8 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. A'OL. XLVII. No. 1201 



which the commodities are used and the 

 amount. 



The situation is well illustrated by the 

 staples — sugar and wheat and its products. 



Sxtgar. — For sugar the Food Administra- 

 tion has made agreements with the pro- 

 ducers in regard to the prices which they 

 are to receive ; with the refiners concerning 

 the prices they are to charge for their 

 services; has limited the margins of the 

 jobbers and wholesalers ; and thus has con- 

 trolled the price at which the commodity 

 should be sold to the retailer. Also the 

 Food Administration has indicated what 

 would be a fair margin for the retailer. 

 Thus the public knows precisely what it 

 should pay for sugar in any locality. Fur- 

 ther, the Food Administration has very 

 sharply controlled the distribution of sugar, 

 deciding absolutely the amount which is to 

 go abroad, and has limited the amount of 

 sugar to be used in certain industries, such 

 as the bakers and the confectioners. 



Wheat and Its Products. — For wheat 

 the control has gone even farther. The 

 price of wheat has been fixed for each 

 grade at the primary central markets. To 

 handle wheat a grain corporation has been 

 formed, which organization has actually 

 bought and sold wheat to the extent neces- 

 sary to reach the required results. While 

 only a small part of the wheat crop has been 

 bought and sold by the grain corporation, 

 the other larger part has been controlled as 

 completely as if it were bought and sold; 

 that is, the grain seller and the miller and 

 exporter have been brought into direct re- 

 lations. The wheat remains at home or is 

 sent to our associates in war in accordance 

 with the directions of the Food Administra- 

 tion. With few exceptions sales have been 

 carried on at the prices fixed by the Food 

 Administration, and thus the dealing in 

 wheat is practically a government-con- 

 trolled monopoly. 



By limiting the charges of the miller, 

 the price of flour at the mills is as definitely 

 controlled as the price of wheat. The job- 

 bers' margins are fixed and the freight 

 rates are known. The bakers have been 

 brought under licenses, which provide for 

 a standard loaf, both in regard to its con- 

 stituents and its weight. The price of this 

 standard loaf is therefore definitely deter- 

 mined for the bakers in different parts of 

 the country; and this gives a basis upon 

 which to announce a fair charge by the re- 

 tailers. This for a pound loaf is from 7 

 to 9 cents. Thus the price of bread, the 

 staff of life, is brought under control. 



In distributing the wheat, its main routes 

 of travel have been very greatly changed. 

 Under pre-war conditions the wheat very 

 largely went to the great central markets 

 and especially Chicago and St. Louis. The 

 price of the wheat of the country was con- 

 trolled by Chicago quotations; and this 

 market, and to a lesser extent St. Louis, 

 served as magnets which drew the wheat to 

 these centers. From these centers it was 

 redistributed. Under the Food Administra- 

 tion the importance of these centers has di- 

 minished; cross and return freights have 

 been avoided. The wheat for export has 

 very largely gone directly south to the 

 Gulf ports and there found an outlet in- 

 stead of East to the Atlantic ports. The 

 wheat not exported has gone directly to 

 the milling centers, in proportion to their 

 capacity, there to be converted into flour. 



Other Foods. — Other essential foods have 

 been placed under the licensing system and 

 thus to a large extent controlled, although 

 as yet regulation has not gone to the ex- 

 tent of that for wheat and its products and 

 sugar, but the Food Administration is 

 moving from one essential commodity to 

 another. Thus the first step in the con- 

 trol of the price of meat — the limitation 



