HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1917-8-2, Page 2rn
ZIESMESIMrairediaMinlll
tailk;;
Is a disinfectant that dries Nv1 ite,
not dark or colorless like other
disinfoetaags, ea that with it, one
disinfects and points at the same
• time, with the saltie labor, and at
no greater cost than is:retluired:
to 'Whitewashing and' disinfect-
ing only.
4arbola is madeof a i'tnely
powdered mineral pigment, the
same . as used by many paint
makers, combined with a gertm-
1 c'ide
wo bines stronger than
carbolic acid
Mit non-poisonous and Hoar -caus-
tic. Comes in 'convenient size
packages, does not spoil by stand-
ing, so can be 1 ept on hand ready
to use when convenient or on a
rains day. Applied with either a
brush or a spraying machine. Will
not clog the sprayer or blister,
flake or peel oft, no matter hon
many coats are put on.
It is easily prepared for use.
Just put the powder in a pail and
stir in either cold or hot water.
Used and endorsed by thousands
of poultry and breeding farms and
by experiment stations and agri-
cultural colleges.
Sold by Dealers Everywhere
nOWLAN.A SONS & CO., Ltd.
Toronto - Canada
FOR
'
VEST HANDS
The Quantity and -Kinds of Foods
Required for Harvesters as
Estimated by An Expert in
Household Science.
For an accustomed cook, the work of
reparing meals for the extra harvest -
hands, presents no special problem. It
is a matter of assembling food and
promptly preparing it in appetizing
ways.
To nearly every farm woman, how-
, ever,
ow,ever, comes an appalling first time
when she finds herself faced by the
question of how much she must pre-
pare for a given number of men. To
this question is now added our national
duty of economy. We are asked to
prepare for our tables not so much
what we best enjoy as what will most
acceptably and economically nourish
budies for the work they must do.
In view of this situation, many of
my readers may welcome an estimate
of the amount of food needed for one
meal by one man employed at severe
work such as threshing.
I am reproducing here the table
which gives in ounces a balanced ra-
tion for a man of one hundred and
fifty-four pounds. A little study of
the table as a whole will help the
housewife to understand how this bal-
ance is preserved and how to estimate
what ske will need to furnish for five
men or twenty-five.
Man at Severe Work
Kind of Food
Breakfast:
Apple sauce 4.00
Oatmeal 2.00
Cream 2.15
Sugar 0.56
Sausage (pork) 2.00
Bread ..... 2.60
Butter 0.50
Potatoes 4.00
Tea (1 cup) 0.40
Sugar 0.28
Cream 1.07
Ounces
Total 19.56
Dinner:
Boiled ham 3.00
Potatoes 4.00
Carrots 4.00
Turnips 4.30
Corn bread .. 5.20
Bread 1.30
Butter 0.75
Cold slaw (cream) 1.33
Pie, mince .:4.00
Tea (1 cup) 0.40
Sugar 0.28
Cream 1.07
Total
Supper:
Dried beef
Cream.
29.63
(creamed) 1.00
1.07
Fried potatoes 2.40
Bread 1.30
Butter 0.75
Apple sauce 4.00
Ginger bread 4.00
Milk, skimmed ... . . 9:40
Total • 23.92
Total for day 73111
Feeding the harvest helpers is hard
for the woman who cannot have suit-
able appliances and has to depend on
makeshifts.
Among the helpful utensils is a
three or four gallon double boiler "r
making soups, gravies and puddings;
also a'large steam cooker which will
,take care of fifteen or twenty loaves
of brown bread or steamed puddings,
at once.
A good homemade „.fireless cooker
will help .in cooking ham or boiled
beef.
Beware of trying to fill up hungry
znen with foods that take much time to.
prepare. One should not, try to
serve pies,often,unless there is plenty
of help. Rolling crust is slow 'work
even for a swift pie -maker.
Three gallons of tapioca cream can.
be made at once in a big double boil
4LYAL�L:w.yYiGfi•r n 0. vaarm.reroarvzvaratoaoralagloonno
arr
c.' ='►► Profits
d
HE statement issued by ithe Department of Labor concerning
William
, g
the business' of The �!lllam Davies Company Limit
ed has given widespread circulation throughout the country and
provoked public unrest.
Whatever the technical wording of the report was, the effect has -
been that the newspapers have published that "the profits on Bacon
alone" of this Company "for 1916" were about "five millions of
dollars." This interpretation of the official report is not surprising
in view of certain statements that the Commissioner of the Cost of
Living makes. The Commissioner is reported as saying that
"There were two individual cases of profiteering in 1916 and that
had these cases -occurred "since the passage of the cost of living
Order -in -Council, he would consider it his ditty to recommend that
(if
the facts be laid before the Attorney -General for consideration as
to their criminality." The situation created by such erroneous
and damaging statements is serious as ,emanating from a Govern-
ment official, from whom one looks for not only accurate statements
but correct conclusions.
