Evening star., 1926-02-04
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL y. COLLINS.

It costs less than half a cent to
make a pound Of bread, according to
statistics. The people of the United
States average, in consumption. about
one third of a pound Of bread day
per capita, hence an average family
of four persons requires a labor cost
Of less than two-thirds of a cent to
make the daily bread which the
family consumes
No family seeking to economic can
afford to burn the gas needed for
baking the daily bread, for that would
cost far more than the labor cost
which would be saved. Hence, Amer
lean families are following the course
of practically all Europeans, in buy
ing bread from the bakeries.
One man has now become the
power behind the oven and every
American pays tribute to the King
Of Bread and Emperor of the Bakeries
William B. Ward. 1t appears prob
able that no man since Pharaoh and
Joseph ever has held the bread of
all the people in his grasp as does
the King of Bread today.
His bakeries are producing 31,000,-
900 pound loaves daily and have
capacity of 55,O00,000 loaveS. The
total consumption of all our 10000,
900 Americans is only 37.00O,O00
loaves daily.
The American farms produced in
1924 a total Of ST., ,000,0 900 bushels of
wheat. Our mills ground into -four
53S 600, 900 bushels. MIR. Wards
bakeries and the needs of the farmers
for seed wheat consumed approx
mately 6S5, 100000 bushels Uhe per
capita requirements are 6A bushels).
and the rest of the crop was surplus
for export, except what was used for
Queen Marie Antoinette's substitute
for bread when the hungry moo de-
manded food-cake. Wards cakes
may have used all the discrepancies
of -four between what was needed for
bread and what was exported. What
ever that may have been, the fact re-
mains that one man Will now buy
practically all the -four made in Amer
lea And this is the condition before
his monopolistic power has had time
to put down the few remaining indie
pendent bakers and close up the frag-
mentS of competition.
One pound of bread is more nutri-
tious than a pound and half Of beef
steak. 1t is the cheapest nutriment
known to man; 1t Is the most essen
tial. The man who controls bread
controls the health, the welfare, the
clearneSS of brain, the efficiency OF
mental and physical America. This
statement is based upon pronounce
ments of all recognized scientists in
nutrition, particularly DIR. McCullom
Of Johns Hopkins University, the lead
ing nutrition authority of the country.
There is no other monopoly of
financial power. no other production
combine. which equals the financial
strength of the two-billion-dollar King
Of Bread. The Steel Trust, so called,
may approach it in capital, as may
the several Standard Oil companies
combined, but neither of them is held
in the name Of one man, and both
combined do not equal the broad
monopoly in volume and quickness of
turnover. Bread is baked daily, sold
and paid for daily, consumed daily.
1t may be consumed and paid for by
the consumer long before the King Of
Bread will be called upon to sign
checks to pay for the raw material;
the daily turnover is done not on the
invested capital. but on unlimited
credit-more than $3,OOO,0OO every
day, including Sunday.
The absoluteness Of control OF our
food supplies is not so apparent in
the fiat years." but in case of a
crop shortage-the lean" years
what will be the effect of such a gil
gantic one-man hold on the food of
American Our grain markets have