THE IMPACT OF WAR 97 



the normal flow of beef from the Argentine to Europe began again, few 

 seemed to consider. 21 



The dairy industry was in general less disturbed by the war than other 

 major farm activities in the western Middle West. The first serious impact 

 of war upon dairy farmers came during the years 1915 and 1916, when 

 the price of milk failed to rise along with those of other commodities. 

 Since the cost of producing milk had risen with the higher prices that 

 had to be paid for feed and labor, the dairy farmers soon found them- 

 selves well along the road to bankruptcy. For this situation they blamed 

 the distributors of milk, especially those in such metropolitan areas as 

 Chicago and Des Moines, whom the farmers accused of setting prices 

 regardless of the effect on the producers. Made desperate by this situation, 

 some dairy farmers sold their cows and got out of business, but others 

 made use of existing milk-producers' associations to force a rise in the 

 price of milk. A climax was reached late in October, 1917, when the Milk 

 Producers' Association, an organization of about 16,000 dairy farmers, 

 threatened to stop the shipment of milk into the Chicago market unless 

 the demand of the producers for $3.42 per hundred pounds was met. At 

 this point the state food administrator decided to intervene by appointing 

 an arbitration commission whose job it was to name the price to be paid 

 the producer. This price was to be based on the cost of production plus 

 a reasonable profit to the producer and the cost of distribution plus a rea- 

 sonable profit to the distributor. Pending an investigation the producer 

 was to accept $3.22 per hundred and the distributor was to retail it at 12 

 cents a quart. An agreement relative to price was reached only after a mass 

 of data had been compiled on feed and labor costs. The prices per hun- 

 dredweight first agreed upon to be paid the dairy farmers in 1918 were: 

 February, $3.07; March, $2.83; April, $2.49; May, $2.04; June, $1.80. After 

 further discussions the price to be paid for milk in March was raised 

 from $2.83 to $3.10 per hundred, and the prices to be paid during the 

 following months were to be based on figures published by the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. 22 



21. Genung, in Farmers in a Changing World, p. 287. 



22. Hibbard, Effects of the Great War upon Agriculture, pp. 136-45; Wallaces' 

 Farmer, XLI (April 21, 1916), p. 633; XLII (August 10, 1917), p. 1104; (October 

 12, 1917), p. 1376; XLIII (May 24, 1918), p. 848; (August 2, 1918), p. 1104; XLIV 



