8o THIRTY CENT BREAD 



to the danger point. Eliminate competition by all 

 expedient means that you may safely increase your 

 demands and multiply your profits in the surest way 

 you can." 



§ 57 — ^SPECULATION 



Blue fish, for example, are put into cold storage 

 in New York City at 9 cents a pound. After being 

 held at a cost of one-half cent per pound per month 

 they are taken out of cold storage at 25 and 30 cents 

 a pound and shipped all over the country to be sold 

 to the consumer at such prices ks the consumer will 

 pay. 



In June butter is put into cold storage to be taken 

 out in the fall and winter at an arbitrary and fabu- 

 lous advance in price. 



The legitimate functions of cold storage in carry- 

 ing perishable foods from the glut season of the year 

 to its lean periods are to be encouraged. But, the 

 taking of excessive toll for no other reason than that 

 one is able to withhold from commerce large quanti- 

 ties of foods from six to ten months, outrages jus- 

 tice, contributes nothing to the material prosperity 

 of the masses, shrinks the purchasing power of the 

 daily wage, and begets many internal social and 

 moral evils. 



All efforts of the state and nation which have 

 thus far been made to control speculation in food 

 products have aborted. 



In times like these, when bloodless revolutions 

 are possible, even in Russia, it behooves the govern- 

 ment to take seriously an issue with which hereto- 

 fore it has merely toyed. 



Our commercial standards of food speculation 



