PART VI 



State Food and Dairy Commissioner's Report 

 for Year 1920 



W. B. BARNEY, Commissioner. 



Economic readjustment has been the chief problem of the past year. 

 Disturbed and abnormal conditions, the heritage of every great war, mean 

 a trying period of reconstruction for every nation involved — a period of 

 economic warfare between conflicting interests during which many suffer 

 and few are benefited. Following every great crisis comes a period of 

 high prices and great business activity during which extravagance is the 

 rule of the hour and a false feeling of prosperity, induced by the circula- 

 tion of tremendous amounts of deflated money, gives the wage earner in 

 particular, a feeling of financial security which history does not show to be 

 justified. This in turn is followed by a true period of readjustment, when, 

 because of the inability of the great mass of consumers to pay the prices 

 established by inflation, prices again seek their normal level. This has 

 been the history of the past two years. The last year covered by a report 

 of this department, i. e., the year ending November 1, 1919, was a period 

 of extravagance and high prices; the past year, especially the last few 

 months, have seen the beginning of the decline. Prices are still high, of 

 course, but indications tend to show that in most cases a steady reduc- 

 tion will take place. This period of price readjustment will be a most 

 difficult one, for neither the manufacturer, the producer of raw materials, 

 nor the laborer can be expected to be content to return to old low levels. 

 However trying it may be, there appears to be no reason why the country 

 should not pass through this period without serious difficulty. 



The same conditions which made 1919 particularly diflacult for this 

 department have continued this year. Not only have high prices of com- 

 modities resulted in a large number of complaints of illegalities being 

 made which required the attention of the inspection force but the be- 

 ginning of the break in prices made it even more difficult because of the 

 feeling, particularly on the part of housewives, that individual merchants 

 were not reducing prices as rapidly as they believed justifiable. These com- 

 plaints had to be traced and reported upon even when they fell without 

 our jurisdiction for, coupled with them, in most cases, were charges that 

 violations of other laws enforced by this department were being made. 

 This placed a considerable burden upon department inspectors, for it was 

 necessary to attend to these complaints in addition to caring for the 

 already heavy routine work. 



Despite the rapidly increasing work of the department, enforcing the 

 fourteen laws assigned to it, there has been no increase in its personnel. 

 While it will soon be imperative to increase the size of the force, at the 



