FOOD SAVING IN AMERICA

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25309, 8 October 1947, Page 7

FOOD SAVING IN AMERICA

Response To Appeal By President MOVES BY GRAIN MARKETS (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. 6. The Board of Trade has decided to increase the margin requirements in speculative grain-futures to 33 1-3 per cent, of the market price, as requested by President Truman. The new requirement is double the present margin.* Grains dropped sharply in heavy selling, the cause of which was attributed to President Truman’s demand for increased margins, but recovered much of losses in late trading. Shell eggs and butter futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange tumbled, to the permissible limits, but recovered two-thirds of their losses later. The Minneapolis and Kansas City Grain Exchanges also acceded to Mr Truman’s request, and the other grain futures markets are expected to fall into line soon.

A joint statement by the Chicago and Minneapolis Exchanges, however, said: “We take this action with great reluctance, since we well know that such a move will neither alleviate nor correct the situation for which the .President is seeking a remedy, namely high prices.” The margin increases will become effective to-morrow. Associations of hotels and restaurants throughout the nation announced their support of Mr Truman’s appeal for saving meat, poultry, eggs ana bread. The Bronx Delicatessen Dealers’ Association, with 300 stores in New York, announced that its members would keep their shops closed on Tuesdays. The leaders of the big grain exchanges would not comment on Mr Truman’s demand that grain gambling should cease immediately, but a distiller said that the President’s request for a 60-day shut-down of the distilling industry was a ‘‘bolt from the blue.’- It is expected that the distillers will support Mr Truman's idea, although they say that unemployment would inevitably result. The American Meat Institute, which had earlier maintained that the food crisis could be met without meatless days, has promised to co-operate with Mr Truman’s scheme. One aspect of the plan, however, that will not appeal to Americans, is that Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Days all fall on poultryless Thursdays.