CHAPTEB V 



THE HIGH COST OF LIVING AND THE 

 FARMER 



The subject of the high cost of living was up- 

 permost in the minds of every one during the 

 year 1919. The efforts to find a remedy for 

 the high cost of living disease were directed 

 mainly at the reduction of prices of foodstuffs. 

 Most of these efforts resulted merely in the 

 depression of the market for the products of 

 the farmer and the live stock producer, while at 

 the same time there was an increase in the cost 

 of lining for city consumers. Or in other words, 

 the spread between the producer and the con- 

 sumer was increased at the very time when it 

 should have been decreased. The economic law 

 appeared to work backwards. And while the 

 market grew worse for the producer, prices 

 went higher for consumers. 



The public generally assumed that the farmer 

 as a producer was not affected by the increases 

 m prices of necessities. But this was a mis- 

 take. As soon as the control of the Food Ad- 



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