COST PRICE AND COSTS OF PRODUCTION 181 



heavily from both the producer and the consumer. The organisa- 

 tion known as the American Meat Trust is apparently a striking 

 case in point. 1 This item of capital charges has tended to increase 

 also with the steady rise in the rate of interest from about 3% in 

 1895 to 5% or more in 1913, which has not only affected live-stock 

 farmers, but has also tended to raise to a corresponding extent the 

 profits of the concerns engaged in handling the products. 



There seems to be no likelihood that in the future, with the in- 

 evitable general increase in intensive methods of production and 

 with the continued increase in urban populations often living at a 

 distance from the centres of supply, there will be any halt in the 

 investment of capital in the production and distribution of animal 

 foodstuffs. Unfortunately, also, in this connection the general 

 rate of interest for capital will probably be higher than the 1913 

 level in the near future, owing to the European War and to other 

 causes already in operation before it. 



The cost of animal foodstuffs to the consumer has been incident- 

 ally increased during the last thirty years above what might other- 

 wise have been the current level, owing to several special factors, 

 some of which are rather of a social than of an economic nature. 



Partly owing to the advent of large-scale undertakings, the 

 character of the goods as consumed has shown some change. 

 Animal foodstuffs are now of a higher and more uniform quality 

 as they reach the consumer, than formerty. Whereas prime beef, 

 mutton, bacon, and poultry were not the rule thirty years ago, 

 the reverse now tends to be the case in the great markets of Western 

 Europe and North America. Specialisation and increased atten- 

 tion to details in the breeding and care of animals have resulted 

 in the production, on an extensive scale, of early-matured and 

 well-finished meat from all classes of food animals, including 

 poultry ; so that what were formerly rather luxuries for the rich 

 only have now become to some extent standard products. Simi- 

 larly also uncertainties in the quality and freshness of such perish- 

 ables as butter, milk and eggs have largely disappeared. It is 

 true that from the producer's point of view early maturing animals 

 are more economical feeders, but the quality of the feedstuffs must 

 be of the best, and they cannot so well be left to shift for themselves 

 as ordinary live stock. Moreover, considerable additional capital 

 requires to be invested in breeding-stock, shelter and equipment. 



The regularisation of the supplies of animal foodstuffs from season 

 to season may have resulted in a general levelling up of prices for 

 the consumer. These products are no longer subject to a market 

 glut during the summer, followed by absolute scarcity during the 



' The manufacture and distribution of meat products is an immense 

 business in itself and the indications are that the profits are correspondingly 

 large to everyone concerned between the original producer and the ultimate 

 consumer." U.S. Dept. Agric., Farmers' Bulletin, No. 575 (1914), p. 5. 



It is only fair to add that so far as animal foodstuffs are concerned cases 

 of quasi-monopolist exactions have hitherto been rather exceptional than 

 the rule. 



