412 TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V 



little longer, the thing that has made the farmers most unhappy in con- 

 nection with prices that they have had to pay have been the prices that 

 they have had to pay on those same things which they buy at retail and 

 which previously they had themselves sold at wholesale. Some very 

 interesting data on that subject have been collected by our Bureau of 

 Labor in Washington. A few weeks ago it ran something like this: 

 The farmers then were receiving 16 per cent more for their hogs than 

 they received in 1913, but they were paying 97 per cent more for ham at 

 retail, or 81 per cent more for pork chops; and at that same time the 

 farmers were receiving 9 per cent less for their beef cattle (this was last 

 August), but they were paying 57 per cent to 60 per cent more for their 

 sirloin or round steak. Another comparison: they were getting 24 per 

 cent less for their hides — green salt hides— than they got in 1913, but 

 the wholesale price of shoes was 125 per cent above what it was in 1913. 

 Wages in the packing plants were 86 per cent above, and in the shoe 

 factories and woolen mills 100 per cent above, and the freight rates were 

 110 per cent above what they were in 1913, and the Bureau of Railroad 

 Economics informs us that the railroad labor was receiving 126 per cent 

 above what it got in 1913. 



Some very interesting comparisons are being made. Dr. H. C. Taylor, 

 chief of the Bureau of Markets in Washington, is bringing out some figures 

 that it is worth while to study. He has shown that in normal times the 

 wholesale price of ham in Chicago is practically twice the price of live 

 hogs. 'That is to say, if live hogs were bringing 10c, ham at wholesale 

 would bring practically 20c a pound. Retail prices of ham throughout 

 the United States normally are about three and one-half times the price 

 of live hogs on the Chicago market. But what is the situation today, or 

 a few days ago? Figures which I am going to give you relate to last 

 November. Wholesale prices of ham in Chicago, instead of being twice 

 the price of live hogs, were three and one-fifth times the price of the live 

 hogs; and the retail prices of ham throughout the country, instead of 

 averaging three and one-half times the price of live hogs, averaged six 

 and one-half times the price of live hogs. Those figures speak volumes! 

 And they bring me to one of the most important statements that I intend 

 to make this afternoon, namely, that one of the best remedies that can 

 be applied to this situation which I have been describing, i. e., high prices 

 of articles that the farmers have to buy as compared with what they sell 

 — an unduly wide margin between what the farmers receive and con- 

 sumers pay — one of the best remedies in my judgment for that situation 

 is plain, pitiless publicity. 



Taxes should come down decidedly. In the little city where I live we 

 are paying 236 mills, and under present conditions it is a tremendously 

 heavy burden, and I believe that steps should be taken to reduce taxes 

 wherever that is possible. But I won't say that I think taxes should be 

 reduced after some one person has delivered an eloquent address on the 

 subject, or after the subject has been briefly debated in a debating 

 society. I think that the subject should be left to the clearest thinking 

 people in the community, and they should very carefully consider what 

 they are getting for their taxes, and what they can best afford to get 

 along without, and then cut off these latter taxes. 



