Evening star., 1924-05-05
BREAD KEEPS PRICE
DESPITE FLOUR DROP
Declines Only 2 Per Cent, While
Wheat Falls One Half, Trade
Commission Reports.
CLAIM STUDY HAMPERED
Millers Advised to Ignore Cues
tionnaires.

A slump in wheat prices two years
ago brought less than a 2 per cent
decrease in bread prices. the Federal
Trade Commission said today in a
report on its investigation of the
wheat flour milling industry.
From January, 1919, to September.
1922, flour prices in the northwest de-
creased 33 per cent and in the south
west 43 per cent, the report said.
Wheat prices declined So and so per
cent, respectively. in the two districts.
it added, but the decrease in bread
cost was only 2 per cent except in
Kansas City, where price war
brought Is per cent drop.
Efforts to Hamper Inquiry.
Certain trade associations, the COM
mission reported, tried to hamper the in
quiry Immediately after it was launched
and the report charged that the Millers'
National Federation, the leading asSo-
citation of the flour milling industry,
told its members they had the right
to refuse to answer the cost and
profits questionnaires sent out by the
commission, and advised them not to
open their books to the commission
Despite these occurrences, the report
said; the millers accorded every aid
to the comm, ssion.
A constant concentration in the
Hour milling industry since 1914 was
noted in the report. Thirty per cent
of the mills operating in 1914 have
gone out of business, it is said, de-
spite the fact that since that year.
production has increased So per cent
Expansion of some mills and mergers
of others, was declared responsible
for this concentration. The average
profit of flour mills is 10.6 per cent
on their investment, the commission
found.
Two sorts of Mills.
about 80 per cent of the total
wheat -four output of the country
is produced by so-called merchant
mills. which purchase grain and sell
the mills products, as contrasted with
the custam mills, which grind the
grain for fixed charge"
Detailing the profits in the indus
try, the report continues:
The milling profit per barrel
showed a wide range for different
years and for different milling dis
rel for all companies was as fol-
lows: Al cents in 1919, So cents in
1920. cents in 1921, and 80 cents
in 1922, with an average for the
four-year period of SO cents per
barrel. n
Elements of Cost.
During the four-year period, 1919
1922, the average cost of the wheat
constituted almost 90 per cent of
the cost of -four and by-products;
cost of packages. nearly per cent
of this total cost: labor, about 2.5
per cent. and general expenses and
depreciation, about 2.5 per cent. The
average quantity of wheat used per
barrel of flour was ass bushels
ranging from 4.47 bushels in 1919
TO 463 in 1920
The average cost of wheat ranged
from $11.57 per barrel of -four in
1920 to 1854 per barrel in 1922. In
1922, by districts, the average cost
of wheat per barrel of flour was as
follows: Mountain and coast, $500 :;
northwestern S6.1S; southwestern, $5.27;
southeastern and central and eastern,
each, S6.19 per barrel
This marked decline in the cost
of wheat per barrel of -four does not
fully reflect, of course, the disastrous
decline in the prices of wheat from
1920 to 1922. The purchase prices of
wheat at the mills averaged $22S
per bushel in 1919, $50 in 1920,
s1.S2 in 1921 and SIPS in 1922. The
decrease in this average delivered
price of wheat from 1920 to 1922 was
almost so per cent. II the prices of
wheat were recKoned at the farm
the decline would be, of course, still
greater"