tuffs and
into the costs and practices of the various food producing and
distributing trades; the prevention of all unwarranted hoarding of
every kind, and of the control of foodstuffs by persons who are not
in any legitimate sense producers, dealers or traders; the
requisition, when necessary for public use, of food supplies and of
the equipment necessary for handling them properly; the licensing of
wholesome and legitimate mixtures and milling percentages, and the
prohibition of the unnecessary or wasteful use of foods.

Authority is asked also to establish prices, but not in order to
limit the profits of the farmers, but only to guarantee to them, when
necessary, a minimum price, which will insure them a profit where
they are asked to attempt new crops, and to secure the consumer
against extortion by breaking up corners and attempts at speculation
when they occur, by fixing temporarily a reasonable price at which
middlemen must sell.

THE FIXING OF PRICES

I have asked Mr. Herbert Hoover to undertake this all-important task
of food administration. He has expressed his willingness to do so, on
condition that he is to receive no payment for his services, and that
the whole of the force under him, exclusive of clerical assistance,
shall be employed, as far as possible, upon the same volunteer basis.

He has expressed his confidence that this difficult matter of food
administration can be successfully accomplished through the voluntary
co-operation and direction of legitimate distributers of foodstuffs
and with the help of the women of the country.

Although it is absolutely necessary that unquestionable powers shall
be placed in my hands, in order to insure the success of this
administration of the food-supplies of the country, I am confident
that the exercise of those powers will be necessary only in the few
cases where some small and selfish minority proves unwilling to put
the Nation's interests above personal advantage, and that the whole
country will heartily support Mr. Hoover's efforts by supplying the
necessary volunteer agencies throughout the country for the
intelligent control of food consumption, and securing the
co-operation of the most capable leaders of the very interests most
directly affected, that the exercise of the powers deputed to him
will rest very successfully upon the good-will and co-operation of
the people themselves, and that the ordinary economic machinery of
the country will be lef