Imperial Valley press., 1943-05-20
BY Congressman John Phillips


The column interrupts this dis
cussion of the -Four PHILOSOPHERS
long enough to submit a simple
example Of the effects of present
regulations on food prices Re-
member please, tnat the objective
Of all this OPA regulation and con-
troll is to keep prices DOWN for
the consumer.
The following analysis is for
Idaho potatoes on the New York
/ market. In each step the OPA
regulation controlling the price is
given in the parenthesis) by date
or number or both.
The ceiling price to the farmer
fer April, 1943, US. No. l Idaho
Russet Burbank potatoes, in lOO-lb.
sacks fob. Idaho was $3.50 (OPA-
MPR, April 8, 1913, 1851. 1917 Amend
ment g.
LABOR ALLOWANCE
This includes an allowance of 25c
for grading labor. and sacking The
empty sack costing the farmer l5c
To this Ice may be added for
quality labelling, us. No. Extra"
5l.l0l7-aNo. Il making $40.
Ten cents may be added for size;
2-inch minimum potatoes 1351
l0l7-b No. p $3.50.
An allowance for risk in tran
sit" CT 10c makes it $3.50 CMPR
7l-l35l ,1002-e-Dec. Il, 1922
Freight, Idaho to New York is
Sl.l0 plus per cent tax, making it
1913.
The cost to the Service Whole
Saler,' that is, the cost on delivery
in New York is therefore S373 and
his wholesaler may add 81 per cent
inclr1ing delivery charges. If he
sells cash and carry he may add
9i2 per cent The usual addition
is q per cent. making the price
S45l.
The Second Wholesaler" - or
jobber-Who sells to the retail trade. /
may also add q per cent, making
the price S5.46. Nov. I, 1912. MPR |
I'll l35l.l0C3-3 Glass $50
MARK-UP pOTATOES
The Retailer may mark-up the |
potatoes, for sale to the consumer I
on a varying scale, worked out on |
I basis of the gross business he |
does. The average is 33 per cent /
This makes the price of the lO0-lb |
sack of potatoes to the consumer
s728. Since they're sold in smaller
quantities, let's say simply that the
farmer got 2.3c a ID. and the con-
sumner paid 7.3c a lb.
Quite a we'll regulated plan isn't [
1t? Not TO mention complicated |
Now let's see how it could be done |
l have before me as l write this
a letter from a Well-knoWn joOber
IN New York City He sets up a
comparable schedule, taking the
present price to the farmer of S. 30
as a base and figuring the additions
as they were figured prior to OPA.
He says the wholesalers and jobbers
would be very willing to sell on
this basis.
Price to farmer, $780, add
freight plus 3 per cent, S3.43; add
lOc for risk, as above, 1888: whole
saler adds l5c, 1858; jobber adds
l5c, 1888; allow the retailer an av-
erage make-up of 33 per cent.
$50
NOT ALLOWED !
He has not allowed the quality
and size additions, which we should
do in making fair comparison
between the price schedules. For
these add 20c Also the jobbers l5c
does not include carriage. PERHAPS
an average 20c would cover that
| am guessing on the average cart
age cost, but I make fair COM
parable total of $3.50.
The farmer would get his 2.3c
per pound, as before, but the con-
sumer would pay SIC instead of
73c.
The OPA established TO keen
down prices) has in the case shown
here raised the price approximate
ly &c pound to the housewife
A following column will show
that under the food control pro-