36 THE AGRICULTURAL BLOC 



applied to producers as to create more and more 

 unrest. We are now able to view the price rela- 

 tions from a disinterested standpoint and while 

 there was a great increase in agricultural pros- 

 perity in terms of actual dollars received for 

 the crop, this must be considered in relation to 

 the necessary expense of production. The index 

 of the price of farm products in 1918 was 111 

 per cent above that of 1915 while the cost 

 of the bulk of things purchased by farmers had 

 increased about 200 per cent. The wholesale 

 prices of all commodities had been constantly 

 above the price of farm products from 1915 to 

 1917. For a short time in late 1917 and the 

 early months of 1918, farm prices ran higher 

 than wholesale prices. Then again, wholesale 

 prices advanced and have since been constantly 

 above farm prices. 



This charge of profiteering by farmers, com- 

 ing at a time when they had strained every 

 nerve to keep production on the increase, was 

 a most bitter experience because of its unfair- 

 ness and particularly because the popular press 

 seemed to lack all appreciation of what a factor 

 food production had been in winning the war. 

 The increase in land prices which came later 

 was seized upon as another opportunity to show 



