MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 113 



tion to this price phenoiiiena. In the early winter both houses of Con- 

 gress, several state governments and nuinv senii-puhlic organizations 

 undertook the study of the upward trend of i)riees. Many other organi- 

 zations — mostly of laboring men — without waiting for help from investi- 

 gation, undertook to apply a remedy through boycotts or other sorts of 

 force. The high level of prices atford a situation which is, we nmy read- 

 ily concede, a proper field for gov^ernmental investigation, even though 

 we doubt the availability of remedies to government — and much more 

 so to the belligerent private organizations — even after the cause of the 

 disorder is discovered. In the meantime, there seems to have been little 

 or no decline in prices, and the ill effects from this situation are so 

 wide spread that any explanatory information seems sure of a cordial 

 reception from the waiting public. 



Mich. Agricultural College, April 1910. 

 15 