The William Davies Company, being a private concern, has fol-
lowed the practice of all private corporations, except m -hen it made a
bond issue in 1911, in that it has not published reports of its assets and
liabilities or profit and loss. The present circumstance, however, in
which d Government Official has led the public to false conclusions,
makes it advisable for this Company, for both the public interest and
its own interest, to publish particulars of• its business as well as point
out the error of the statement of the Government Official. ,
For the last fiscal year ending March 27th, 1917,` The William Davies Com-
pany bought and killed 1,043,000 head of Live Stock (Cattle, Hogs and Sheep.)
This, plus purchases of. outsid,e illeats, produced 160,000,000 pounds of Meats.
The Company handled 6,550,900 pounds of, Butter'and, Cheese, 5,650,000 dozens
of Eggs, and manufactured 26,500,000 tins of 'Canned Goods.
The net profits on these -were .68 cents (or two-thirds of a cent) per pound on
meats, 1.04 cents on Butter and Cheese, 1.04 cents per dozen on Eggs, and .47
cents (or slightly less than one-half a cent) per tin on Canned Goods.. These
profits include profits on all By -Products derived from these accounts.
During the year the Company served at its retail stores 7,500,000 customers;
the average purchase of each customer was 35c., and the net profit upon each
sale was 5-8 of 1 cent.
The turnover of the Company from all -its operations for the last fiscal year
ending March 27th, 1917, was $40,000,000. The, net percentage of profit upon
this turnover, after deducting war tax, was 1.69 per cent., or including war tax
Respecting. the Rep
Last Winter the Commissioner, under authority of
Order -in -Council, required packers to submit statements
under oath for some years back and up to December lst,
1916, of incoming stocks of Meats and the cost of such, as
well as statements of outgoing product and the selling value.
This Company represented in writing at the time that the
information as specifically required was not in accordance
with Packing House Accounting methods, and invited the
Commissioner to send an Officer. to the Head Office of the
Company to examine the books for any information desired,
and to secure a viewpoint as to the best way of collecting
data which would be of use to the Government, ` This offer
was declined, and there was nothing to do but fill in the in-
formation required as literally as we could determine it.
For example, there was no recognition of the fact that a
raw product may enter a factory under a specific classification
and leave the factory as a finished product under some other
classification. ;
We submitted a series of accurate figures based our
interpretation of the official requ, irements' which made no
provision for charges of any description other than incoming
freight and unloading charges to be included, in the cost,or
to be deducted from the selling price. There was nothing
in the report which could be read so as to determine a profit
and Ioss statement. The very that with onlya statement •
based upon cost of raw products and value of sales in Great
Britain a Government Official has deduced "Barge margins,"
"Profiteering and "Criminality" if it had occurred since
the passage of a recent Act, shows too dangerous a trifling
and incapacity to be permitted to deal withany important
situation. The statements of this Company have been treated
by the author of this report as if the out -going product was
identical with the incoming product, and from the series of
reports he has singled out two items -the: Bacon and. Egg
reports -and from them deduced an erroneous '`margin
which the newspapers have interpreted as "profit." The
author of the inquiry shows a strange lack of even a funda-
mental knowledge .of simple bookkeeping' and a dangerous
inability to co-ordinate figures. The following are specific
and outstanding errors in the report:
The principal, item that is causing excitement deals with
cold storage bacon. The term "cold -storage" is not defined,
and the public is allowed to make its own definitions: As all
Bacon in a packing house is under refrigeration it is really
all cold -storage, and therefore this Com any's figures,of,.
cold storage Bacon represent the complete quantity of
Bacon handled m its entire Plant, whether in, freezers or in
process of cure for immediate shipment. • That some com-
3.45 per cent.
The William Davies Company has assets of $13,385,000 of which $3,865,00,
is tied _ up in fixed investments.
To provide the necessary facilities for the increased volume of business the
Company expended $750,000 in buildings and equipment during the year..
