Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-03-25 | Page 17 | 'Food Dictator' is Having Hard Time

'FOOD DICTATOR' IS HAVING HARD TIME Daily Protests of Germans Are Beginning Begin-ning to Tell on Von Batocki. BERLIN. March 24. "Food Dictator" von Batocki is having a hard time of it lately, as dissatisfaction with his methods meth-ods grows and protests pour in from all sides. Complaints that have been published pub-lished by the newspapers In the last week or two throw a rather doubtful light on the boasted efficiency of the "dictator" and the commission headed by him. The Vorwaerts reports that last fall a firm in Charlottenburg offered twenty tons of hazel nuts to the central food commission at the rate of 17Vs cents per pound, but the offer was declined. If it had been accepted the nuts could have been sold at 25 cents a pound by the retailers, while the actual current price during the Christmas season was 65 cents a pound. Late in January the commission reconsidered re-considered the rejection of the nuts and, after long negotiations, finally bought them at 35 cents a pound, or twice the price asked by the Charlottenburg firm four months before.