2 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to conditions now existing. There has been some increase in prices 

 of farm products, but there has not been much improvement in the 

 general relationship between the prices of the things the farmer pro- 

 duces and of the things he buys. 



Harvest time last year found most agricultural products selling 

 at bankruptcy levels. During the early spring of this year the 

 farmer's condition was improved by substantial increases in the 

 prices of many farm products, although this improvement did not 

 inure to the benefit of the farmer as much as it should, since the 

 major portion of his products had passed out of his own hands. Of 

 the 12 representative farm products — cotton, corn, w^ieat, hay, pota- 

 toes, beef cattle, hogs, eggs, butter, tobacco, sheep, and wool— 7, cot- 

 ton, corn, cattle, hogs, tobacco, sheep, and wool, show advances in 

 prices this year as compared with the same month last year. The 

 other 5 were selling in September at prices lower than the prices 

 in September, 1921. If we take all farm products and express prices 

 in terms of index numbers, we find that the index for August, 1922, 

 stood at 123 as compared with 122 for the year 1921. 



The index number varies somewhat with different regions. 

 Eoughly speaking, it is lower from Ohio east, about the same in the 

 Middle Western States, lower in the Northwest, and considerably 

 higher in the Southern States, the latter being due to the very 

 substantial advance in the price of cotton. 



While the prices of many important farm products have advanced 

 considerably over last year, this advance has been accompanied by 

 equally large or larger advances in the price of other commodities. 

 For example, the index of wholesale prices of commodities other 

 than farm products was 176 in August of this year as against 150 

 in August, 1921. For a time last spring farm prices had advanced 

 more relatively than prices of other things. This advance was not 

 fully held, as was to be hoped for. The index of purchasing power 

 at the present time is about what it was in December, 1921, which 

 was at the lowest point since the war. In August and September, 

 1922, a given unit of farm products could be exchanged for only 

 about two-thirds (61 per cent) as much of other commodities as 

 that same unit would have purchased in the year 1913. At the time 

 this report is submitted an encouraging advance in farm prices is 

 being registered and the future looks decidedly more hopeful. 



