Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-10-20 | Page 7 | Urge Minimum Price of Wheat

M MINIMUM PKJiHT National Growers' Association Associa-tion Will Present Request to President Wilson. WASHINGTON, Oct, 19. President I Wilson will be urged to fix a minimum price. of $2.46 a bushel for No. 1 northern wheat or its equivalent, Chicago delivery, by representatives of the National Wheat Growers association, at a conference Monttay. In a brief to be presented to the president, the growers declare an advance ad-vance in the present tixed price is necessary neces-sary because of tho increased cost of pro- j i, ductlon. "Cost of production figures prepared y independently by trained statisticians," the brief which was made public tonight y saF. "show that the 1913 wheat prices if i igjwely cover the average cost of produc-v-ion of wheat this year and will be far f below the inevitable cost of production of the year 1919 wheat crop." The wheat growers take exception to i cqst estimates made by the agricultural department, declaring that in computing them the department considered only the m, acreage harvested and not the aqreage planted to winter wheat. It is pointed out that SI per cent of the, winter wheat planted in 1916 was abandoned, while of y (he acreage planted last fall more than 13 per cent was abandoned. Declaring labor now receives from four to six times the prewar scale, the brief says: "It is only logical that the price for wheat should increase at least proportionately, pro-portionately, for one of the largest factors fac-tors in the increasing cost of production of wheat is the cost of labor,"