Patty Cake, Patty Cake

Last week, Wall Street woke with a start to discover another new industry had invaded its security market. Strength in what facetious financial writers here dubbed the "dough stocks" emphasized the growing importance of the baking industry generally. The stock market has long been familiar with "cracker" companies like National Biscuit and Loose-Wiles; recently, the "bread companies," like United Kakeries, Ward Baking and General Baking, have attracted attention on the "Big Board" and Curb alike.

At present, about 50% of the bread consumed in the U. S. is baked at home in the old-fashioned way. The other 50% constitutes a battleground for competition between about 35,000 bakeries throughout the country--almost all small neighborhood or local establishments. But the idea of mergers and combinations has already entered this field. Yet it has not proceeded far, as only 100 bakeries thus far are controlled by the three largest baking companies, above mentioned.

The efficiency of these chain bakeries and the amount of territory they serve are, however, greater than those of their independent and smaller competitors, owing to their employing fleets of trucks for making rapid deliveries. Large-scale baking also makes possible many economies of operation in labor and material costs. How far mergers in the breadmaking field may go, no one can say. The field is apparently wide open. In another decade we may have a "Bread Trust" for fearless politicians to attack in election years.