The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 30, 1918, Page 5

-market gamblers do the grading. -were so high in the cities that ~ the marketing of all but a very _ ably "reduced price. - for, the poor, the right GOVERNMEN H There Is Any Federal Regulatlon Concerning Food, Fuel Labor, Do Not Understand, Write a Letter toMr POTATO GRADES AND MAR- KET ABUSES ¢ Finlayson, Minn. IS IT a federal regulation that po- tatoes shall be graded, and if so, what are the rules and grades? There is a considerable crop of pota- toes in this vicinity. Last fall the buyers had about a 'half dozen rules and all claimed their rules were set by the government. Some of the deal- ers had two-inch screens, and all that . went through they called culls, that is, they just stole a few of the choic- . est potatoes of the crop. If such is the rule, more than half of this per- fectly good food we have ,ralsed can not be marketed. M. G. NIELSEN. The government rules on potato grading are briefly as follows: “Round *potatoes. shall be graded from 1!; to 1% inches for No. 2s, and No. 18 from 17 inches up. Long varieties shall be graded from 11, to 1% imches for No. 2s and from 1‘/4 inches up for No. 1s.” Buyers who disregard these rules by using larger screens should be re- ported to the food administration of the eounty and if prompt action is not obtained there, to the state food administration. These grades are causing dissatis- faction in all potato-growing states, not se much because of the grades themselves as-the fact that the potato These buyers, for instance, seem to be able to buy only grade No. 1 at certain points and com-_. pel the farmers to,carry all that goes through a 17%-inch screen back home. Last fall, for in- stance, this trick was very gen- ‘erally worked although high of- ficials and volunteer lecturers and mewspapers had urged the farmers to plant every possible acre of potatoes. - The farmers made good but they were left at the mercy of the potato ring with a big crop on their hands. On the other hand, potatoes the peor found them a costly substitute for wheat. Opviously any system. of po- tato. grading should provide for smahl percentage of the crop,. and in war time, when the poor -are going hungry in our cities, even the small. potatoes should . be sold to them: at a consider- - In the . spring of 1917 the big city pa- pers were, makmg much of how the rich were savmg their potato parings ut. small potatoes are “a great deal bétter than the parings from the rich man ’s table. : FINDHG LOCAL WHEAT PRICE' Cummings, ‘N. D. ILL you please tell me what the price should be on ‘wheat at Shel!r Minn.? Some of the elevator men fell us that $2.06 is the lughest_, they can go for -No. 1. : 7, BY A. B. . N ?/ % S ///C;z,, N 74 GILBERT an., and He Will Look It Up and Give You the Facts. can’ do to make them come across with the rest of it. JAMES WRIGHT. The fixed” minimum pnce for this year applies only at the terminal mar- kets, such as the Twin Cities and Duluth The local elevator people have freedom in what they pay, lim- ited, 8o far as I know, only by what the farmer can get through other . channels. The freight rate from Shelly, Minn., to the Twin Cities on wheat is 131 cents per 100 pounds, or 8.1 cents per bushel of 60 pounds. Commissions ‘and other terminal costs for the local elevator would be 2 cents. The mini- wheat. MANY MILLERS ARE OF- FERING THE ELEVATORS MORE THAN THE MINIMUM.: If you can not find a local compet- ing elevator that will give a fair price you can write to the Government Grain corporation at Minneapolis for instructions about . shipping your wheat direct or you can do the same through the Equity Co-Operative ex- change of St. Paul. There would be an advantage in shipping to the farmer-owned Exchange in that the government pays the minimum price and the Exchange will give you what- ever premium it may be able to-se- cure for you. Farmers in any com- l tli '!ll” V ‘( ,,||| l —Drawn expressly for the Leader by Congressman John ‘M. Baer The profiteer was a heavy enough burden for the common people to carry around in peace times, but now, as Congressman Baer here: shows, the profiteer has grown to several times his former bulk. The way for Mr. Common People to' get rid of this absurd burden is to '" li"’ll ‘organize to send progressive men of their own kind to corgress and state offices. "The League states are setting the good example. mum price of No. 1 dark northern spring at the Twin Cities is $2.21. Consequently the No. 1 wheat which the elevator puts on the. car at Shelly is worth- at the very least $2.11 a - bushel, and when the elevator offers the ;(armer only $2.06 -for this wheat, it. is allowing 5 cents a’ bushel for vhandlmg costs and profits. - Such a margin would be justified only when an elevator had a very, very small ‘amount of business; Normally 2 to:3 - .cents ‘would-give the elevator a ‘good 5 profit. : 8 i8 what the Leader sald]t?:iz week about Remember in this' connection aid for munity can easily check up the price offered for wheat by subtracting from the fixed minimum at the most ad- vantageous = terminal market the freight rate to that point and the 2 cents termmal charges. A MORE CARE IN DRAFT provost mm'shal .general, secretary of ‘war, secretary of agriculture and sec- retary of classification such persons in the new N \ draft as are necessary in agriculture, : ~mdustry ‘and other occupatlons Thre/e ///// RULES EXPLAIN ED AND COMMENTED ON /’% 7 ?¢ %/fi %/‘ P m v L. 2o, Farm Machmery Costs, or the Like That You Gilbert, Postoffice Box 575, St. Paul, advisers, are to be associated with each district draft board to present facts relative to the supply of neces- sary workers in these three occupa- tional groups. ers will be nominated by the secretary of agriculture. They will gather ac- . curate facts regarding the require- _tricts. ments of agriculture for the various classes of workers in their own dis- They should have facts also as to the requirements for such classes in other districts in order that work- ers not sufficiently necessary in one district to entitle them to deferred classification may have opportunity to go to other districts in which they are needed.—Department of Agriculture. CUTTING OUT LONG CREAM HAUL ; OLLOWING a resolution of -the North Dakota Council of Defense the federal food administrator for that state issued an. order to. the ef- fect that competing cream stations are to be eliminated at places where there is a well-managed local cream- ery and that the number at other points is to be limited to one for each 100,000 pounds of butterfat shipped annually from such points. The state dairy and.food commissioners of Wis- * consin and Minnesota have been urg- ing this move, but no action has re- sulted. It is obvious; on the other hand, why North Dakota could ‘act in such a situation. A state government of and by the people can act quickly for the people. VICTORY MIXED FLOUR I‘T HAS been agreed,” accord- ing to a food administration announcement dated August 26, “that the wheat bread of the allies shall contain 20 per cent of other grains than wheat, and it is only just that we should bear- our share of this saving . and that our bread at least _ who are suffering more greatly from the war than ourselves. “It is desired to insure a sup- ply of ready mixed flours on the market, and to have millers and dealers of all kinds encourage - the. use and sale of this flour so that the country may be on a mixed-flour basis without the necessity of retailers making combination sales of flour and substitutes.” - Here are the common kmds,\\of mixed flours that will be used: Mixed wheat and barley flour to contain four pounds of wheat flour to ene of barley flour. .Mixed wheat and corn flour to:con- tain four of wheat to one of corn. Mixed wheat, barley and corn flour -%o contain eight pounds of wheat to PLAN has been agreed upon, hy; the war labor policies board, bor to put into deferred "'wholesalers or retailers can in no case’ be gteater than that for i standaul flour one of barley and one of corn, Mixed wheat and rye flour to con-, tain three pounds of wheat and not less than two of rye flour.. = - A Whole wheat, entire wheat, or, g'r", 3 ham flour to contain at least 95 pe cent ‘of the ‘wheat ‘berry. ‘ The ’prices 'charged: by millers The agriculture advis- should be universal with those - R R s e,