The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-05-02
By E. w. KIECKHEFER NEA Special Correspondent WHAT MILLERS SAY:

NEA SpeclaI correspondent
 WHAT MILLERS SAY:
 Minneapolis, Minn., May ? =
 (NEA) - Spokesmen for the milling
 industry charge that the net effect
 of the governments brown bread order is that the nation is eating in
 its bread today grains that once
 went into farm feeds, while farmers
 are feeding wheat flour to their livestock and poultry.
 And, charge the millers in this center of Americas flour indus try, the brown bread order has fail ed to produce any additional flour for the hungry peoples of Europe.
 They point out that before the government issued the order, which
 requires use of 80 per cent of the wheat in flour production, mills in the United States were grinding an average of 56 million bushels of wheat month from which they produced "A million hundredweight of flour and 48O,OOO tons of livestock feed products.
 Under the emergency order, the millers say, U. S. mills are supposed to use only 50 million bushels of wheat. From this smaller supply of wheat they are supposed to grind the same amount of flour as before the order was issued. Because the extraction rate is higher than prev iously, the mills are able to produce only an average of 300,000 tons of livestock feeds.
 NO CONTROL ON FARM
 This should mean that farmers would have to reduce the size of their livestock herds and poultry hocks, according to milling experts.
 But farmers are in position to use the wheat which formerly went to the mills for feeding to their livestock, the millers say. The 80 per cent milling order puts no controls over use of wheat on the farm un- less it goes through, feed mixing plant.
 Wheat farmers sin the surplus producing areas, such as Montana, the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kan sas, who have more wheat than they can use to feed livestock, re- portedly are holding onto their wheat in expectation of higher prices.
 Millers believe that 30-cents a bushel bonus in wheat prices which was authorized soon after the 30 per cent milling order was announced was a routine increase to keep the wheat price. at parity level as re- quired by Congress.
 Milling executives say they were not consulted by the government about the brown bread order until after the order had been drafted and announced. A delegation which included executives of General Mills and Pillsbury Mills, both of which nave headquarters and sizeable mills here, went to Washington to at 5empt to get revision of the order. PLAN
 They proposed at that time plan similar to the one which sub 'equently was adopted in Canada. This plan would have permitted four mills to continue production of four as previously but would pro- tide flour for export through a set Iside order, similar to orders which were used during the war to provide cod for the armed forces and the | Allied nations. The mills then would | themselves ration sales to wholesale l 'utlets in the United States out of | he supply which was left.
 The millers point out that this | 'lan would have provided food | or immediate use by consumers in | he countries which need relief | ather than grain which would have | o be milled in foreign cities where | uel is still at a premium. They ,oint out, too, that such -four would lave better keeping qualities than he flour produced under the 80 per ent order and therefore could be moved and stored with greater as- urance of eventual use.
 They succeeded only in getting the ,rder modified from the original of 85 per sent extraction 0 80 per cent. OnN chilling executive aid that the oiiiy thing they were lble to learn from their trip to Washington was that everybody in ,f1cial Washington says they like 'rown bread and always have"