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Show Dllllf ffll Bingham Aroused Over Problem of Securing Substitutes for . Wheat and Cost of Substitutes Lengthy Discussion Held at Commercial Club Rooms Tuesday Night Committee Ap-:. ' pointed to Investigate Advance in Price of Substitutes Since ; Fixing of Wheat Price. V :J A The food conservation question has become an important one in Bingham ' : and the application of the law regard- , ing the use of substitutes,' under ex . , lsttng conditions, is working a hard- ' ship on the people of the community.'; t . In the first place the substitutes are ' . -almost unobtainable and In the second they , command almost prohibitive 1 prices. Especially the laboring people who have large families are finding it ! difficult to make ends meet . The ' great majority of the substitutes are " products which the people of this community com-munity are unacquainted with and ' they not. only have to learn how- to ' -v, cook them, but to learn how to eat them and teach their children how. . ,.' To discuss this question a meeting-- - ; was held in the Commercial Club rooms Tuesday night, and the various . phases of the situation were gone over. ' There was no disposition on the part of the crowd to violate the regulations, . ' ' but it was felt-that some relief must . be afforded. The use of the substl- 4 tutes at the existing prices makes it ' almost Impossible for many people to- 1 provide for their families. The most suitable substitute for wheat Is that . . of corn, and notwithstanding the fact that meal .sells at $1.60 per hundred Hshor than flour It is practically unobtainable. un-obtainable. , Also It was pointed out, that after. the price of wheat was fixed ' by the government the price of substitutes substi-tutes began to rise by leaps and bounds. The average price of corn ' fnr the vtnr 3 91ft una 79 rents tier- bushel, and that by September 1, 1917,,;, the average price was $1.75, and at: present ;ln. this state It commands trtce omfitdrablr-lrver ?S;00.'-A1b(' " ; " the prices of. fish, poultry beans and " various cttr substitutes have doubled '' : and trebled.' ' .-v.; "; V;; "' It was the belief of those present , that the government had no intention of enforcing a regulation which Is practically Impossible to comply with, ; but the merchants have strict instructions instruc-tions and might lose their .license to do business should they deviate. , Therefore an attempt will be made to have the order modified or ecure fix-' ed prices ,on substitutes. (Heretofore . . corn meal sold much lower than flour, but now It Is far In advance. And it - - is known that the corn crop last year was an enormous one. . ' The meeting was one of exchanging Ideas, The retail merchants explained their positions and the citizens told theirs. Mr.' Evans, of the Gibson Mer-, cantile Company, explained where the . ' wholesaler stood, ille also stated how' difficult if was to secure corn meal ; and how t!ie prices of various commo- , dltles had advanced. . fBIngham is not an agricultural community com-munity and what the people eat they have to purchase at markqt.fMany of , them bought potatoes during the fall , expecting an advance similar to that of last spring, and therefore. 'they al-ready al-ready have that substitute on hand. That Is the only cheap substitute to be had. but even at tlir the consumer, has to buy four pounds of potatoes to secure one pound of flour . ' - After talking on various phases of the situation President Kelly appointed appoint-ed a committee, composed of Jude John C Green,. John Knudsen, F. W. Quinn, C, Dj McNeely and T. 0. Stephens, x to collect informutlon on the advance of the prices of the sub- . stitutes since the price of wheat was fixed by the government and report back to the club next Tuesday night. It Is evident that a strict application applica-tion of the system now In effect will greatly Increase the cost of living and . make the people less able to purchase Liberty Bonds and Thrift Bamps. Thus it is plain that It will also mean a loss to the government With reference refer-ence to this community It is a ques- , tion of economy not only to the people but to the Federal government. What can be done remains to be seen, i - . |
