Show I I I DAILY DAiL Y HASKIN LETTER LETTERI l I THE PRICE OF EGGS I By By- FREDERIC C J J. J A tharp anti and stead steady rise In tho price pi-ico oC at egg eggs throughout the tall fall and winter months month i lilt Iii como as h as the sons es el for or several eral years ears p t. t The public as aR It without lowering In the the co cost t or of eggS or of any aUY other food But the tho accustomed tomed light flight skyward monotonous by byno no hai haa been va varied b by an egg eES boycott bocott In New ew York 1 Chicago Kansas CI City t Detroit and other cities rho commotion sU rc 1 up by the thc National TI Trust sl league with Its members nd l enterprising house house- Ins org org-a In the various arlous cities also has resulted n ii the Introduction of oC nn an egg trust bill In congress by ev- ev M McKellar of at the or of a 1 formal Investigation b by bythe the tho federal department ot of justice and the i Int o of an Indictment b by federal attorneys at- at s 's the Chicago butter and ad egg board on the tho charge or of violation of the Sherman antitrust act The contro- contro vcrs has sred sOr the tho further purpose of oC proddIng consumers government government govern govern- ment experts and economists In general to fresh consideration of oC Ways and means meara to reduce the tho high cost of oC eggs and other of pOPular consumption The Th cry of the egg boycott hocott I is that there Is n. n gigantic antic egg trust manipulated throughout hout the eat pro pro- and distributing centers by the cold storage interests Interest or that at any rate such a combination exists and op op- op orates In each ench large city The rea reason on for the public outer outcry this year marking a distinct nd anco over the Ineffectual J. J grumbling or of consumers who wore were not noto o In previous years cars Is the strong popular r suspicion that that- the alleged e eg g trust not contest with exacting for or cold storage e eggs R. R price within 3 3 o 5 or 7 cents of that demanded for tor strictly fresh cs- cs has been off as as i fresh eggs those that were cold storage holdings In some InstanceS and must musty In their obvious obvious- All Factors Being Scrutinized Tile The publIc Is all factors concerned In the sellinG or of eg eggs They are the producers the cold storage men the commission m merchantS the wholesalers whole whole- salers and the retail grocers The pro pro- who are arc Individual farmers as asa n a rule may be eliminated at a glance Inthe in the search for tor the so 50 called er trust rhe same Is true with few exceptions of oC the ll grocers as they seldom can afford aCCord to own storage houses or to tie up large sums In storage rental This leaves the house owners the merchants and the commission merchants whose interests s are Identical In the thc case caC at I Issue ue to answer public suspicion They admit of course that they store millions and millions of eggs for tor their own personal pronto profit but they deny the he existence ot of either small local or or of a. a na nation wide egg trust Just before day nearly nearh Cg s were In told cold storage In New NewYork NewYork York City and a report of the tho M MaSsa- MaSsa sa- sa state board of health showed that the thc number held up In Boston on October 1 wa o of which only 27 O hart had be be n stored within three months Ot Of the whole an amount do- do s scribed as pounds was was' condemned as unfit for tor food The boycotters or 01 CS regard the Boston Doston figures as typical of the whole count country The so called cold storage Interests contend that the steady rise In the price e of oC eggs throughout recent years ears Is due to natural conditions conditions' over which no human hu- hu human man has control and 1 they point to the t farm itself where 90 00 per cent ent or of the eggs arc ato First the uninterrupted of at population to centers Conters Con Con- and the metamorphosis of many a rural site into an urban one with tho natural withdrawal or of land available for farming fanning dRI and operates to push tush UP Un the cost of eggs and all other necess necessities pC of Ute life Consume Their Own Prod ProdUcts An factor Is t tie e fact that the farmer and his eat cat more of their own products Twenty and thIrty years ago ago the farmer sot got 8 and 10 cents a dozen for tor his c eggs s and took In exchange expensive necessities such as coffee tea sugar sugar cloth and Nowadays the farmer can afford to eat at eata ata a dozen eggs gs and sun still get more for tor his other dozen than his 1115 father did for tor three Also the price or of grain to feed the tho I chickens