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operations push market prices for corn above the ceiling 

 prices. 



If price-fixing programs are to be tried, they should be 

 accompanied by rationing just as soon as shortages appear 

 on the horizon. One way in which the government could ra- 

 tion corn would be to commandeer the farm stocks and pay 

 the farmers $1.50 per bushel, say, and distribute it to live- 

 stock-producers and industry at, say, $1.00 per bushel. This 

 would prevent the official index numbers of prices, the usual 

 measure of inflation, from rising. If the rationing is not equi- 

 table, protest will immediately arise. Such a rationing pro- 

 gram would require a reduction in certain types of livestock 

 in certain sections of the country. 



Under normal conditions a shortage of feed results in a 

 more rapid liquidation of heavy grain-consumers, hogs and 

 chickens, than of light grain-consumers. The great drought 

 of 1934 reduced the production of corn and oats 45 per cent. 

 The number of hogs declined 35 per cent; chickens, 11 per 

 cent; and dairy cows, 1 per cent. The liquidation was not 

 uniform for types of livestock or for different areas. In the 

 Western Corn Belt, hogs, chickens, and beef cattle declined 

 more than for the rest of the United States. Dairy cattle de- 

 clined less than any other type of livestock, but even in the 

 Western Corn Belt dairy cattle declined more rapidly than 

 in any other area. 



When expansion occurred, the rates were not uniform as 

 to the type of livestock or the area. During recent years the 

 most rapid expansion occurred for heavy grain-consumers in 

 the Western Corn Belt states. From 1938 to 1943 hog num- 

 bers doubled in those states. 



Administrative Liquidation 



If prices were free to fluctuate, feed would be automati- 

 cally rationed so that the most rapid liquidation of livestock 



