6o8 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



The fresh beef received into storage during the year beginning May, 

 1909, was kept there on the average for 2 . 28 months; the fresh mutton, 

 4 .45 months; the fresh pork, o .88 of one month, and the butter, 4 .43 

 months. The poultry received during the year beginning March, 

 1909, was kept on the average 2 .42 months; the eggs, 5 .91 months. 



It is apparent that long storage is exceptional. The costs of cold 

 storage are running against the prices of the commodities month by 

 month. The owners must use good judgment and take their goods 

 out of storage before the costs of storage, added to the original cost 

 of the goods and some profit, will raise the total amount of cost above 

 the market price. Sometimes the owner of the goods errs in judgment 

 and fails to make a profit; again, he fails to get back the cost of goods 

 and the costs of storage; and yet again he gets back all costs and a 

 large rate of profit. 



If the three costs for space in the warehouse, interest on the 

 value of the goods stored, and insurance upon them are combined, 

 they amount to 0.437 of I cent P er pound of fresh beef per month, 

 or 3 . 5 per cent of the mean wholesale price of beef from September 

 to November, 1910; for fresh mutton the costs are 0.352 of i cent 

 per pound, or 3 . 8 per cent of the mean wholesale price in the heavy 

 storage months, August to October, 1910; for fresh pork, 0.397 of 

 i cent per pound, or 3 .7 per cent of the wholesale price; for dressed 

 poultry, o . 446 of i cent per pound, or 2 . 8 per cent of the wholesale 

 price; for butter, 0.571 of i cent per pound, or 2.4 per cent of 

 the wholesale price; and for eggs, the costs amount to 0.593 of i cent, 

 per dozen, or 3 per cent of the mean wholesale price of eggs. 



It is evident that, as the time of storage lengthens, the costs and 

 their percentage of the wholesale price must be multiplied by the 

 number of months. If the storage is for 6 months, for instance, the 

 cost per pound ranges from 2.112 cents for fresh mutton to 3.426 

 cents for butter, and is 3 . 558 cents per dozen for eggs. The costs for 

 6 months range from 14 .6 per cent of the wholesale price in the case 

 of butter to 23 .o per cent in the case of fresh mutton. 



191. THE LIMIT TO COLD-STORAGE SPECULATION 1 

 BY M. LIPPITT LARKIN 



In the years 1902-5 the profits of the butter dealers attracted 

 the attention of outside capitalists; not that they cared to enter the 

 butter business proper, but that they wanted to reap a part of the 



'Adapted from the Journal of Political Economy, XX (March, 1912), 

 pp. 270-74. 



