THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



343 



the necessities of life some method, or 

 methods, will be found which can be 

 adopted as a permanent governmental 

 policy, and become one of the effective 

 and much-needed ways of protecting the 

 poor and mitigating the grievances that 

 now exist between employer and em- 

 ployee. 



the: burden of profiteering falls 

 upon the wage-earner 



The Food Administration has no power 

 to fix retail prices ; but through the license 

 system we can control to a large extent 

 the sales to the retailer, and thus give 

 notice to both the retailer and consumer 

 of what the Food Administration con- 

 siders to be a fair price and fair profit. 



The basis of "fair profit" during the 

 war is the pre-war profit in any given 

 article or business. Anything more than 

 this results in the discontent and the mis- 

 ery of the people, for in the last analysis 

 the burden of unfair prices of food falls 

 upon the working man and his family. 



We have been able to support this 

 stabilization of prices by the embargo, 

 which has placed in our hands foodstuffs 

 that would otherwise have gone to neu- 

 tral nations, thence in many cases to Ger- 

 many. This has resulted in practically 

 eliminating speculation, hoarding, and 

 profiteering. 



WHAT THE FOOD ADMINISTRATION HAS 

 DONE FOR US 



It must always be remembered, how- 

 ever, that we are in an era of high wages 

 and high costs, and the producer must be 

 protected at all times. This is basic with 

 all successful food administration in a 

 democratic country, and it must never be 

 lost sight of. 



The accomplishments of the Food Ad- 

 ministration during the past nine months 

 have been these : 



First. It has fostered what we may call 

 the psychology of service, which is the 

 foundation of every great patriotic move- 

 ment. We have made material progress 

 in establishing in the minds of the public 

 the fact that the saving of food by sub- 

 stitution is a definite war service on the 

 part of the individual, and this service, 

 which comes from the individual con- 

 science, has in a large degree nullified 

 the increased consumption which natu- 



rally would result from largely increased 

 wages. 



Second. It has secured and made ac- 

 ceptable to the public a measure of gov- 

 ernment control — wheat and sugar form- 

 ing the best illustrations. The power 

 lodged with the Administration to buy 

 and sell for government account has had 

 a tendency to stabilize prices. The price- 

 fixing, in the case of wheat, has given the 

 producer encouragement to increase pro- 

 duction, and the resulting elimination of 

 speculation and hoarding has protected 

 the consumer. 



Thus, in spite of a short supply — there 

 was a serious shortage in August, Sep- 

 tember, and October, 1917 — the whole- 

 sale price of flour per barrel has been re- 

 duced $3, whereas without the Food Ad- 

 ministration flour might easily have gone 

 to $25, or even $30, per barrel during 

 this danger period. 



The direct result of wheat control has 

 been the protection of the price of bread 

 by setting up arbitrary differentials, and 

 the price of wheat bread — the working 

 man's staff of life — has been brought 

 down. The price of bread throughout 

 the United States is today 30 per cent less 

 than it was in July, 19 17, the month be- 

 fore the food bill was signed, and only 

 30 per cent more than the pre-war price, 

 although the farmer is getting a price for 

 his wheat that is 109 per cent above the 

 pre-war average. Thus it will be seen 

 that the consumer has 79 points in his 

 favor as a result of the elimination of 

 speculation, hoarding, and profiteering — 

 a good result which could only have been 

 attained by government control. 



THE HOG AND CORN RATIO 13 TO I 



Third. Something has been accom- 

 plished in the matter of meat control. 

 Beef control, it is true, has not been at- 

 tempted, except through the encourage- 

 ment of voluntary effort to reduce the 

 consumption. When the prices of meat 

 go up, as they invariably do in war times, 

 the burden of consumption falls more 

 heavily on breadstuffs, which are the 

 cheapest form of food. Beef is now low 

 enough. If it goes lower, the farmer will 

 let his cattle be slaughtered indiscrimi- 

 nately because of the high price of feeds. 

 Hogs have been stabilized in price by es- 



