The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-11-06
Market Keeps Booming
BIZ United Press


CHICAGO, Nov. 6.-The looming
grain market, which has added
nearly $4OO,OOO,OOO to the nations
purchasing power within month,
now is carrying forward on the opti-
mism of its own advance, expert
enced traders feel.
They pointed out how an ava
lanche of buying orders from a pub
lie, which was lethargic when wheat
sold at an all-time low Oct. s. was
showing under efforts of traders,
who felt the time had come for a
technical recession"
Indications were that depres-
sion-weary nation was Surging to
the support of the most dramatic
upturn in economic fortune since
the fall of 1929.
Trading ON the Chicago Board of
Trade swept ahead toward the 100,-
coo, 000-bushel point at a pace six
times that before wheat started its
23-cent advance to above the TO
cents-a- buShel mark.
w al l4lllSS 1LO4ll Gu1 OpC OlloO ca
port trade had slackened, due to
the price rise, went unheeded.
By United Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo, Nov. g.
The farmers bushel of wheat passes
through many hands before it
reaches the consumers table as
bread costing him far more than
the grower receives at the country
elevator.
The United Press today obtained
approximately figures on the in
crease in cost of the commodity
with each step in the complicated
machinery that ultimately delivers
the loaf to the house wife. 1t was
explained that these figures may
vary considerably in specific cases.
On the Kansas farm, wheat, load
ed and hauled to the nearest ele-
vator, is worth about As cents a
bushel now.
The elevator man, loading it in
cars for delivery to terminal mar
ket, such as Kansas City, takes a
profit The railroad which carries
the grain gets its fixed rate, depend
ing on mileage. At Kansas city
the price is approximately Is cents
above that paid at the country ele-
vator. .
Others Get Profit
Cash wheat sold today in Kansas
City for from go to IS cents a bushel,
depending on protein content and
weight, with most sales nearer the
low mark.
Mills, for the most part, have
their own grain buyers, who sample
the grain and bid on it. A few buy
through commission houses, which
take a percentage of the sum paid
as their profit.
At the mills, the grain passes
through the processes which convert
it into flour and bran. From each
four and one-half bushels of wheat,
a barrel of flour, weighing 100
pounds, is made.
The big bakeries buy direct from
the mills, The smaller organiza-
tons buy through flour brokers.
There are at least a dozen of these
in Kansas City. These men charge
a fixed price of ten cents a barrel
for their services.
Costs Consumer Far More
The farmers Az bushels, now be-
come flour, sell for $4.20 to $4.25,
the price a barrel for flour.
At the bakery, according to esti-
mates of the largest Kansas City
bakery, it takes approximately
eighteen ounces of flour to make a
twenty-four- ounce loaf of bread.
Thus a bushel of wheat provides
sufficient flour to make some three
dozen loaveS of bread, each weigh
ing a pound and a half.
The retail price of bread now -
about 10 cents for such a loaf. The
price may be lower in certain stores
which sell a larger volume.
This would make it appear that
the farmers buShel of wheat costs
the consumer $3.50. Bakers explain,
however, that only one-fourth the
cost Of loaf of bread is the flour
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