THE FOOD CRISIS AND AMERICANISM III 



Wheat is grown in every State from Maine to 

 Texas. Had farmers not been discouraged by price 

 restriction, in my opinion, the temporarily high price 

 would have flooded the markets, and we would have 

 now been eating good wheat flour, instead of substi- 

 tutes, and at a lower price. 



The great monopolies and other trade combinations 

 in food stuffs, hurtful alike to the agricultural and 

 consuming public, were built up on discriminating 

 freight rates discrimination between cities and 

 towns, as well as between individual merchants and 

 manufacturers. 



These combinations are so strongly entrenched that 

 there is exceedingly small hope that the iniquitous 

 practices inaugurated by them can be eliminated or 

 even appreciably checked, except by a reversal of these 

 transportation methods which brought them into being. 

 To this end, freight rates on foodstuffs, at least, should 

 be established on an initial charge for loading and 

 unloading, with high and graduated demurrage charges 

 as a penalty for delay. To these initial or terminal 

 charges should be added a fixed rate per mile. This 

 would tend to minimizing mileage, eliminating that 

 which was unnecessary, and thus tremendously reduc- 

 ing the expense for rolling stock, labor and fuel. It 

 would reduce the hurtful and unnecessary congestion 

 of men and material in our great cities, bettering the 

 health physical, moral and economic of our peo- 

 ple. It would build up a multitude of more prosper- 

 ous, but smaller cities. There is no valid reason why 

 we should not have hundreds of independent packing 

 concerns, instead of one score, and practically, as is 



