Evening star., 1925-04-26
THE COST OF BREAD
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN

! The baking industry of the country
/ is greatly excited over the charges
that are being made to the effect that
| there is an unreasonable margin of
profit in the price the consumer must
pay for a loaf of bakers bread. These
! charges are being widely disseminated
and leading bakers are fearful that
! their business will be given an ugly
BLACK eye. If the real facts are not
/ brought before the public.
! If Congress were in session it is
! probable that an investigation would
! be asked. and il is quite possible that
! it will come TO that when the national
| law making body assemblies next De-
| cember. Meanwhile. however, the
| bakers hasten to deny with all en-
phasis and vigor that they are prof
| iteers.
Briefly stated. the indictment against
! the bakers is this: The Federal Gov
ernment at commissaries and supply
/ depots operated for the Army sells
/ bread "at cost to persons employed
| in strictly governmental activities.
| who are allowed the privilege of pur-
| chasing food and some other commodi-
! ties on a cost basis. The price of this
! bread is uniformly cents a loaf.
| which means that the commercial
| baker and retailer. who is charging
! 10 to IL cents loaf for his product
/ is gouging the consumer for a profit
that is staggering when the percent
age is figured.
Stated even more briefly the answer
! of the bakers to this indictment is
that it is not true,
| Henry Ford. through his magazine,
! was one of the first to sponsor the
| profiteering charge against those who
| produce the Nations daily bread. and
| he suggested that one or the coun-
| try's greatest needs are more bakeries
| like the Army has. Selling bread at
| cost and holding that cost down to .
| cents loaf struck Mr.. Ford as one
! of the finest examples of social eff
cheney that had ever come under his
| observation.
| Later a Boston publicatio took the
matter up, saying that when bread
prices were advanced during the war
| consumers generally assumed that
| when the war emergency was over
the former price level would be estab-
I lished.
| Five Cents q Fair Price.
Five cents was regarded as a fair
! price for bread" says this critic of
! the baking industry, lit being as
sumed that the difference between
| that price and the actual cost of pro-
| duction would afford a reasonable
! profit for the baker and the middle
! man. But the former schedules have
not been established. 1t seems diff
/ cult once a commodity has been ad-
vanced to restore it to its original
economic status. 1t is realized. of
| course that the overhead cost of pro-
! duction and distribution has been
| greatly increased, but the fact re-
mains that the price Of bread is not
| fixed upon the basis of its cost, so
| much as by what can be obtained
| for it,
1t is pointed out that people who
were reared on farms or in small
| villages and those now enjoying
| rural advantages will recall readily
| the day when the cost of a loaf of
bread was SO small as to be insig-
nificant Flour made from wheat
grown on the farm, mixed with milk
4 from the farm dairy and baked by
heat produced from wood which cost
| nothing more than the labor or pre-
pairing it gave the farmer his loaf of
| bread at n cost not to exceed l cent.
1t is not suggested that city bak-
ers can turn out bread at any such
cost, but it is contended that there
/ Is no justification for a retail price
I
| times the estimated original cost of
the farm produced loaf. Then when
| the Government undertakes to sell
bread at cost and fixes the price at
2 cents loaf. it is taken for granted
| that a clear case has been made out
against the producers of the STAFF of
! life, and their profit is or could be
| IL they We're as efficient as the Gov
ernment, a matter of SOC or 500 per
| cent
| Defenders of the bakers do not say
what the cost of a loaf of bread is
to them, but they do insist that the
margin of profit is exceedingly small.
The State of Wisconsin started out
! boldly, they say. to find bakery pill
iage and found the profits to be from
| "A to n cent a pound on bread,
| with a single exception where the
baker had a profit of nearly l cent.
| Why Uncle Sans Cost Is Low.
T. I. K. Russell, a former Washington
correspondent, now editor of the off
cial organ of the baking industry.
| says that the explanation of Uncle
Sans low cost is simple one, be-
| cause the only item considered is
the price of flour in carload lots.
Army bread, according to Mr.. Rus
lsell. is baked by baker on an Army
salary, not cent of which comes