Companies of other character present no more reasonable statement of profit
and loss based upon the investments made in the business. •
The William Davies Company offered to the Imperial authorities, as well as
to the War Office Service (which represents the Imperial authorities ' in Canada)
to place the output of its Factory with respect to Bacon s'tipplies„„Canned Beef,'.
and Pori. and Beans at the service of the' authorities, on the basis of cost. plus: an,
agreed percentage. These offers were successively declined as the authorities
evidently desired to purchase in the open market, and on this basis The William
Davies Company has secured War Office business by open competition with.the
world.
rt of the Commis -inner on the Cost of Living:
,paniesinterpreted cold -storage product as "freezer" product
only is evidenced by the smallness or entire lack of
figures on the Bacon list for some Plants, indicating that many
Firms did not submit statements of their complete stocks,
as did this Company. An Official of this Company pointed
out this cold -storage distinction- to Mr: O'Connor and Miss
McKenna in Ottawa a few -weeks ago, and the failure to make
the distinction after having had it pointed out evidences lack
of desire for accuracy of the real information desired. -
Itis true The William Davies Company, in 1916, exported
97,791,000 pounds of Bacon, but we do not,know how the
margin of 5.05 cents per pound is arrived at by Mr. O'Connor,
as there were no figures to justify such a conclusion. The
probabilities are that the margin is arrived at by taking the
average cost per pound of incoming product;from the average
selling price per pound of outgoing product. This may be
,a rough, way of ;estimating thegross margin when dealing
withmall 'figures, but when dealing with figures the size
that 1\11.-',O'Connor has to deal with, a very small fraction of
a dent -Per pound of error makes a very important difference
in the total, and one must be careful to make sure that the
outgoing product is the same finished merchandise of the
incoming product reported on.
Allowing it. to pass, however, as a rough estimate, we
wish to point out -(first) --the inquiry of the Commissioner
allowed' only for incoming freight and unloadingcharges,
and made no provision whatsoever for operating charges of
any kind, such as labor, curing materials,' refrigeration, et
cetera. Such actual charges on the .97,791,000 .pounds
exported' were $1,162,000 -or 1.2 cents. per pound. This
amount covered all charges up to the ; point of . placing the
Bacon on cars f.o.b. packing -house. ` In addition to this was
the actual cost to land and sell this 97,791,000pounds in Eng-
land after leaving the packing house, which involved charges.
of 2.9 cents per pound -or $2,836,000. Thus 2.9 cents per
pound included inland and ocean freight, landing charges, war
and marine insurance, cables, and selling commission to agents.
The ocean freight and war risk alone would make up 2.4
cents of the charge of 2.9 cents per pound. This 1.2 'cents,
plus 2.9. cents -a total of 4.1 cents -must be deducted from
Mr. 0 Connor s margin of 5.05, cents per pound, leaving a
margin of .95 cents, or slightly less than a cent per pound,
which still has to be reduced because of the error of premises
and because.: of further factors which have to be considered
to.determine'net profits.
It -is quiteevident some of the other packers did not
show selling values in the country. in which the goods were
The Company does not challenge either the legal or moral rightof the Govern-
ment to investigate business enterprises when public interests directs such an
investigation should be made. If an investigation of the packingand, meat
business is .ordered, the Company will place at the -disposal of the Government. -
not only the data it would be required to supply. under Order -in -Council
directing that inquiry be made, but will place the experience of. its officers
at the disposal of the investigating committee, if it is considered they can
render any service'awhich will be of value. The Company has not now -nor
at any time during the fifty years of its operation -anything to conceal in method
.or practice of carrying on its business. It; does, however, claim the right to con-
duct itsexport business without ,abusive comment from Government civil
servants especially when the conclusions drawn from the data, asked for are
improper and false:
One of Canada's Chief export industries is the packing business`.' -At is essential
to the live stock industry, and, along with other export industries, it mahit'uns
the financial stability of this country, and should, providing itis'on a sound basis,
receive encouragement and.. not slanderous abuse. In view of the publicity
given to the report of the Commissioner on the cost of living` the Company
demands the same publicity in having an official -Government investigation of
this report to determine the truthfulness or untruthfulness of its conclusions.
We do not seek public . consideration as a company, but we do say that untruth-
ful official statements, or statements the effect of which is to create an untruth,
sold -a proceeding quite proper, as the forms'submited to be
filled+in were indefinite and ambiguous, thus permitting with-
out charge of evasion a variety of interpretation as to the
information required. It is thus' possible that of all the
figures submitted by the different packers that no two sets
of costs and sales prices are determined at thesame common
point. It is, this difference of interpretation of what' was
required that accounts for the difference of the alleged
"margin" made - by the different companies. Common
conclusions, however, have been drawn by the author of the
report from varying bases of premises.
The figures of the Egg business were submitted on the
same basis as Bacon, and similar deductions_ must be made.
(Second) -The above margin is further reduced in that
the author of this inquiry singled out the Bacon figures as an
item in which the selling price shows an alleged improper
advance over cost, •. but he did not give us credit for the
statements of other products, of which figures were submitted
the selling prices of which' were under cost. The reason
of this was that through failure to inquire the Department
entirely overlooked -the fact that product may come in as
pork and, through the process of manufacture, go out as Bacon
or, in another instance, enter the factory, as beef and go out in
the form of canned meats; for example: much of the product
which came in as pork, and which was entered on the pork
.,.,,sheet submitted to the Commissioner -about which he makes
no meution-was -cured and left the factory in the form of
Bacon, and was, therefore, entered on the outgoing side of the
Bacon sheet -the result is that the Bacon sales are increased
by this amount over. the incoming stocks of Bacon, and, like-
wise, the sheet showing sales of pork is reduced by the amount
that went out in the form of Bacon. If the. Department
takes one set of figures that show favorable to the, Company
they should take another set of figures that show unfavorable,
as the principle in either case is the same, and failure to do so
looks as if the author of the report was exercising more
enthusiasm than sound judgment in his investigations.
