520 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



holdings of forty per cent more eggs on September 1st, 1919, than on 

 the same date the previous year, criticism was bitter. We have made 

 a conscientious endeavor to secure the best information possible regarding 

 the storage situation. Dealers on the New York Market and trade papers 

 interested in this product, were unanimous in expressing their belief that 

 a large proportion of the excess supply was the property of foreign 

 merchants who were simply holding the eggs here because of a lack of 

 shipping space and cold storage facilities aboard. These statements 

 appear to be substantiated by the rapid movement from storage which 

 followed the release of a large amount of ocean tonnage for commercial 

 purposes by American and European army transportation authorities. 



The price of butter has also been a source of complaint. Apparently 

 users of butter believe that the farmer is making enormous profits from 

 its sale. Yet, we have thousands of farmers threatening to sell their 

 cows because they find butter unprofitable. Neither statement is true. 

 Dairying is a profitable type of agricultiire, but to make it profitable, 

 skill, hard work and intelligent thought are necessary, and, even then, 

 the profits do not compare with that of the manufacturer of many articles 

 of common usage. Everything which goes into the manufacture of 

 butter is high. Labor is hard to obtain at any price. Equipment costs 

 have increased enormously during the last four years. Europe is con- 

 ducting a campaign to purchase 300,000 dairy cows in this country, and 

 this and other factors have made dairy animals, even poor ones, expensive. 

 The part played by the increased cost of feeding stuffs in high prices, 

 may be illustrated by the following comparison of feed prices in 1919 with 

 those of 1914. 



December, 1914 December, 1919 

 Bran, per ton $24.90 $45.50 



Cottonseed meal, per ton 31.30 80.80 



Corn, per bu. .50 1.20 



Oats, per bu. .41 .64 



Hay, per ton 10.10 17.40 



Labor, with board 30.10 55.65 



Labor, without board 40.50 72.00 



Milk, too, is generally considered too high priced. Compared to a 

 few years ago milk is high at the present time, but instead of complaining 

 about the present prices, the consumer should remember that for many 

 years he has been purchasing milk at far less than the cost of production. 

 Few farmers find the sale of milk profitable even today, as the following 

 table will show the prices he receives per hundred pounds is low. 



