34 OUTLINES OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



in the present-day market? Can you cite any case in which they 

 appear to have set up an ill-advised standard for consumers ? 



28. In what other ways does the government step in and alter 

 the character of public demand? What would be the effect of an 

 embargo upon the export of agricultural products ? 



29. Show how public opinion may become a powerful factor in 

 demand. 



30. By "supply" do you mean the total amount of goods in 

 existence v. stock? What other factors may enter into the supply 

 idea? 



31. Is the supply of agricultural commodities limited absolutely 

 or only relatively ? 



32. May the supply of an article which over a period of years is 

 only relatively limited be absolutely limited in a certain city at a 

 certain time? 



^. Suppose that there is a very large quantity of peaches in the 

 Chicago market upon a given day; does the whole of this amount 

 exert an influence upon the determination of prices then and there ? 



34. Suppose that there is an equivalent abundance of wheat in 

 Chicago; does it have an equally immediate and intense effect upon 

 wheat prices ? Explain both cases fully. 



35. Do weather conditions represent absolute factors in the supply 

 of agricultural products? Can the reduction of supplies due to 

 unfavorable weather conditions be partially offset by additional out- 

 lays of labor and capital upon the crop ? 



36. Show how costs of production determine the relative limita- 

 tion of agricultural supplies. 



37. Try to find illustrations of farm products which are examples 

 of constant cost-goods; of diminishing cost-goods; of increasing cost- 

 goods. 



38. Which of these classes is easiest to illustrate from agricultural 

 experience ? Which is easiest to illustrate from industrial experience ? 

 Is there any reason to suppose that a change in agricultural organi- 

 zation would alter these conditions ? Relate all these answers to the 

 principle of diminishing returns. 



39. Is there such a thing as an oversupply of farm products 

 (a) from the standpoint of the consumer ? (b) from the standpoint of 

 the farmer? 



40. How did it happen that farmers supplied grain and cattle at 

 such low figures as existed in the late eighties and early nineties? 

 Can you cite any region or line of production in which they are doing 

 the same thing now ? For the same reason ? 



41. Does the mere fact that the per capita production of food 

 products is as large today as it was at sometime in the past indicate 



