constantly going over to our Allies and sufficient
stores in the United States at the same time, is one of the big
problems of the Food Administration. Production has had to be
increased and consumption decreased. The price has had to be kept
down, for in a time of shortage prices always tend to go up. It is
true that high prices furnish one method of decreasing the consumption
of food, but it is a method that means enforced conservation by the
poor and no conservation by the rich. The burden thus falls on those
least able to bear it.

To meet this situation the Food Administration has gone into the
wheat business itself. PRACTICALLY ENTIRE CONTROL OF THE BUYING AND
SELLING OF WHEAT IS IN THE HANDS OF THE GREAT UNITED STATES FOOD
ADMINISTRATION GRAIN CORPORATION. Through this organization all
wheat sales are made to the Army and Navy, to our allies, and to
the neutrals. The price which it pays for these huge quantities
sets the price for the entire country. The Food Administration also
makes the movement of wheat from the farmer to the miller and to the
wholesaler as simple and direct as possible. It prevents hoarding
and speculation. "I am convinced," said Mr. Hoover, in April, 1918,
"that at no time in the last three years has there been as little
speculation in the nation's food as there is to-day."

[Illustration: COST OF A POUND LOAF OF BREAD]

As a result of this business management of wheat, the consumer pays
less for flour, although the farmer gets more for his wheat. In May,
1917, the difference between the price of the farmer's wheat and of
the flour made from it was $5.86 per barrel of 196 pounds. Fifteen
months later the difference was 64 cents. In February, 1917, before
the United States went into the war, flour sold at wholesale for $8.75
a barrel. In May, 1917, the war, with no food control, had driven the
price up to $17. But in February, 1918, after six months of the Food
Administration, it had gone down to $10.50 wholesale, and this in
spite of unprecedented demand for our very short supply. Without
control, flour would undoubtedly be selling for $50 a barrel. During
the Civil War, with no world wheat shortage, but without food control,
the price of wheat increased 130 per cent over the price in 1861.

The milling and sale of flour, the baking of bread, and the purchases
of the individual are all regulated to a greater extent than would
have scarcely been thought possible before the war.

Every e