaf
| for ESQ Ioaves year. it means about
| $3.50 year per person increased cost
| Of living. or about s11 per family
! Adding the 30 cents loss per barrel TO
| the farmer. the snread between the
! producer and ultimate consumer is
| increas sed $3.50. even while costs of
! production are falling.
/ Kansas farmers have been look ing
| to a July harvest of hummer crop,
| but foods within the last few days
! have worked great destruction. Won't
/ somebody repeat recent calculations
! showing the vast increase in farm
| prosperity?
| Speaking of the precociousness of
! the present generation of youth
! brings attention to the news that the
son of Wagner is about to tour Amer
| lea: the thirteen-year-o son of
Douglas Fairbanks recently arrived
| from Paris just in time to sign his
| name on the dotted line of a contract
I alleged to give the hoy $1,000 week
as leading man" in a movie. In
! Europe IL appears that war. the son
! of gun, is about ali that is left TO
tour from the Ruhr to Japan. The
! sons who reach America will keep
| away from bad association with the
! bad boy of Europe.
The Secretary of Labor. Mr.. Davis
| is developing a bill to be presented to
| the next Congress. which will assess
J all aliens a special tax of from $40
| to SIS year for the support of
! Americanization schools. The aliens
then will be required to attend these
| schools. established for the purpose