32 THE FOOD CRISIS AND AMERICANISM 



cent, of their corn was too soft to be marketed in any 

 other way, the farmers continued to feed hogs ; so the 

 evil effects were not immediately felt, but will be 

 keenly felt when too late to apply a remedy. 



If the Meat Division of the Food Administration 

 had no authority to change the price at that time, by 

 what authority did it expect to change it later? But, 

 as the bulletin further recites : " We shall establish 

 a rigid control of the packers " it seems to be 

 estopped from denying authority. The commission 

 recommended that these prices should be announced 

 as going into effect February i, 1918, for the reason 

 that by so doing it would encourage fall breeding and 

 arrest the alarming slaughter of brood sows. 



The result of the above was, as the commission 

 feared, that farmers continued to rush pigs and brood 

 sows to market. The records of the South Omaha 

 Stock Yards show that more pigs were received dur- 

 ing the month of November than during any previous 

 November in the history of the yards. At the same 

 time, the average weight of hogs received was 260 

 pounds the heaviest average for any November in 

 seven years. These two facts alone (without other 

 evidence, of which there is an abundance) tend to 

 prove that the brood animals were being slaughtered 

 by thousands. Allowing for the light average weight 

 of pigs, the other hogs received must have averaged 

 approximately 300 pounds. 



From Table No. i it will be seen that during the 

 year 1913, prior to the original declaration of war, 

 there was, on a cost basis of 12 bushels of corn 

 to ico pounds of live hogs, a profit of $.95 to the 



