Show FOOD VS POLITICS whenever the politicians attempt to analyze the voting outlook the american housewife usually rates high as a topic of conversation it was much easier to accurately guess the tenor of the voting publics feeling in the days before female suf ferage mr smiths views are arc easily obtained he spends hours in talking with mr jones and mr brown about political issues ranging in importance all the way from oyster conservation to a new co constitutional amendment if he belong to a club the corner comer grocery or beer parlor provides his soapbox soap box mrs smith presents a much more difficult problem her name is legion she holds the ba balance larice of power in any election and the political experts often grow gray in futile efforts to discover how bow she feels about the issues that make or break administrations that is why the cost of food may be a potent factor in the next election mrs smiths principal interests generally lie in her home she thinks less about the national debt than she does about new shoes for junior and the thing that is likely to cause the seeds of resentment to swell and mature inside her is a sharp rise in the cost of the most basic of necessities food the high cost of food has become a center of controversy throughout the nation as have the causes of tile the increase at the height of depression which occurred in the late summer of 1932 foods were almost unbelievably cheap thereafter a slow and natural rise set in until in the late summer of 1933 foods were higher than in the preceding year but were still very cheap in we the year following the rise continued slowly and then went into a zoom at the present time while foods are still a little cheaper than in the years immediately preceding 1929 their prices are so much above we the normal depression level that the american housewife is beginning to complain in no uncertain terms to quote the U S news again the american housewife must pay today for what she could I 1 have bought for two years ago I 1 I 1 many forecasters think that till this s I 1 situation must ir inevitably cost the roosevelt rose elt administration a great many votes and that leads to this question what has been responsible for the increase in food costs coats answers are varied but taking them by and large they resolve themselves into this first the crop restricting program has been an important factor second middleman costs cause an unnecessarily wide gap between what the farmer receives and what the consumer pays it is a fact that grocers in spite of high prices are arc not prospering accordingly their wholesale costs have zoomed along with retail costs some large chain systems which strive to keep prices down as much as possible are actually earning less net profit than they did a year or so ago the question of profits will be aired in an inquiry soon to be started by the federal trade commission however mrs smith is likely to take her ire out on the government officials she believes responsible for her strained bud get whether or not there were contributing circumstances b beyond their control attitude of the farmer is also of great importance in a late speech mr roosevelt stood squarely for his administrations AAA work which he said had brought producers benefits of more than and republican central committee head fletcher recently said that the GOP would combat all major new deal activities cities with but one exception the exception being the AAA reason inquiries have revealed strong support of the AAA in the great farming states which be carried by a presidential candidate if he is to win so the cost of food issue it la confused and is growing more so it will play a leading role in the next campaign whether the candidates candidate want it to or not |