Government bought and sold wheat made dealing in futures in that
commodity non-essential and it was prohibited absolutely. (3) The
period and volume of holdings of food in storage were regulated and
without special permit from the Food Administration could not
be changed. The prosecution of hoarders under the hoarding provisions
of the Lever Act also prevented dealers from holding excessive
quantities of food for speculation. (4) Detailed regulations were
made in the different trades requiring that all food should pass in
straight lines through the chain of distribution. A miller, for example,
was allowed only to sell to a wholesaler, a retailer or consumer.
A wholesaler could buy only from a miller and sell only to a retailer
or consumer. This prevented the addition of unnecessary layers
of profit to the price of food passing through too many hands on the
road from producer to consumer. (5) The embargo on exports without
permit was a very effective discouragement to the speculator.
With a controlled market in the United States the speculator's
chief hope lay in foreign sales and these were also subject to the
inspection of Government agents who would not approve permits
for the exporting of obviously speculative shipments. (6) The
stabilization of prices, above discussed, was one of the important
implements in preventing speculation. The Food Administration
was able, for example, to advise the public that during considerable
periods flour should be about $12.50 per barrel retail, and sugar
about 10 cents per pound. These announcements served, just as did
the published decisions of the Fair Price Committees, to restrain
through the power of public opinion those who wished to profiteer.
(7) Profiteering by licensees of the Food Administration could be
punished by withdrawal of the licence to operate the business. The
Food Administration maintained an enforcement division which
exacted penalties from detected profiteers, but only in a comparatively
few cases were licences revoked. For the most part the
profiteer was allowed to continue his business after publicly expressing
his contrition and paying to some organization such as the Red
Cross a fine in excess of his undue profits. Flour-millers were also
under agreement to turn over to the Government, by a nominal sale
to the Grain Corp., their profits in excess of an agreed amount.
Receipts from this source exceeded $6,000,000. Hoarders of food
were also subject to criminal prosecution and penalty under a special
provision of the Lever Act.
Control of Exports.—The first object of this control was to confine American food exports so far as possible to the Allies, forcing neutrals to go to more distant markets for any commodities which they could thus obtain. The second object was to tighten the food blockade against the enemy by preventing direct or indirect leakages. An example of indirect leakage was the large exportation from the United States of feed by neutrals, who thus greatly increased their live stock herds, and then shipped a large part of the resultant animal products into Germany. Since the American and Allied populations were denying themselves severely because of the lack of snipping, it was deemed a just war measure to require the neutrals to do without goods that would benefit the enemy only, if the supplying of those goods required shipping from the United States. The Government maintained representatives in each neutral country in Europe and South America for determination of their production and of the actual necessities of their imports to prevent suffering among their population. It was further necessary to require measures of rationing among neutrals to limit their consumption. While neutrals did not suffer undue privations, subsequent reports from Germany showed that under this pressure the German supply of food from adjoining neutral sources fell from 77,000 million calories per month in 1917 to less than half that amount per month in 1918. Furthermore, the neutrals were required to furnish shipping to the United States as a consideration for their supplies of food and other commodities, and upwards of 1,000,000 tons of neutral shipping was thus transferred to Allied service. The control of exports was removed by the War Trade Board, the governmental agency exercising it, early in 1919, although its removal proved premature as it facilitated speculation which resulted from over-exporting food for commercial purposes.
Control of Imports.—The important food commodities imported by the United States before the war were sugar, coffee, vegetable oils, rice and cocoa. The price of these commodities was influenced to a considerable degree, after the United States entered the war, by the elimination of competition between the United States and any of the Allies when purchasing in the same foreign markets. Prices were thus kept at reasonable figures for domestic consumers and the expenditure of excessive sums in foreign markets was prevented. One special concern of the Food Administration, acting as the agency in control of imports, was the retention of ships sufficient in number and size to carry essential imports. Small vessels and sailing ships not capable of transatlantic transport were assigned to the shipping division of the Food Administration, and arrangements were made with committees of the various trades to assign space to their members and to issue import permits, after agreement as to conditions of sale within the United States. The control over imports was thus coordinated with the control over exports so as to harmonize with the general price stabilization programme of the United States.
Cost and Accomplishments of Food Control.—The total of Congressional and Presidential appropriations expended by the Food Administration from beginning to end was $7,862,669. Since the Food Administration was the governmental food control agency, this sum may be taken as the governmental expenditure for food control. The $155,000,000 of capital of the Grain Corp. and the Sugar Equalization Board was handed back to the Government intact, and large profits were earned by each corporation. The neutral countries advanced the charges for their shipping enormously and to protect the United States against this excessive cost, a profit was made on the sales of food to them. The profits of the Grain Corp. and Sugar Board during the period of the Food Administration, in operation at home and abroad, exceeded $60,000,000. The food control may therefore be credited by the Government with a net profit of $50,000,000. But the savings of the people of the United States through the control of prices, through the prevention of discontent and strikes, and through the contribution of food to the Allies, cannot be measured in dollars. The possibility of great achievement under severely trying conditions was again demonstrated because of the spirit of willing sacrifice and coöperation exhibited by the American people. America came through the war with its markets intact and its distributing and producing agencies improved rather than the reverse, so that it was able to supply sufficient food in the months following the Armistice to save practically the whole of Europe. This latter achievement is not a part of the story of food control but it is a very interesting sequel to it. The value of the food commodities furnished to the Allies and the liberated countries from July 1917 to July 1919 amounted to about $3,670,000,000. (W. C. M.)
FOOTBALL: see Sports and Games.
FORAIN, JEAN LOUIS (1852-), French painter and illustrator (see 10.628). His cartoons and caricatures during the World War were among the most striking and vigorous in the French press. Afterwards he devoted himself rather to easel painting of a symbolical character.
FORAKER, JOSEPH BENSON (1846-1917), American politician (see 10.628), died in Cincinnati, May 10 1917. His retirement from the Senate in 1909 followed the publication of certain letters supporting the charge that he had received money from the Standard Oil Company. In 1914 he was again a candidate for the Senate in the Republican primaries, but was defeated by Warren Gamaliel Harding. In 1916 he published Notes on a Busy Life.
FORBES-ROBERTSON, SIR JOHNSTON (1853-), English actor (see 10.639), was knighted in 1913, and retired from regular work on the stage in the following year.
FORD, HENRY (1863-), American manufacturer, was born on a farm at Greenfield, near Detroit, Mich., July 30 1863. He received only a common-school education in the local school and when about 15 years old went to Detroit, where he learned the machinist's trade. There a little later he began to work for the Edison Illuminating Co., and became interested in the problems of self-propelled vehicles. He worked on the construction of a gasoline engine, making all the parts himself, and in 1892 produced his first motor-car, a very clumsy vehicle, somewhat resembling a tricycle propelled by a one-cylinder engine. He continued his experiments and in 1898 was able to interest a few capitalists in his scheme. He had from the beginning a sincere desire to benefit the people, and was determined to produce a car which could be sold at a price within reach of persons of small means, the profits to come from quantity sales. His plan, however, did not coincide with that of the other members of the early company, and he withdrew. In 1903 he organized and became president of the Ford Motor Co. of Detroit, which ultimately became the largest producer of cars in the world, turning out at a very low price no fewer than 1,000,000 in the single year, 1920, and employing 75,000 men. Parts were standardized and methods devised for quickly assembling the various units that went to make up each car. At the beginning, however, serious difficulties were encountered. As early as 1895 a patent had been secured by George B. Selden, of Rochester, N. Y., which seemed to cover every type of gasoline engine used on a self-propelled vehicle. This supposed “blanket” patent
