The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-03-17
Halt Of Nations Annual Flour
Production Is Consumed
BY Baking Firms
MILLER BUSINESS IS LARGE
Selling and Distribution End OF
Bread Industry Neces-
sariIy Enormous
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN

w WAL -
It is one of the major anomalies OF
modern civilization that flour, the
principal ingredient Of bread, repre-
sentS only a trifling fraction OF the
cost Of production OF the bakers loaf.
Without flour, bread could not be
made, yet it costs more to deliver a
loaf to a consumer than to buy the
flour which goes into 1t.
While conditions vary slightly in
different sections Of the country the
items Of cost going into the ordinary
loaf of bread are flour, IL cents;
other ingredients, 0.8 cent; produc-
ton costs, los cents; selling and de-
livery costs. Its cents; and overhead
O.6 cent. This totals So cents for q
16-ounce loaf, the standard size made
throughout the country.
Although there has been a tremen-
dous increase in the consumption OF
bakers bread there still is a good deal
of home baking done. Half OF the
nations annual flour production Is
consumed by the bakers but the other
half goes into the homes and is used
for homemade bread, for biscuits,
cakes.
It takes four and one-half bushels
of wheat to make q barrel OF flour.
The American milling industry con-
sumes or an average GOO, OOO,OO
bushels of wheat q year. This makes
100, 0OO, 900 barrels Of flour and uses
up about IS per cent OF the normal
wheat crop, the remainder passing
into export channels.
BY the time flour passes into the
hands of tive consumer in the form Of
bread, the cost has been fined down
to a point which represents very little
of the whole. Nevertheless, the price
of flour to the baker varies directly
with the price of wheat. But even
SO. the flour cost Is S slight that
when wheat is down or up INSULT
Gent difference is made to be re-
Elected Importantly in the price OF
bread. The wheat price may tluc-
tuate but the production and delivery
costs remain quite constant. Wages
may vary over long periods but the
trend for many years has been up
ward. II the bakers Of the country
could obtain labor as cheaply as they
obtain flour, bread prices would not
furnish ar occasion for remark.
In 1927 wheat brought $1.39 a
bushel and flour was priced, whole
sale. at S6.7O a barrel. In 1880 wheat
went dowr to IS cents a bushel and
flour followed down to $3.50 a barrel.
Who Buys the Wheat
The big millers of the country are
the chief dealers on the Chicago
wheat pit. They buy their supplies
far III advance. The largest Of them
produce as much as $4,000 barrels OF
flour a day. The complicated milling
machinery may not be allowed to re-
main idle so it is Of the first impor-
lance always to have q plentiful sup
ply Of wheat on hand to feed into the
grinders. So it is that the larger
companies' Often buy wheat before 1t
has 7carcely sprouted from the
ground.
Uttentimes, in connection with
these large operations, they accumu-
late too much and then become sell
ers in the market. Large Is the
transactions of the Federal Farm
board have been in making purchases
to stabilize the wheat price In the In
terest of the American farmer, those
government dealings have not ap-
preached the operations OF the great
millers of The country.
These large scale dealings preSup-
pos a widely ramified organization.
Some ide, of the extent o. dvelop-
ment IS given by the tale OF a single
company's holdings. This company.
the largest in the United States and,
indeed, in the world, owns 255 ele-
vators, s~trategically located In the
wheat country. These elevators have
q total storage capacity of IL ,759, 900
bushels. Buyers for the company
make arrangements for deliveries
from re farm as the crop comes IN.
First the southern elevators fill up
and late.-. rs the season progresses.
those to the northward.
In addition to these country eleva-
tors, this company owns ~ huge
terminal elevators with q capacity Of
So, 200, 900 bushels. In these the
wheat is concentrated before final
shipment to the mills. There are 81
of these flour mills, the combination,
all under a single ownership. having
a capacity Of $3.50 barrels Of flour q
day. t probably is beyond the mag
ination of the individual to conceive
of the number of leaves Of bread. OF
hot cross buns. which so vast q
quantity of flour could produce.
In the milling process there are
produced certain b~y-products In adj
dition to the white flour. This COM
pany. for example, has 10 feed mills
where ratent feeds for animals are
produced. Then, too, it has two