Evening star., 1925-01-02

In England. where bread is made
from wheat bought from America. IL
sells at 4 Il cents a pound; in Italy,
france and Greece bread made from
American wheat retails for 3 cents
pound. In America it sells for
nearly double what it does in Eng
land, and nearly three times the price
in other European countries. as dis
covered by Representative Brand, who
recently toured Europe for the ex-
press purpose of collecting such data.
In England the methods of distribu-
tion are similar to those in our own
country; in France and Italy bread
is sold in bakeries and also retaiIed
by women, who carry it from house
to house.
There is a close -at-home guide q :
TO the cost of the materials in a loaf
of bread made in America" The
United States Army bakes bread in
very large quantities and keeps exact
cost figures, which show that the ay-
erage for the material in a pound
loaf is q cents for a loaf like that
which retails in civilian markets for
cents. Thas leaves a spread of 81,
cents to cover labor and overbead
cost.
One bakery in Washington suppIfAs
the Navy with bread. under contract
for $3.50 per hundred pounds, and
that covers labor and overhead costs
so that there appears to be a clear
proht absorbed by the wholesaler,
ana retailer amounting to more than
lo0 per cent above that basic con
tract cost when it comes to selling
pound at cents. Representative
Brand, therefore, is mercitess in de-
manding' with Shylock, his full
pound.
\
While bread costs SO per cent more
than 1t did in 1913, the average in
crease of all food costs is 4S per cent
SO that there does not appear spe-
cial ground for alta oIlfne bread
more than the rest of H. G. T., av
cept as to full weights. Flour costs
so per cent more than in 1919. bu4
the statistical bureau of the Depart
ment OF Labor points to the figures
TO prove that the cost of flour bears
little relation to the price of bread
and even the higher wages paid tho
bakers cut no figure. since a bakery
which produces 100000 Ioaves a day
does it with three shifts of 1S or %
men each. The work is done by ma
chlnery, from the mixing kneading,
patting and baking to the wrapping.
There is no hand work The differ
ence between the Army costs for
material and the Navy contract cost
shows the spread covering labor and
reasonable overhe cad and profit. 81
is argued, while the other 100 per
cent net covers retail distribution
and retail profits.
Are the large bakeries profiteer-
ing? Representative Brand so fig
ures, and backs his idea with these
statistics: BY the census of 1920
there existed in 1919 $4,000 baI1 I1eries
with total capitalization of $780,
100000. Today between 200 and 800
large baking corporations are under
taking to merge and capitalize at
$500, 900, basing their capitalize
tion upon showing of profits justi-
flying $600,000,000 without touching
the rest of the $4,000 comparatively
small bakeries with a total of $685.
000,0 600 If the profits justify swell
ing the capitalization more than
100 per cent without four years,
where do they come from?
* * x =
Lest Americans start the new
year with a complaint at their hard
lot in facing an increased cost of
living of 1888 per cent compared
with 1913, look at Europe. In
France the increase is 486 per cent;
in Belgium, $50 per cent; in Den
mark, 2S1 per cent; Italy, $50 per
cent; Finland, ILL per cent; Czecho-
slovakia, 997 per cent and Bulgaria,
2,S53 per cent But Germany-pros
porous Germany-shows an increased
cost of living of only 1863 per cent
slider that. These are official sta
tistics from the Department of
Labor.
ICopyright. 1925, by Paul Y cosHsnaA