PRICES AND QUALITY OF CREAMERY BUTTER. 



11 



Table 3.— A comparison of prices at which different grades of butter and butter 

 substitutes were sold in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Paul, and 

 Minneapolis. 



[Prices are expressed in margins of differences between highest New York quotations for Extras and the 

 prices actually paid by retailers and consumers.] 





New York. 



Philadelphia. 



Kinder grade. 



Number 

 of lots 

 in- 

 spected. 



Average price 



paid above or 



below New York 



Extras. 



Average 

 margins 



profit.' 



Number 

 of lots 

 in- 

 spected. 



Average price 



paid above or 



below New York 



Extras. 



Average 

 margin 





By re- 

 tailer. 



By con- 

 sumer. 



By re- 

 tailer. 



By con- 

 sumer. 



profit .1 



Extras 



54 

 80 

 28 

 23 

 8 



Cents. 

 3.8 

 2.6 

 1.0 

 15.4 

 2.9 



Cents. 

 9.1 

 6.6 

 3.9 

 21.9 

 6.9 



Cents. 

 5.2 

 4.3 

 3.8 

 6.5 

 4.6 



35 

 35 

 24 

 34 

 9 



Cents. 

 5.4 

 3.7 

 .4 

 14.2 

 3.8 



Cents. 

 11.2 

 8.8 

 2.3 

 23.6 

 9.3 



Cents. 

 6.6 



Firsts 



6.1 



Seconds 



5.0 



Special brands 



6.9 



Unclassed 



7.1 







Totalsi 



193 



3.6 



8.0 



4.7 



137 



7.2 



11.9 



6.0 







Process 



5 

 12 



— 4.4 

 —12.6 



.5 

 -6.7 



4.7 

 5.8 











Oleomargarine 



4 



—11.5 



— 6.9 



6.1 









Chicago. 



Minneapolis and St. Paul. 



Extras 



14 

 159 

 107 



24 



1.1 

 .3 



— .5 



— .3 



3.0 

 3.9 

 1.9 

 3.3 



4.5 

 3.5 

 3.3 

 3.4 



37 



219 



70 



39 



1.3 



— .8 



— 3.2 



— 1.7 



6.4 . 

 4.5 

 1.6 

 4.4 



5.4 



Firsts 



4.8 



Seconds 



4.5 



Unclassed 



5.4 







Totals I 



213 



-1- .05 



3.0 



3.9 



365 



— 1.14 



4.12 



4.86 







Process 



4 

 56 



- 7.1 

 —12.8 







2 

 26 



— 6.9 

 —14.4 



— 1.9 



— 8.9 



5.0 



Oleomargarine 







5.2 











1 Since both cost and selling prices were not obtained on some lots of butter the averages of prices and 

 margins of profit do not always check. 



Table 3 may not represent accurately the general differences in 

 values of different grades of butter at all seasons of the year, because 

 market demands and prices for different grades usually vary in 

 accordance with changing conditions of the market supply. It is a 

 noteworthy fact, however, as has been stated (p. 9), that the present 

 published market quotations are not based on the sales records of a 

 large number of representative lots of different grades of butter and 

 that the open sales on exchange constitute a very small part of the 

 total wholesale transactions, and that the prices applying to the bulk 

 of the daily market transactions are based rather upon these published 

 quotations. 



RETAIL PRICE LEVELS. 



DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CITIES. DUE TO SPECIAL CONDITIONS. 



A general correspondence of wholesale butter prices in the large 

 distributing centers of the United States is shown in figure 2. Tables 

 1 and 2 show that the published wholesale quotations upon which the 

 price curves in figure 2 are based may not present an accurate com- 



