34 AGRICULTURAL PRICES 



had sufficient touch with agricultural conditions so that they un- 

 derstand a little something of the technique of feeding hogs. 



Soon after the report of the commission on cost of producing 

 hogs, the Food Administration announced among other things that 

 it would do its best to pay hog producers, for a hundred pounds 

 of hog flesh, the equivalent of thirteen bushels of the corn which 

 went into these hogs, the ratio system to apply to hogs farrowed 

 in the spring of 1918. It was expected that there would be an 

 urgent need for hog products during 1919, and it has generally 

 been regarded that this announcement of the Food Administration 

 was wise. The thirteen-bushel ratio was 13 per cent over the 

 historic ratio, and encouraged the transforming of a larger amount 

 of corn into hogs than usual. 



When it came to putting the thirteen-bushel ratio into effect, 

 in the fall and winter of 1918-1919, the Food Administration did 

 all in its power to squirm out of living up to its guarantee. First, 

 the effort was made, in the month of September, 1918, to make it 

 appear that the thirteen-bushel ratio was based on a ratio between 

 farm corn prices and Chicago hog prices, in spite of the fact that 

 the pamphlets originally issued by the Food Administration to 

 farmers of the corn belt in November of 1917 explained the ratio 

 on a basis of Chicago corn prices and Chicago hog prices. By 

 using farm corn prices, the Food Administration secured a figure 

 of about $2.50 per hundredweight lower than if the thirteen-bushel 

 ratio had been applied literally as described in the original pam- 

 phlets. The Food Administration, however, claimed that it could 

 not live up to its original guarantee, because the export prices of 

 pork would not justify it. In this respect, it is interesting to note 

 that in August of 1918, just before the Food Administration took 

 up this matter of carrying out its thirteen-bushel guarantee, Great 

 Britain reduced its maximum price on American bacon by about 

 $12 per hundredweight. It is also interesting to note that the 

 British Food Administration was making money on its handling of 

 pork products, altho it was losing money on its wheat. Those 

 American producers who were most familiar with the situation be- 

 lieved that there was a concerted effort by the American and Brit- 

 ish food administrations to buy the large American hog crop, which 

 had been secured by the thirteen-bushel guarantee, as cheaply as 

 possible, avoiding its guarantee with such chicanery and deceit as 

 an experienced business man knows how to use in case of emer- 

 gency. 



The committee of some fifteen men, supposedly representing 

 the American hog producers, which met with the United States 



