FARMERS TO THE FRONT 63 



It is, of course, obvious to all that the price of 

 farm products bears little or no relation to the cost 

 of producing them. Wheat may range in price 

 from $0.50 to $1.00 a bushel, and yet it costs the 

 farmers as much to raise it in years of low as in 

 years of high prices. Fifty-cent wheat may even 

 cost more to produce than dollar wheat. For the 

 lower price indicates an abundant crop, and this 

 means that the demand for labor is great, and that 

 consequently wages of farm laborers are high; but 

 the point is that there is no fixed and established 

 relation between the cost of production and price. 

 Surely there should be. The consumption of farm 

 products is reasonably uniform from year to year, 

 and there is not often any great decline in consump- 

 tion that would account for low prices. There is 

 little or no fluctuation in demand, no real surplus, 

 and the cost of production is a fairly constant 

 quantity. Yet prices have a wide range. 



Of course, it will be said that they are regulated 

 by supply and demand — and how often have we 

 heard that phrase; it is used very glibly by many 

 men who have no knowledge whatever of its mean- 

 ing. Let us try and find out what it does mean. 

 Demand and supply are really the same thing — or 

 at least they are the two faces of the same fact. 

 Money in the hands of the man wanting wheat is 

 supply, while wheat is what he demands. The 

 farmer, on the other hand, demands money and sup- 

 plies wheat. This would be clear if there were no 



