376 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



Here is work for price commissioners well trained in agricul- 

 tural economics, who will ascertain the true cause of price 

 changes, make a study of the conditions of production, and advise 

 the farmers in making readjustments in their farm management 

 or in standing by their old lines of production as the case may 

 warrant. In this work the price commissioner should not forget 

 that the well-being of the farmer is just as important as that of 

 the consumer, and that in the long run prices should be such as 

 will make farm work and country life attractive. 



In carrying out this policy, price lifting may at times prove 

 desirable. This is most likely to happen in case of articles like 

 milk for which the price is more or less influenced by custom and 

 which is often sold at the same price for long periods and which 

 for this reason does not adjust itself quickly enough in times of 

 radical changes in the general price level ; but wherever isolated 

 farmers in great numbers are acting individually in selling their 

 produce to great corporations, need may often arise for price 

 regulation by public authority to maintain the public interest. 



In deciding upon prices both the farmer and the price com- 

 missioner should keep the long-time as well as the immediate 

 effect in mind. It takes decades to build up the dairy industry 

 in a community. Equipments require time for construction. 

 Years are required to build up good herds, and decades are re- 

 quired to train a whole community in the fine art of producing 

 high-class milk. When such a community is diverted from 

 dairying to another line of production, the farmers suffer a great 

 loss while making the change and while adjusting themselves to 

 new lines of production, after which they may again prosper. 

 But if the farmers are needed to produce the supply of milk 

 essential to the welfare of the people of the city, the loss of skilled 

 dairymen will result in a heavy loss to the consumers, who will 

 have to pay higher prices for milk, and probably find it neces- 

 sary to lower their standards with respect to quality in order to 

 get the necessary supply. 



Hence it is the long-time averages which must be considered. 

 The records of one year may indicate that the profits would have 

 been greater had the farmer been in another line of production, 



