17 OCTOBER 1925, Page 3

We wrote last week expressing satisfaction at the Food Council's

attitude and its results upon the price of bread. The master bakers have earned little sympathy, and a silly bombastic circular which they issued gained for them no more. But we need not hastily refuse to believe that they were unwilling to let the public benefit by a reduction in the price of flour. No one can prove that prices came down only when the Council knew that the price of flour had fallen, and only because the Council knew it. We repeat our warning that there should be no action or speech which would encourage any bullying spirit among customers who do not know the difficulties and costs of delivering their bread. As maximum 'prices enforced by orders during the War for rabbits and othre articles led sometimes to the disappearance of those articles from the market, so there is always the danger that bakers might become exasperated and " strike " or say that they cannot produce bread at a price fixed by ill-informed public opinion. So far, however, we believe that the Council has acted rightly.

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