The Fort Dodge Messenger: Aug. 9, 1904

Price of Flour Soars Upward

Jumped Twenty Cents on the Sack Monday and Will Go Higher

It May Reach Two Dollars

Damage to Wheat Reported to be the Cause of the Raise — Rust in North Wheat District Said to be Serious — New Bug in Minnesota

Two dollars a sack (about $50 today), that is what flour may be within the next few days, according to the judgment of Andrew Hower, the Fort Dodge authority on flour. On Monday this commodity made two jumps of ten cents ($2.52) each and is now selling at $1.70 ($42.77) per sack, with no relief in sight for the immediate future and a continued upward tendency at the present.

Wheat Damaged in Northwest

“Wheat is reported to be badly damaged in the northwest by rust,” said Mr. Hower, to a Messenger representative this morning. “This is responsible for the present advance. the price at the mills has raised fifty cents ($12.58) on the barrel the past week, and the advance will undoubtedly continue. Flour that was welling yesterday morning at $1.50 ($37.74) per sack is now retailing at $1.70 and is likely in my judgment to go on up till it reaches a price right around two dollars. Wheat, I believe, will be forced up to at least $1.10 ($27.68) per bushel, before the new crop comes on and the uneasiness is over, and flour is bound to soar in sympathy.

New Bug Damages Wheat

T.H. Hoffman, the partner of Mr. Hower in the wholesale flour business, has just returned from a trip into the wheat growing districts of southern Minnesota, and he reports the crop in the territory covering a number of counties in the best of the wheat territory has been attacked by a new bug, and is threatened with very serious damage. The oldest residents of the country infested have never seen anything like the insect that is causing the trouble. The bug operates by getting into the stem of the grain and taking the substance out of it. The outlook in this district according to Mr. Hoffman, is said to be serious.

The Grocers Optomistic (sic)

The grocers of the city who have been seen seem to think the matter is not so serious as the (millers) would make believe, and they think the scare will blow over in a short time. R.A. Schroeder, of the Right Place, said this morning: “I really believe the reports as to the damage to the wheat crop of the northwest have been exagerated (sic) and that there is not so much occasion for worry with regard to the matter as has been made out. I think when the harvest comes, there will be plenty of good wheat. There is generally a little flurry in wheat about this time of year, and I believe that present excitement is caused to a great extent by the men who would dispose of the old wheat they are holding at a good margin and they are taking advantage of the exagerated (sic) stories of damage to the new crop to boost the price of the old wheat on hand.”

(Editor’s note: No where in this article does it explain what amount of flour is being sold to the consumer. I imagine it is a large amount, like a 25-pound or 50-pound bag, rather than the 5-pound or 10-pound bag that we are familiar with today.)

Tags: 1904, Hoffman, Hower, Schroeder