Herbert Hoover to Joseph P. Tumulty
Title
Herbert Hoover to Joseph P. Tumulty
Creator
Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964
Identifier
WWP19184
Date
1917 September 12
Description
Herbert Hoover writes to Joseph Tumulty about the price of wheat and flour and the unrest it is causing farmers.
Source
Hoover-Wilson Correspondence, Hoover Institution, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford, California
Publisher
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum
Subject
United States Food Administration
Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964--Correspondence
Language
English
Text
Mr. Tumulty
Please find enclosed herewith a telegram from one of uour people, which explains itself.
Various Northwestern Congressmen have called upon me and I explained to them theat the prices laid down by the Committee could not be altered, but apparently the farmers have been advised that the matter is still under consideration. It vis therefore most desirable that the President should send some word, settling this one way, or another.
A further situation arises because of mass meetings being held by the North Dakota farmers,- apparently with a good deal of anti-war sentiment,- demanding that they should have a higher price for their wheat, and something of the same kind is being done in Oklahoma. The net result of these activities is that the farmers over the country are getting the idea that if they hold out long enough they can get more money, and the arrivals of wheat in the market are very low.
The whole question is whether or not the consumer is to pay another $5.00 or $6.00 per barrel for flour in order to please a lot of malcontents, and if they are to pay this higher price, the problem will arise at once whether we can maintain tranquillity in the large industrial centers during the winter.
Even with the reduction effected by the Food Administration plan, the price of flour is 125 percent over normal. The Commission that fixed the prices, as you know, was in itself a majority of the farmers.
Under the circumstances, it seems to me that it is necessary for the President to send some word to the Oregon and Washington delegates that no change will be made, and after the President returns, I need badly to have a discussion over the entire situation.
Yours faithfully,
[Hoover]
Please find enclosed herewith a telegram from one of uour people, which explains itself.
Various Northwestern Congressmen have called upon me and I explained to them theat the prices laid down by the Committee could not be altered, but apparently the farmers have been advised that the matter is still under consideration. It vis therefore most desirable that the President should send some word, settling this one way, or another.
A further situation arises because of mass meetings being held by the North Dakota farmers,- apparently with a good deal of anti-war sentiment,- demanding that they should have a higher price for their wheat, and something of the same kind is being done in Oklahoma. The net result of these activities is that the farmers over the country are getting the idea that if they hold out long enough they can get more money, and the arrivals of wheat in the market are very low.
The whole question is whether or not the consumer is to pay another $5.00 or $6.00 per barrel for flour in order to please a lot of malcontents, and if they are to pay this higher price, the problem will arise at once whether we can maintain tranquillity in the large industrial centers during the winter.
Even with the reduction effected by the Food Administration plan, the price of flour is 125 percent over normal. The Commission that fixed the prices, as you know, was in itself a majority of the farmers.
Under the circumstances, it seems to me that it is necessary for the President to send some word to the Oregon and Washington delegates that no change will be made, and after the President returns, I need badly to have a discussion over the entire situation.
Yours faithfully,
[Hoover]
Original Format
Letter
To
Tumulty, Joseph P. (Joseph Patrick), 1879-1954
Files
Citation
Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964, “Herbert Hoover to Joseph P. Tumulty,” 1917 September 12, WWP19184, Hoover Institute at Stanford University Collection, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.