has doubled In ten years Scars Fur Fur- thor the average elt city dweller Insists upon having eggs ess regardless ot of price and ond It if tre fresh h eggs ultimately go to 1 a a dozen a a. lar Iare e percentage or of th the American urban urban ur- ur ban pOpulation would still demand and cakes cales and pies This leads inevitably to the tho coM cold tor- tor age e factor The practice of storing eggs eS by the millions n told storage toras-e ware ware- houses is general among wholesale houses and commission merchants and has been so for Cor over a decade It Is claimed that their methods operate to equalize the price of Cg eggs 8 rather than to Increase It Purchases arc mado In carload carload car car- load lots In the months or of pro which arc ara May Ia and June Junc rhe average wholesale price ranges from 16 to iS 18 cents These heavy purchases tie up large larg sums of Interest bearing money for thc five or six months plus the tho storage chars charge o of about 10 cents per pel case per month The period or of the hens drags along along- through late summer and early eady fall During this time thc they la lay r. r er very few eggs s. When hen Is Iso o over or r cold wea weather ther is 15 beginning to set In and tho monthly egg laying average is IR much lower than It Is In the tho spring anti summer The supply of oC fresh tresh eggs falls off but the public demand does docs not The price goes oes' oes UPi up and finally doubles Then the cold storage c product goes upon the market In Its various grades ranging from Cram firsts aU all through the grades rades technIcally tech tech- ideally known as seconds thirds cull and cracks with prIces accord accord- Insl l First grade rade storage e g almost almost al- al most as much a as do th the strictly fresh varlet variety WoUld Become Drug on Market Now the advocates of cold storage point out out Ir If the heavy production or of April May Ia and June were not conserved the price w would uld h tie e low durIng during dur- dur Ing that short period It might drop to 10 14 Q cents a dozen In the cities and next to nothing In the country countr Eggs would become a drug on the market and the individual farmer and ancl small poultry raiser would suffer In the tate summer and earl early fall the production would drop somewhat but It would be sufficient to tIle tho Ordinary demands or of the markt mar mar- lct kt with a noticeable ble which would cause a rIse In price both wholesale and retail ret With the advent of the season would cOme a a sharp slump In production prices jump jump- bIg IlIg In proportion Even E at that the tho supply sup sup- ply would be limited for Cor a man cannot sell what ho has haa not not got fot It At Is claimed that a 1 dozen COt cost from 1 to retail throughout the winter under such stich Conditions of at unequal distribution This would work ork a grea great t hardship on the pUblic Hence It Is ar argued ed that cold storage stOr-olge equalizes prices as well as distribution It does not prevent tree free use of this necessary foodstuff when there is a natural plenitude and It pro pro- the commodIty during durinS' the long winter months months' when Bidy Is working on half time All this of course does not In the tho least vitiate the charge that the tho egg manipulators hold haM out on the public until tile the last minute for Cor the highest possible price Even this major element clement IDeS does not compare corn com pare In Importance with that of oC a greater production Let the farmer who f sells 90 per tent jent or of the tilO eggs on the market CEa cease c conducting hi his chicken business as ag an Insignificant side line It Is claimed that not no more than one farmer In dred n a bundred hundred hun bun knows about the scientific or ven the As 11 11 u U 8 fl a rule this part of the farm Is managed managed man man- aged In Ina a casual Way b by the t farmers farmer's overworked o The wife or his careless s children skilled poultry raiser fl averages rages from 18 to eggs per hen per year It Is doubtful if IC tile the farmer to whom tile the great reat AmerIcan public must l ok tor or nearly all th the eggs the they eat cat averages eggs ggs per hen per annum It Is contended selection that care In tile the balancing of rations for Cor breeding segregation ot of breeds that grow to meat for tor the market from tho breeds known to b be good egg ordinary sanitation and against protection pro pro- farmer Cormer Inclement Weather b by tue tho himself would do more than anything any any- thins thing else to lower the price of egg eggs Tomorrow THE CITY SCHOOL Its Ita Relation to to the Child |