407] BUTTER PRICES 1 83 



ing the time that the quotation committee quoted prices the 

 Board attained the object for which it was organized. The 

 diagram seems to indicate that after 1903 a new influence 

 caused the difference between the two prices to be greater 

 than at any time since 1896. When it is remembered that in 

 1903 the New York Mercantile Exchange created its quo- 



Diagram II. — Variations of Annual Elgin Butter Prices from New 



York Prices. Before Taking Differences $0.0065 was Added 



to Elgin Prices to Allow for Cost of Transportation 



Differ- o h n cirt-"-ivO t~- 00 a\ O « Nf}'<$-ui>Of~-00O\0 , -'Nf) 

 0\&\0\O\O\Os0\O\O\O\0 O OOOOOOOO 1-1 ►< «« w 



ence 

 in mills 



Data on which diagram is based from U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 



Bulletin 149. 



tation committee and that the middlemen desire low prices 

 while the producers want high prices, the hint made in the 

 previous chapter that these quotation committees actually 

 did adjust prices favorably to their constituents seems to be 

 verified by the results charted in the above diagram. 



In order that the charge of the government that the Elgin 

 quotation committee was dominated by centralizers who 

 were buyers rather than sellers of butter in the summer, and 



