TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI 519 



nient held they offered only in limited quantities, the keen competition 

 for which carried it to tremendously high prices. Recently the govern- 

 ment sold some of this wool in Boston at $2.75 a pound. 



"I am not criticising government officials. They doubtless felt justified 

 both in returning this fine wool to England and in getting the highest 

 price possible for the wools they have on hand. They are selling these 

 wools at prices far in excess of what they paid and therefore making a 

 profit for the government — which 1 assume they think highly creditable 

 to themselves. 



"But when you put the question, why do our people have to pay such 

 high prices for fine clothing which they insist on having, you must not 

 forget that one of the reasons for it is that the government is holding the 

 wool which it bought at war prices for a profit." 



One danger in conducting investigations of living costs is the likelihood 

 that unfairness will be shown towards the producer of food stuffs — in 

 other words, the farmer. The idea is prevalent in this country that the 

 average farmer has amassed a fortune during the past few years. The 

 relating of exaggerated incidents wherein the farmer has profited, the oft- 

 repeated statement that "the farmer is the only independent man in the 

 world," combined with the high market value of his products, suffice to 

 place him in the profiteering class in popular imagination. I hold no 

 brief for the farmer. I believe that the intelligent, industrious farmer 

 of today is prosperous and that he neither asks nor deserves maudlin 

 sympathy, but I do believe that many of the charges made against him are 

 decidedly unjust. His income is the result of his own intelligent effort and 

 hard work. Where he has acquired wealth, it is mainly due to increased 

 land values, and not to enormous profits derived from the sale of his 

 products. 



If a survey of commodities in common usage was to be made, I have 

 no doubt but that it would be found that in practically every instance the 

 profits of the producer and distributor of food stuffs would show a con- 

 siderably smaller percentage than that received by manufacturers and 

 merchants dealing with other commodities. Nevertheless, consumers 

 who pay large sums for manufactured commodities yielding large profits, 

 protest bitterly against an article of food which, although high priced 

 it is true, is sold on a comparatively small margin of profit. The point 

 is this: Prices of food are high but in general they are high because 

 everything entering into their production, distribution and sale are high 

 and the margin of profits is usually small when compared to manufactured 

 goods. In the latter case, although materials may be high, the correspond- 

 ing costs are usually increased to a far greater extent than is true of 

 food products. 



During the month of December, 1919, the price of eggs soared to an 

 unprecedented figure. Immediately a clamor arose which left no doubt as 

 to the attitude of the housewife toward the producer and distributor of 

 this product. Yet the answer to the question as to why eggs were high is 

 not difficult to find. Hens were not producing eggs at that time and, 

 compared to the demand, fresh eggs simply did exist. The cold storage 

 variety was also high, and since the government storage reports showed 



