Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-21
BY WILLIS j. BALLIEGER.
II" HE American people are be-
ing robbed of 800. 900 900 a
year in short-weight loaves
of bread"

- ing robbed of 800 900 900
year in short-weight loaves
/ of bread"
That is the charge of
Representative Brand of Ohio, VINO
launching a movement to :,tandardize
the size of the loaf.
He points out that bread is already
being sold at an excessive price; that
in Europe, with labor operating by
hand and the crudest and most an
cient methods and with -four imported
from America, bread is sold to the
people at half the price charged our
own people. Since this high price is
eXacted he demands that full weight
be given.
Representative Brand has been in
the food business the greater part of
his life. He has made a special study
Of the bread situation in the United
States and abroad. He is the author
Of the bread naturalization act Of
Ohio. which in 1921 he forced through
In the face of powerful opposition.
During the war Mr.. Brand was active
ly associated with Herbert Hoover in
food administrative work. Since COM
ing to Congress he has Waged a per
sistent fight to get a national law reg
ulating the weight of bread uniform
ly throughout the country. In the
succeeded in getting bread standard
ization law enacted similar to the
Ohio statute. but the pressure of the
powerful baking interests. who regard
the profit from under-weight bread as
their special bonus and perquisite, and
the shortness of the congressional ses-
sion conspired to defeat his efforts.
Doubts Price Increase.
loss from the tolerated practice of
selling under-weight bread is a heavy
bill TO foot" said the Ohio Congress
man. This staggering sum. which
represents both tribute to the baking
baronS and an unjustiflable economic
waste, is equivalent TO the amount of
the soldiers bonus, over the granting
of which there was so much agitation.
This annual loss from under weight
bread would purchase a playground
for and install a gymnasium in every
town in the United States
But, Mr.. Brand, | interrupted. If you
propose to jack up the missing ounces
in under-Weight bread, don't you at
the same time look for an increa Sc in
the price of bread?
a. If such plan would increase
the price Of bread. | would be the last
to favor it. But experience refutes
any such fears. In all the States that
have bread naturalization acts the
price of bread is just the same as in
the other States. The only difference
is that the people of. say, Ohio get
about 10000. 900 more ounces of bread
for the money they pay than the citi-
zens of New York. In Ohio we pay
8 cents for l6 ounces of bread. In
States that are not protected by bread
standardization laws the custom is to
sell for cents less tha n 16 ounces, and
when an ounce or two is ''pinched"
off millions of loaves the loss is enor
nous TO community.
Fears Big Combines.
O. Your statements about the
cheapneSS of the cost of bread in
France and England are startling. Do
you think we have a bread monopoly
in America?
A l would say that at present
there is a great deal of competition in
the bread-making industry, but if
large combinations are successfully
effected 1t will only be a matter of
time before the little bakers will be
driven TO the wall, and then the limit
of eXtortion will be the sky. In 1924
| was in Europe and found that bread
was selling at Az cents in England
and at 3 cents in France. Much of the
-four used came from America. The
labor employed was mostly hand and
not comparable in efficiency to Ameri-
! can bread-makinS machinery. For in
stance, in English factories 1 saw hun
dreds of workmen laboriously rolling
and patting the bread like America n
grandmothers used to do. Contra st
this with Corbys bread factory in
Washington. where l found IS men
turning out with the aid of nachin-
cry 100 600 loaveS of bread-ma chin
cry that patted the bread, rolled it
and brought the finished loaf out of
the oven with human hands scarcely
having anything to do with the proc
ess. Under such conditions in Amer
| lea. have often pondered why bread
is twice as high here as in Europe.
| But there are figures on bread produc-
| ton in America which must cause the
intelligent person to open his eyes in
establishment. In 1924 the Corby Bak-
ing Co. was selling bread to the retail
grocers at the wholesale price of
cents and at the same time this same
concern was selling to the Government
at 4.23 cents loaf. In February
1924, the General Baking Co. bid as
low as 3.15 cents a pound to make
bread for the Government, but even
this was surpassed by the Corby Bak-
ing Co. in June of that year by bid
of $50 cents a loaf
More Bread for Same Money.
O. What particular merit will your
bill of bread standardization have?
The big problem seems to be to lower
the price of bread rather than to jack
up deficient weights in loaves?
A. Yes, that is the bigger problem.
but what my bill proposes TO do is
to offer some immediate relief. Low