Page Sixteen 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



April, 1933 



Cost of Flour Small 



Item In Loaf Bread 



Baker's Profit Per Loaf Amounts 



To More Than Farmer (Jets 



For Producing Wheat 



TESTIMONY Showing that the 

 price of wheat has little in- 

 fluence on the price of bread was 

 given before the Senate Committee 

 on Agriculture recently by Wm, H. 

 Settle of Indiana, president of the 

 Indiana Farm Bureau, while dis- 

 cussing the domestic allotment 

 plan. 



Quoting from a report of the 

 Senate Sub-committee which in- 

 vestigated this subject two years 

 ago he said: "This investigation re- 

 vealed an alarming tendency to- 

 ward the monopolistic control of 

 the food supply of the nation by 

 a small group of powerful corpora- 

 tions and combinations. This is 

 particularly true as to bread and 

 milk. 



"Bread-cost per pound for three 

 large baking companies was 7.27 

 cents in 1922-24; 7.89 cents in 1926; 

 and 7.78 cents in 1930; bread- 

 cost for 1926 was only 11/100 of a 

 cent per pound higher than the 

 1930 price of 7.78 cents. 



"On the other hand, wheat at 

 Liverpool for 1926 ranged from $1.55 

 to $1.74 per bushel whereas in 1930 

 the price range was $1.37 down to 

 70 cents per bushel. The 1926 av- 

 __ erage Liverpool price was approxi- 

 mately $1.57 per bushel, while the 

 1930 average was $1.04, or 53 cents 

 per bushel lower in 1930 than 1926. 



Flour Small Item 



"The wheat flour cost in 1926 per 

 pound loaf of bread was 2.47 cents 

 as compared to 1.92 cents for 1930, 

 a decrease of 55/100 cents per 

 pound loaf of bread. The average 

 wheat price decrease from 1926 to 

 1930 was 53 cents per bushel and 

 the wheat flour per pound loaf of 

 bread shows a decrease from 1926 

 to 1930 of 55/100 cents. It is con- 

 stantly stated that a bushel of 

 wheat makes 62 loaves of bread. 

 That being true, it follows that a 



.• decrease in the wheat price of 53 

 cents per bushel should be equiv- 

 alent to a decline in bread price 

 in the amount of 52/62 cents per 

 , pound loaf of bread, or 9/10 cent 



. per loaf. 



"At the average farm price of 25 

 cents per bushel of wheat, the 



v farmer's interest in a pound loaf 



:■': of bread is 25/62 or 2/5 cents per 

 pound loaf of bread. At present 

 wheat prices, if the farmer fur- 

 nished wheat for nothing the de- 

 crease in bread price would only be 

 cut 2/5 of a cent per pound loaf. The 

 baker's profit per loaf in 1930 was 



over 4/5 of a cent. The baker's 

 profit in 1930 was twice as much 

 per loaf of bread as the farmer's 

 wheat-interest in the present price 

 of a pound loaf." 



Mr. Settle also quoted Sydney 

 Anderson, vice-president of the 

 General Mills, Inc., who in a pre- 

 vious hearing said: "But it is un- 

 questionably a fact that flour is a 

 comparatively small element in the 

 cost of a so-called better-type loaf 

 of bread that is made today; one 

 that contains milk and eggs and 

 sugar and butter. If the flour costs 

 the baker nothing you still have 

 difficulty in reflecting that dif- 

 ference in cost into a loaf of bread." 



Settle showed that while wheat 

 rose to $1.51 per bushel in 1925 and 

 declined to 80.9 cents in 1930 the 

 average price of bread per pound 

 loaf in the two years was 9.4 cents 

 in 1925 and 8.7 cents in 1930. 



Texas Wheat Growers 

 Making Good Progress 



Grain,_^ 



Marketing' 



The Farmers National Grain 

 Corporation reports that 280 car- 

 loads of grain may be unloaded in 

 a 10-hour day into the remodeled 

 and newly equipped Northern 

 Pacific elevator at Kansas City op- 

 erated under lease by the Farmers 

 National. 



The elevator has a capacity of 

 5,762 bushels. Complete overhauling 

 and modernization of the plant 

 followed the fire and explosion 

 which destroyed the old frame 

 workhouse a year ago. The plant is 

 said to be the most modern, eco- 

 nomical handling grain elevator in 

 the country. 



It is equipped to perform all 

 services of cleaning, scouring, clip- 

 ping, washing and drying grain. 

 Cleaning machinery includes the 

 largest capacity disc separator 

 made, capable of handling from 

 1,600 to 2,000 bushels of wheat an 

 hour. The dust control system in 

 the new concrete work-house in- 

 cludes eight large dust collectors 

 with valves, traps, belt loader 

 hoods, floor sweeps and piping which 

 connect with the cleaners and clip- 

 pers. The system also is connected 

 with the car dumper sink to elim- 

 inate dust in unloading. More 

 than 21 tons of galvanized steel 

 were used in constructing the dust 

 control system. The dust explosion 

 hazard has been greatly reduced 

 by installation of huge explosion 

 ventilators of galvanized steel. 

 These contain patented caps which, 

 in case of explosion, open outward 

 and provide enlarged space for the 

 expansion of the exploding gases. 



The Texas Wheat Growers As- 

 sociation, member of the Farmers 

 National Grain Corporation, will 

 handle more than 50 per cent of 

 the entire wheat area in that sec- 

 tion harvested in 1933, according to 

 J. Frank Triplett, organization 

 manager at Amarillo. 



On January 1, 4,424 members of 

 the Texas Association had pledged 

 delivery to the co-operative of the 

 1933 crop from their 1,508,000 acres 

 seeded to wheat in the Texas Pan- 

 handle and New Mexico counties, 

 an average of 340 acres per mem- 

 ber. Last year 2,958,000 acres of 

 wheat were harvested in the Lone 

 Star state. 



Establishment of a regional of- 

 fice of the national co-operative at 

 Amarillo has given the wheat 

 growers of west Texas and eastern 

 New Mexico the most advantageous 

 outlet possible for their grain. 

 Farmers National has handling fa- 

 cilities for grain at 62 buying points 

 in the Texas-New Mexico territory. 

 Volume handled by these houses in 

 a normal crop year varies from 

 30.000 to 1,000,000 bushels, with a 

 total of more than 13,648,000 

 bushels. 



"Our old members are agreed." 

 said Triplett, "that Farmers Na- 

 tional sales service in the Texas 

 wheat area has created a better 

 market than they ever had before. 

 Re-collection of some 2,000,000 

 bushels of wheat delivered by Texas 

 growers but never paid for on ac- 

 count of business failures of va- 

 rious private buyers and users dur- 

 ing a recent season is having its 

 influence in turning farmers to 

 their own co-operative." 



Farm Bureau Service 



In Richland County Pays 



During the past six and one -half 

 years the Richland county cooper- 

 ative cream pools have refunded to 

 their patrons $20,579.02. During this 

 time Richland farmers pooled a 

 total of 1,010,821.9 pounds of but- 

 terfat. The refund amounted to a 

 little more than two cents per 

 pound. The cream pools have aided 

 non -members also by forcing up 

 prices paid by private cream sta- 

 tions. 



The I. A. A. board of directors 

 recently authorized the use of the 

 official I. A. A. emblem to Cook 

 County Farm Bureau, Gardners' 

 Supply Company of Cook county, 

 and to the Illinois Producers 

 Creameries. The latter will use the 

 emblem on cartons containing 

 "Illini" butter. 



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