CHAPTER VII 



A COMMISSION was appointed by Hon. Herbert C. 

 Hoover, United States Food Administrator, to investi- 

 gate the cost of hog production and to report plans 

 for stimulating that industry. On October 27, 1917, 

 the commission made its final report, covering both its 

 findings of facts and its recommendations. 



After a most thorough investigation, covering nearly 

 seventy years, this commission found that it required, 

 under ordinary farm conditions, at least 12 bushels of 

 No. 2 corn to produce 100 pounds of live hogs that, 

 to secure a fair profit, a farmer must receive for 100 

 pounds of live hogs a price equal to 13.3 bushels of 

 No. 2 corn, based upon the average price of corn dur- 

 ing the twelve months preceding sale ; that to stimulate 

 an increase of 15 per cent, of production, made nec- 

 essary by war conditions, the price of 100 pounds of 

 live hogs should be equal to the price of 14.3 bushels 

 of No. 2 corn; recommending that prices should by 

 the Food Administration be fixed accordingly. The 

 findings of the commission were neither new nor sur- 

 prising to the intelligent farmers or stock- feeders ; the 

 experience of most of these had been that 12 bushels 

 of corn had not, as a rule, been quite enough to pro- 

 duce 100 pounds of live hogs. 



However, this report should be of enormous value 

 in convincing the consuming public that the high cost 



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