THE STORY OF THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE 



No. 2, whereas the cost of raising No. 2 was 

 the same as the cost of raising No. 1. 



The farmers pocketed their losses and raised 

 the wheat, but it is not remarkable if they 

 felt no burning joy over their balance-sheets. 

 They knew well enough that of every dollar 

 paid by the retail purchaser for farm products 

 not forty cents went to the farmer that grew 

 the products, and when he found the whole 

 burden of the increased cost of living was 

 (in some quarters) laid at his door he knew 

 how huge was that injustice. 



Dr. E. F. Ladd of the North Dakota Agri- 

 cultural College, whose researches in these 

 subjects have made him an international 

 authority, and to whom we shall often have 

 occasion to refer, ascertained that a barrel 

 of flour would make 300 loaves of 14-ounce 

 bread. Supposing a North Dakota farmer 

 to receive an average of $2 a bushel for his 

 wheat in 1917 and 1918, his part in the retail 

 price of such a loaf was 3 cents, while the 

 purchaser paid 8 to 10 cents. Even if the 

 farmer should get as much as $3 a bushel for 

 his wheat and bread remain at the same price, 

 his share in price would be less than 43^ cents. 



There is, besides, the item of wheat offal, 

 for which the farmer gets nothing, although 

 it is a source of golden revenue to the miller. 



If we put the price of wheat as high as $2.75, 

 consider only what are called "mill feeds," (a 



60 



