measure, because it is not so well suited to our trade
conditions. Graham flour, for one thing, does not keep so well as
flour of lower extractions, as the fat in the germ may become rancid
in a comparatively short time. Flour in this country is often thirty
days or longer in transit and may be months in warehouses, stores, and
homes. A flour to be satisfactory under extreme conditions here or
for shipment abroad must keep at least six months--too long to be sure
that Graham flour will keep. In small countries like England, where
flour is used up more promptly, a high extraction is more practicable
than in the United States.

Moreover, while Graham and whole-wheat flours with their larger
quantities of mineral salts are a more desirable food for some people
than white flour, they are occasionally irritating to people with weak
digestions, so that it would be unfortunate to have only these flours
on the market.

The Food Administration, therefore, has considered that the most
effective use of our wheat could be obtained by forbidding the
manufacture of fancy flours of low extraction and making all flour
contain at least 74 per cent of the wheat. This still gives a fine
white flour that keeps well and is difficult to distinguish from that
on the market before the war.

To help in the enforcement of its flour rulings, the Food
Administration has licensed all mills and elevators which handle over
100 barrels of flour a day. If the rulings of the Food Administration
are not obeyed the license may be taken away, and the business
closed. The hoarding of flour has been stopped by prohibiting mills,
elevators, and bakers from having more than 30 days' supply on hand.

THE 50-50 RULE. ANOTHER WAY TO CUT THE CONSUMPTION OF WHEAT

NOT ONLY MUST THE MILLER MANUFACTURE FLOUR IN ACCORDANCE WITH
NEW REGULATIONS, BUT THE INDIVIDUAL CONSUMER MUST BUY IT UNDER
RESTRICTIONS. To many people the first realization that war and food
difficulties are necessarily associated, came with the announcement
in the spring of 1918 of the now familiar rules for the purchase of
flour. With every pound of white wheat flour, the purchaser must
buy a pound of some other cereal; with every pound of Graham flour,
three-fifths of a pound of other cereal.

The purpose of this regulation is, of course, to lessen the use of
wheat by increasing the use of the substitutes. The housekeeper who
through lack of initiative or ingenuity fails to feed the family