PRICES OF FARM PRODUCTS. 



11 



that can not be afforded in the usual amount, so that the meat and 

 milk prices are at such times subj ect to attack, while in fact they are 

 relatively low. 



Table VI. — Wages and wholesale -prices. 



Year-. 



Civil War, 1856- 

 1860=100.1 



Year. 



World War, 1910- 

 1914=100. 2 



Wholesale 

 prices, all 



com- 

 modities. 



Wages. 



Wholesale 

 prices, all 



com- 

 modities. 



Wages. 



I860. 



95 

 95 

 112 

 141 

 181 

 205 

 181 

 163 

 152 

 145 

 135 

 129 

 132 

 130 

 126 

 121 

 112 

 105 

 96 



101 

 102 

 104 

 111 

 126 

 144 

 153 

 159 

 160 

 163 

 163 

 165 

 167 

 168 

 163 

 160 

 154 

 146 

 144 



1914 



102 

 102 

 126 

 178 

 200 

 219 

 250 



105 

 106 

 114 

 131 

 166 

 189 

 240 



1S61. 



1915 



1862. . 



1916 



1863 . 



1917 



1864. 



1918 



1S65. 



1919 



1866 



1920 



1867 





1868 



1869 



1870 



1871 



1872 



1873 



1874 



1875 



1876 



1877 



1878 





1 Wholesale prices, wages, and transportation. Eeport bv Mr. Aldrich, from the Com- 

 mittee on Finance Mar. 3, 1893. Senate Report No. 1394, Fifty-second Congress, second 

 session, Part I, pp. 13 and 91. 



2 Monthly Labor Review, Vol. XII, No. 2, pp. 73-74, February, 1921. 



When the five-year average prices before the war are called 100, the 

 general price level in 1917, as indicated by the index number for 

 wholesale prices, was 178. The weighted average price of 31 farm 

 products was 179. Wages lagged behind prices and stood at 131. 

 The index number of the farm price of corn was 218; wheat, 227; rye, 

 216; buckwheat, 210; beans, 324; cabbage, 220; onions, 236; potatoes, 

 274. All these were very high. But the index number of butter was 

 only 141; eggs, 160; chickens, 146; beef cattle, 157; hogs, 188. All 

 these except hogs were very low in price and hogs were low in com- 

 parison with corn. Hogs had just passed through a period of low 

 prices and consequently were short in supply. 



These striking differences in prices were largely owing to shifts made 

 in food habits because wages had not risen as rapidly as the general 

 price level. The short crop in 1916 made the situation worse. 



The same process occurred during the Civil War. The animal 

 units per 100 persons decreased from 89 in 1860 to 67 in 1870. (See 

 Table VII.) During the World War wages rose more promptly than 

 they did during the Civil War period. The number of animals has 

 nearly kept up with population. From 1910 to 1920 the animal units 

 per 100 persons decreased from 69 to 65. 



When the general price level falls wages again lag behind and there 

 is an increased demand for animal foods provided there is not too 