(Third) -It is queried inthe report, that "if the margin of
3.47 cents," alleged to have been made in 1915, "was satis-
factory, why was it necessary to show increased margin in
1916?" Assuming again for 'the moment the soundness of
the premises in asking .sucha question based on ,an erroneous
''margin",it will be found that the increased margin is chiefly
absorbed in increased ocean freight rates and war risk in-
surance in .1916, of which apparently the author of the report
was in ignorance.
adversely affect the live stock industry of this country, which is so valuable and
essential a wealth -producing powerand, in the long run, are harmful to the very
people that the statement seeks to benefit.
If, the passing out of existence of a corporation such as The William Davies
Company, or if nationalization. ;of packing houses would materially and per-
manently reduce food prices, then in view of the present -world tragedy it ought
to be consummated without delay. The fact of the matter is, however, that
with millions of people in Europe turning from producers into consumers because
of the war, and the tremendous destruction of food products incident to war,
there is no remedy for the high prices of food while such conditions last, except
the remedy of thrift and increase of production.
Long before there was talk of a Food Controller in the United States or
Canada The William Davies Company urged the Government at Ottawa, in
writing, to appoint a Food Controller with full power to do what he saw fit, as
we realized, at that time the upward tendency in the price oof, food commodities
unless` checked by official effort. At the most a great deal cannot be done in
reducing food prices while- currency is inflated and until the scale of prices of all
kinds of commodities declines also. Wiiat can be done can only be done by`'a>
"Food Controller. , We wish to point out that nothing at all can be accomplished
'unless' the data' secured are• accurately and clearly,4made and the deductions
therefrom sound'. Only public "harm_ arises from dangerous incompetency
in the haphazard' 'collection and careless use' of iini,�ortan't figures.
f Company zs concerned this terminatessalt blic staeinent"f the Company, and it will ino more attention As ar as The 13�illiam Davies C pu(s o
pay faun to speculative.
and haphazard slafemen s
made t either by newspapers or cwii serrants. The only further statement that will ' be made kilt be at an of c al.investigation;
Toronto, July 17th, 19i7
er, almost as easily as one quart.
When milk is available, it is no more
IN VE ToRs expensive than pie and is as nourish-
ing.
Our Capital 9tocic, now In the same way, a large quantity
offered to the public g q y
fir' the first time, conn- of berry pudding may be mixed tit
i nes abvo1ute security once. A shortcake is more quickly
with large dividends.
Write foil Free Imam-handlea than pie crust.
traced 73ooitlet.
iostorn C 3 9hcfi it is possible to buy An do Farml {� Company, L�mitod p ✓ bread
Road dffloo; 43 Imperial Ufa Bldg., Toronto from a bakery during harvest time'
,
E. C. FOX, General i Tanager
THE WILLIAM DA I COMPANY, LIMITED
the' women of the farm should not be
expected to make `it. • Doughnuts re-
quire considerable handling but lit-
tle more than biscuit' or muffins, and
usually ate More' satisfaotoy,
The main thing to -guard against IS
taking proper, car of the food in -the
hot weather. or that .reason it is
best not to keep muoh over from day
to day,
The more varietyrwe can,give in the
grain foods - the less meat will be re-
n
tions of meats may be cooked till ten-
der.
quiretl. Try to serve biscuit, dumpl, ;+
ings or squares 'of pie crust and stuff- ,'aine i
l.
aniily .Name,
ir.,gs with meats and fish to make a ,
.�.n Irishman was seated in a rail-
. ,.. .. /flake
Nxiay, carriage next to a very pompous,
looking roan, with whom; he commenc-
ed a conversation in a 'atliee free-anci.
easy milliner. At length the pompous
one said: ""My #food maxi, reserve your
less quantity satisfying.
'Food must not he greasy. Bake
and broil' and steam meats rather than
fry them, . 13y planniig ahead' and
'Starting in season; the tougher poli.'
conversation for one of your own
equals. '11 would have: you know that I
am a K, 0," The ili.ishman jumped
up and held out his hand. "Begorry,
shake!" he exclaimed, "0i'm a Casey
mesel:f."
Don't regard any time -saving isle-.
thol✓of doing housework � ,
S g as sliiftlessg
it isn't;
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