COLD STORAGE AND FOOD SPECULATION 55 



do the price of securities on the New York Stock 

 Exchange. These prices are flashed all over the 

 country and establish the prices even in the small 

 town or summer resort. 



An investigation of egg speculation in Chicago 

 showed that one dealer and his associates held 43,- 

 200,000 eggs in storage at the end of 1916. He 

 made no secret of the fact that he was holding 

 them for 50 cents a dozen, which meant that they 

 would sell at 55 cents retail. He even threatened 

 to sue the aldermen and club women of Chicago for 

 conspiracy when they threatened to fight his mo- 

 nopoly. These same eggs were acquired at 19| to 

 20 cents a dozen in November and delivered in 

 Chicago and elsewhere the following April and May. 

 During this period eggs had reached a very high 

 price. The egg speculators claimed that it was due 

 to scarcity. Yet their own figures showed that there 

 were 3,686,533 cases in 1915 and 2,794,295 cases in 

 1916 in Chicago and other centres. Despite these 

 hoardings the price of eggs advanced approximately 

 100 per cent, since they were bought for April de- 

 livery. One of the egg operators is said to have 

 made a million dollars profits in a single year and 

 retired from business. While speculation doubled 

 the price of eggs, the cost of storage for ten months 

 is only about 2 cents. Allowing .5 cents for the 

 retailer, the price of eggs during the winter months 

 ought not to exceed 30 cents a dozen at the outside. 



