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Show Mil BAMBERGER SEEKS TO OBTAIN SUPPLIES SALT LAKE, Aug. 9. Late last night Governor Bamberger mado the first definite move to help in the reduction re-duction of the cost of living in tJtah, when he telegraphed to United States 1 Senator William H. King asking for; full details whereby Utah may obtain an allotment of the surplus stores of army foodstuffs for sale In tho state. Governor Bamberger stated his desire I to secure such an allotment at onre I and to proceed immedlatelv to distribute distri-bute It through state agencies. A grand jury investigation of high prices in Utah may be instituted if the proper evidence of combinations of persons to keep prices up is present) 'I to the attorney general. Utah has a i most drastic anti-trust law. which pro hibits combinations to control prices and provides for heavv fines for violations vio-lations of tho law. However, accord-, lng to Attorney General Dan D Shields, there is no fund from which! the state may draw to conduct an in-' vestigation of conditions here, and un less evidence of reliable character tol L k , l L I.UI1 fit I Mill to control prices of the necessities of life were laid before him he would have no authority to order a grand jury investigation or prosecutions. Yesterday the report of cold storage stocks in the slate on July 31 were compiled in the office of the state dairy and food commissioner It shows that thero were 321,508 pounds of fresh meat and 1,072,000 pounds of salted meat in the warehouses in Utah on that date Two years previous, on July 31, 1917, there were 8265 pounds of fresh meat and 2117 pounds of salted salt-ed meat, showing an enormous increase in-crease for 1919 Last year, with the government gathering tremendous quantities of food for the prosecution of the war, the records for July showed approximately approxi-mately the same amounts of meat in storage as this year. But in the year previous, before the government began to order storage of vast supplies, the amount stored in the state was infinitely infin-itely smaller than at presenL This, students of the question point out, despite de-spite the fact that the war has now been over for nine months, wltli prices constantly increasing. Fresh and Salted Meat Stores. During May, Juno and July of this year, the state reports show there were 1,751,604 pounds of fresh meat in storage in Utah, and 3. 072, Ml pounds of salted meat. In the same three months in 1917, just after the United States had entered the war, thero were only 62,567 pounds of! fresh meat nnrl nnnn.lg r sh. I -1 ' - JL ed meat. This is an increase of twenty-eight times in the amount of fresh meat, and ninety times in the amount of salted meat. In July two years ago there were 1-1,536 cases of eggs in storage; this year there were 27,001 reported. I Cheese has jumped in tho two sears from 71.030 pounds to 146.522 pounds. Fresh fish two years ago amounted to j 3s0 pounds, while 5929 pounds are re-! ported for July of tnis year. Dried fruits jumped from 21,278 pounds to i 28.225 pounds. No lard was reported in storage in July two years ago, while last month 1C.129 pounds were re- 1 ported. In an effort to lower the high cost' of living in Salt Lake, the city com-I com-I mission has approved plans for ir.. purchase of the Hubbard supply of foodstuffs, consisting of thirty-one cases, at cost, to be sold to the public' through the medium of the Municipal -market, according' to information given giv-en out yesterday afternoon by mem-, bers of the commission This com was pursued as a means of getting cheaper foods on the market irume-j diately. pending the ourchase of la consignments for future sale Although the matter was referred to Mayor Ferry for immediate action, no steps had been taken last night to obtain the.-e -upphes for distribution The commissioners said Mayor Ferr was in Brighton and would not return before Monday, and undoubtedly would not take action on the plans outlined until his return. The Municipal market has received no government supplies for sale at cost prices, according to information given out last night It was stated, however, that the matter was In the hands of the commissioners and the mayor, and that government foods would be secured in the near future. Federal investigation of possible hoarding of foodstuffs and profiteering in the intermountain country was in full sway yesterday, with all other business cast aside in the district attorney's at-torney's office and the department of justice in order that the Inquiry mich' be hastened. The entire forces of both departments are devoting their entire time to the probe of the high living cost, Intimation that results were already , uiHomru iiulu mr inquiry was mado yesterday by government offi-Cials, offi-Cials, although they refused to give out definite information until the cases can be fully investigated. Large stores of foodstuffs were the first to come under inquiry. |