18 AGHICULTURAL PRICES 



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But this remedy is "locking the stable after the horse is stolen." 

 Is it practical to build government warehouses to store wheat in 

 years when the acre yield is more than fifteen bushels, and fro" 

 which wheat may be drawn in years when the yield is less than 

 thirteen bushels? 



No scheme of this sort can be definitely laid out in advance. 

 But statistical science will soon reach a point where it should be 

 possible to meet our physical handicaps in the way of drouth, 

 floods and accident, in the spirit of doing what is best for society, 

 instead of utilizing the crisis for individual or class profit. 



If AVC are to continue our present complex society, we must 

 educate our children very thoroly in social mathematics. Our prob- 

 lems are not only problems of the spirit, but also of exact measure- 

 ment. What is the fair price for bacon? This involves the cost- 

 of-production idea. Is bacon relatively lower or higher than hogs ? 

 Are hogs relatively lower or higher than corn? Is there a normal 

 supply in the country? If bacon were lower in price, would the 

 future supply be imperiled? Would an injustice be done to farm- 

 ers ? If bacon were higher in price, would an undue profit accrue 

 to the packers, or would the farmers be stimulated to produce tor* 

 many hogs a year from now ? 



Possibly it will be wise for the government to provide funds to 

 finance a Price Publicity Committee, to be made up of economists 

 appointed by our state universities and agricultural colleges. The 

 duty of this commission would be to make public week by week the 

 relevant price facts. They would point out which products are rel- 

 atively high and which are relatively low, and issue index numbers 

 of various kinds, in an endeavor to educate the public to funda- 

 mental price facts. The object of such a Price Publicity Com- 

 mittee will be to furnish such constant publicity that it will be diffi- 

 cult for any product to sell for any length of time either above or 

 below cost of production. And in saying this we define cost-of- 

 production price as that price which is necessary in the long run 

 to keep enough producers in the business to satisfy the demand. 

 It is believed that adequate publicity will favor the prevailing of 

 the long run cost-of-production price as opposed to the short run 

 supply-and-demand price. 



Men in whom the laborers of the country have faith should 

 have an intimate, statistical knowledge of the supply and de- 

 mand forces as they make prices and as they make for the pros- 

 perity of laborers and society as a whole. Men in whom farmers 

 have faith should have an intimate, statistical knowledge of labor 

 and business problems in order that they may know approximately 



