AGRICULTURAL PRICES 



plied according to the above ratio, the increase or decrease in the 

 cost of production of milk. The only criticism made to this base 

 or this plan was by a minority of the members of the commission, 

 that the price to the producer during the eight-year period re- 

 ferred to was not satisfactory to them. 



"From the monthly price reports issued by the Department of 

 Agriculture, the farm prices of home-grown grains and hay are 

 obtainable, and from a reliable trade journal published in Mil- 

 waukee the wholesale prices of mill-feeds are obtainable. The 

 average over the eight-year period from these records is as follows : 

 Corn, $1.107 per hundred pounds; mill-feeds, $1.306 per hundred 

 pounds ; hay, 55.7 cents per hundred pounds. 



"It appears fair to the industry that it is entitled to the same 

 proportionate increase in the price of its product as has occurred 

 in the elements which make up the product. From the records of 

 the Department for November, 1917, the beginning of the period 

 under consideration, the following prices prevailed, obtained from 

 the same sources : Corn, $3.089 per hundred pounds ; mill-feeds, 

 $2.3655 per hundred pounds ; hay, 78 cents per hundred pounds. 



"The commission has considered from the evidence and such 

 information as was obtainable that the price of labor in November 

 represents 50 per cent advance over the average for the eight-year 

 period. Using the proportion of feed and labor and prices over 

 the eight-year period, and comparing with November prices from 

 the same source of information and on the same products, we find 

 the following: ratio of increase: 



100 



177 



"The average price of milk per one hundred (100) pounds for 

 the month of November, from 1908 to 1915, inclusive, was $1.768. 

 Applying the new index ratio of 1.77, the November, 1917, price 

 would be, therefore, $3.13. In the same manner, the price for any 

 month may be determined by taking the average price over the 

 eight-year period for that month and multiplying it by the index 



