Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 241, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1920 — WAR BEGUN ON INDIANAPOLIS FOOD WASTERS [ARTICLE]

WAR BEGUN ON INDIANAPOLIS FOOD WASTERS

Indianapolis, Oct. s.—Government officials today were planning active war against food wholesalers who are alleged to have let car loads of -perishable foods ga to waste on railroad sidetracks here.

Armed with a letter from Fair Price Commissioner Stanley Wyckoff, containing much data, District Attorney Van Nuys was to go before the department of justice today to ask assistance in probing the alleged food waste.. Wyckoff said he wks informed by railroad officials that of 175 carloads of perishable goods brought into the city on one day, 35 cars were permitted to stand on the track for periods ranging from six to twelve days and that their contents became unfit for use. The deterioration, "he’ said, was SB,OOO daily. - The fair price commissioner said Indianapolis wholesalers and jobare responsible primarily, but he did not say whether he considered the waste intentional. At a recent meeting with railroad officials, Wyckoff’s letter said, they considered means of forcing the wholesalers to release the cars. They informed Wyckoff that there was a heavy market in the city for food, such as the cars carried and that the food men here were not only keeping the food off the market but were holding up the cars and preventing new supplies of foodstuffs from reaching the city. Railroad officials wall report daily to Wyckoff’s office supplying a list of refrigerator cars carrying perishables and how long each 'has been on the track without effort being made to unload it