RELATED TOPICS 275 



various devices, but when an attempt is made to control 

 the other elements, the reverse is probably nearer the 

 actual facts. We should therefore be cautious in accept- 

 ing such a simple view of the problem. 



The efficacy of the policy rests on two assumptions: 



1. Can the public authority determine what shall 



be a " reasonable " price? 



2. Can the administration of the Act be enforced 



rigidly enough to make evasion impossible? 



In many industries which have reached the monopoly 

 stage these two assumptions are both realised* Thus, in 

 fixing railway rates, the policy is efficacious. Again, in 

 the coal industry or other mining industries, there is 

 no reason to see why such a system should not be 

 effective, if monopoly conditions are in evidence. We 

 must therefore arrive at the conclusion that the public 

 control of prices under certain conditions is possible. 



The attempt at price fixation by the Government 

 during the last quarter of 1914 in the wheat industry 

 was of a nature very different from the problems dis- 

 cussed above. Monopoly conditions were not prevalent 

 in that industry, and a "corner" in wheat or flour was 

 scarcely possible, since our millers are divided into two 

 hostile camps. The fundamental object of the Govern- 

 ment's action was to protect the consumer at a time 

 when the high prices consequent on an anticipated 

 scarcity were being aggravated by the general appre- 

 hension which was felt during the initial stages of the 

 War. How far such action attained its object is at 

 once obvious. Had the Government been able to main- 

 tain the first price fixed (4s. 9d. per bushel), the 

 consumer could not have grumbled at the unreasonable- 

 ness of the price. But at the very time the price was 

 fixed, wheat was being sold at 5s. 3d. per bushel, and 

 in the period during which prices were fixed, as we shall 

 see, the law was being evaded. The rise of the maximum 



