The Bismarck tribune., 1925-10-17
Editorial Comment

(New York Times)

(NeW lOrk IlmeS)
Bread according to recent nvestigat on, sup
plies one quarter Of the entire motive power fo.
r.odern human society. hat it should have been
iDunt to produce a larger number Of r..n'rigs o,
cncrg ing heat in the human organism for sma Ter
expense than other staples sets the seal of science
upon almost universal taste. Even at presen:
prices cent will buy 81 calOres in milk and G3
in bacon; but it will buy 12O in ordinary white
bread. Bread is than a staple food; it has
become a symbol of life itself. While cannot
live by bread alone neither can he live without i
This almost mystical concern Of the human race or
bread makes the recent announcement Of a $4oOooO,
900 corporation to consolidate the three largest
bread making concerns already in existence OF
impelng national interest.
Elsewhere in today's New York Times the facts
of this proposed merger presented. The incor
poration of bread has about just the n
corporation Of steel or shoes oil-except that it
has come later and with prodgious speed. The in
venons Of the travelling oven, the mechanical mixer
and wrapper, and other bread making machines have,
in the last ten years. all but ousted labor from the
modern baking factory. AS each new invention
installed it reduced the cost of production and
increased the margin Of profit. Efficient manage
men and business strategy used this profit to pro-
duce larger plants. more machinery, increased
efficiency, better bread and - supplemented by the
opportune postwar stump in wheat and further
savings through large-scale operations following
rapid consolidations-even greater profits. And
now bread takes its place one OF the country
great corporate industries.
Critics of the proposed merger assert that tho
public has reaped no economic benefit from the
savings of machine production while stockholders
have grown rich They say that bread prices have
not been reduced in proportion and point to the
admittedly large profits which the companies have
made Prices, they say, could be cut in half and
still allow for a reasonable return the money
invested in the ndustry-"in London, where bak-
ers satisfied with q reasonable profit. poun!
OF bread costs half what it does in New York, amt
made of American wheat at that The proposed
combination, they also claim, Will be in position
to dictate the price of bread through the control OF
from 25 to so per cent Of the market in the biz
centers Of population. On the other hand, those
who have incorporated bread have obviously much
! to their credit. They have immeasuraby improved
the technique OF production and reduced industrial
waste They have substituted sanitary, laboratory
checked product for the older menace Of the cellar
bakeshop. They have introduced order and system
; in the process of distribution. 1t may be claimed
that the financial reward they have reaped is com
mensurate with the public service they have per
formed
Charges of inflated prices. proiteering and a pos
sible monopoly are serious in proportion to the grii
which bread has to hold upon the peop e
Those who seek to effect this merger and thos
who oppose it have raised an issue OF great moment
It can be met with satisfaction only if the hasi
economic facts OF the industry made known
from the wheat field and the dairy TO the kitcne.
| A thorough investigation by some responsible Gov
ernment agency is callcl for. ~ t.1 #.t1. So