Evening star., 1936-02-05
PRICE
CONTROL PROBED
Federal Trade Body Has
Evidence of Monopoly by
Grocery Chain.
BY BLAIR BOLLES.


Evidence of monopoly control by
grocery interests of the retail price
Of potatoes. poor mans meat" was
in the hands Of the Federal Trade
Commission today
The price of the common spud,
turned last Summer into a minor
political symbol when Congress sought
to curtail its output, has risen from q
United States average of 10 cents
pound November S, 1885, to 2.3 cents
January IA, 1896, Bureau of Labor
Statistics figures obtained today show
While the potato SCARED upward the
retail food cost index during the fort
night from December 81 to January
II declined from 82.5 to 81.7. The
sharp downward general trend might
be taken as q reaction from the Su-
preme Court decision invalidating the
A. A. A.. one of the avowed purposes
of which was to bring farm values
back to parity" But the potato, too.
was involved in the scheme Of pro-
duction control through the Warren
act, passed last August and for sew
eral months q butt of Republican
jokes.
Lack Funds for Work.
The commission uncovered the
plight Of the potato during its investi-
cation of agricultural income and
agricultural commodity prices, ordered
two days before Congress adjourned
Ia cf CIrp,voar ~ raporfad
The Investigators, headed by Robert
B. Dawkins, have been using money
from the F. T. C. general fund and
carrying on their work for the most
part through questionnaires, but the
unexpected turn taken by the potato
probe has resulted In sending q num-
ber of experts into the field.
The final report on the investiga-
ton, due to Congress July !. is sup
posed to cover:
The trend Of agricultural income
during recent years. The Bureau Of
Labor Statistics shows that the whole
sale index of farm products, based on
the 1926 average, was 78.1 January
rs. 10 days after the Supreme Court
outlawed the A. A. A., and 78.4 on
December %. 1885.
The proportion of consumer cost
Of precessed farm-grown goods. and
the spread Of the consumer payment
among the farmer, the manufacturer,
professor and warehouse men. and
the distributors.
The financial position Of leading
corporations manufacturing. ware
housing, distributing and marketing
the chief farm products.
Extent of concentration of control
or monopoly of any one of these
groups over the price Of farm products
Center Study on Professors.
The commission is centering its
study on professors of milk, cotton,
cattle, calves, hogs, wheat and tobacco.
These six major farm products
were selected" the agency reported,
because a study of the cash income
of the farmers in 1884 computed by
the Department of Agriculture, show
ed that only these six products, gen.
orally manufactured or processed be-
fore reaching the consumer, yielded q
cash income of more than 5000 ,O00,-
900 each to the producers In that
year"
Meanwhile, despite the passing of
the A. A. A., accused by its detractors
since its institution in the Spring of
1888 of causing untoward rise in the
cost of eating, retail food prices in
almost all classifications listed by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics were closer
to the 1926 index of 100 on January
IA this year than on January 2. 1885.
The exceptions are eggs, dried fruits
and vegetables, beverages and choc-
olate, fats and oils and sugar and
sweets.
Price Has Been Upward.
Although the reciprocal trade treaty
signed with Canada in November low
cred the tariff levy on dairy products
and brought loud protests from dairy
farmers, the price of milk, butter and
cheese has been steadily upward. The
index was 1913 January IA, 794 De-
cember 81, 1913 December II and 1853
January 2. 1885.
The high cost of living in the Dis
trict centers around the luxury foods.
Compared with the United States as a
whole, Washington is paying higher
prices for the choicer cuts of beef,
veals, pork and lamb. Cream here
averages II cents, to 1853 in the rest
Of the country.