PROCEEDINGS CORN BELT MEAT PRODUCERS' ASSN. 547 



(d) As a long or short period activity. In the first case the production 

 of the marketable commodity is a matter of many months or years, and 

 in the second the activity is for a limited period only. 



(e) As a growing or finishing activity. In the one case it is the produc- 

 tion of the raw material for the others, and in the latter it is the produc- 

 tion of a commodity ready for consumption and with no other market 

 outlet. 



(f) As an activity in which profit or loss, high or low prices, react 

 quickly to modify volume of production or are only effective over ex- 

 tended periods of time. 



(g) As an activity the product of which fluctuates in volume consider- 

 ably from month to month and season to season and which may be subject 

 to more or less voluntary control. 



. If orderly marketing is the movement of the available supply to market 

 in the manner calculated to bring the highest return, then there must be 

 dependable information as to what the available supply is apt to be; which 

 means that there must be such information as to the amount of production. 

 This information should cover at least the following facts: 



(a) The total numbers, in the country both by states and by regions, the 

 latter based upon conditions of production, kind of animals produced and 

 the market disposition made of them. There is no fixed relation between 

 total numbers and the yearly or seasonable marketings, but such informa- 

 tion does indicate the trend of production in the country as a whole and 

 in important production regions. Especially is such information needed 

 with regard to the great surplus production regions the supply in which 

 largely determines the price situation. 



(b) The relationship between total numbers and marketings and in- 

 spected slaughter (which is surplus supply slaughter largely) should be de- 

 termined, and it is possible that when the former is secured much more 

 dependably than at present, a fairly close relationship may be found to 

 exist. 



(c) The relationship between total numbers in different states and 

 regions and the populations of these and the consumptive habits of the 

 populations should be determined as a basis of determining what states 

 and regions should be considered as surplus producers. 



(d) Wherever the conditions in the industry make it possible to deter- 

 mine fairly accurately the supplies to be marketed during a given period 

 this should be done as a basis for the more orderly movement of those 

 supplies to market. 



Market movement. Over given periods of time of short duration the 

 only way that producers can affect price is in the distribution — the move- 

 ment to market — of their animals. But the amount of control that can be 

 thus exercised is limited by conditions within and without the industry 

 that are susceptible of only limited change. The movement to market at 

 the present time is the result of — 



(a) Regular and customary forces influencing and controlling the supply 

 of animals and the demand for meats. Among the most important of 

 these are the necessities of production and habits of consumption. The 

 former may exist either in the industry itself, in the collateral industry of 



