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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



tempting to enforce the law ; therefore, 

 the rich are all hoarding, thus causing 

 great unrest among the poor. As already 

 indicated, they have rather more grain 

 than a year ago, more potatoes, less milk, 

 and, as they have killed off some of their 

 cattle, they have rather more meat than 

 a year ago. 



GERMANY COUNTERFEITS RUBI.ES 



Supplies from Russia will not be avail- 

 able for months, on account of the com- 

 plete breakdown in transportation. Gold 

 has practically disappeared from the 

 country; and Germany, when the Rus- 

 sians were willing to sell, began printing 

 counterfeit Russian money (rubles), 

 using counterfeit dies and the identical 

 paper that Russia had always used 

 (which they secured from Sweden). 

 This paper money was good for a time, 

 but now even the Russian peasants de- 

 cline to accept a paper ruble. 



This spring Germany, while negotiat- 

 ing for peace, has adopted desperate 

 measures for carrying on a successful of- 

 fensive against England. The only im- 

 portant unknown factor in this strug- 

 gle — assuming that there will be no 

 serious disaffection in Germany on the 

 part of the working people — is the Eng- 

 lish and American workingman. If he 

 will hold and work loyally, the war can 

 be won and the Prussian system elim- 

 inated from the world. It behooves 

 America to wake up and act quickly. 



PROBLEMS OF FOOD CONTROLLERS 



The United States must export ninety 

 million bushels of wheat from our present 

 supply. We already have between twenty 

 and thirty million bushels less in this 

 country than we had last year. What is 

 our duty in this matter? We must send 

 to our Allies about one-quarter of all the 

 wheat we have left, and this must be 

 saved by substitution ; but substitution is 

 not going to save enough. 



We must teach the people of the United 

 States actually to reduce consumption — 

 to eat less. 



The well-to-do of this country must eat 

 less bread and cereals of all kinds ; we 

 should eat practically no wheat for the 

 next four months. Self-denial and sac- 

 rifice must be our duty; they will con- 



tribute largely to the upbuilding of Amer- 

 ican life. 



Food control in Europe has been tried 

 many times, never effectively, except by 

 Germany. Increased wages, due to the 

 war, invariably result in increased food 

 consumption. It is the same in this 

 country as abroad, and is particularly 

 marked in Italy. 



Since August 10 of last year we have 

 had nine months of food administration. 

 Germany begins to regulate prices at the 

 point of consumption, where the con- 

 sumer takes the food from the retailers 

 at certain fair retail prices arbitrarily set 

 up by the authorities, who, by deduction, 

 work back to the point of production. 

 This invariably results in a price to the 

 producer that is unsatisfactory and could 

 not be forced upon him without causing 

 a falling off in production, except in Ger- 

 many, where government control is ab- 

 solute. 



OUR METHOD OF FIXING PRICES 



In the United States we have built up 

 the retail price in the reverse way, by 

 starting at the point of production — that 

 is, paying the farmer the market price 

 and building up the price to the retailer 

 by adding arbitrary differentials. This 

 gives a price to the producer that will 

 increase production because it is profita- 

 ble, and at the same time eliminates 

 speculation, hoarding, and profiteering by 

 the middlemen, thus reaching a fair re- 

 tail price, which protects the consumer. 



The elimination of speculation and 

 hoarding and the control of profiteering 

 by government regulation are absolutely 

 necessary in time of war, and probably 

 would prove beneficial in normal or peace 

 times ; but arbitrarily to control prices by 

 government authority, either at the source 

 or at the point of consumption, invaria- 

 bly results in decreased production. 



The most effective way to stabilize 

 prices is to centralize buying and stimu- 

 late production without attempting to in- 

 terrupt the natural economic law of sup- 

 ply and demand by price-fixing. Price- 

 fixing has never been effective, except 

 possibly in Germany, and the penalties 

 for the pursuance of such a policy may 

 be cumulative ; but it is to be hoped 

 that out of these experiments to stabilize 



