218 Cost of MANUFACTURE 
per day, profitable manufacture becomes difficult, the overhead 
expense is out of proportion with the business, the factory can- 
not take advantage of rebates in the purchase of supplies, the 
factory labor is relatively high, because skilled men have to 
do manual labor, and occasional losses due to spoiled goods 
devour the profits of a comparatively large portion of the entire 
output. 
The price of milk fluctuates with season and proximity and 
strength of competing markets. The pre-war fluctuations em- 
braced a range of from $1.00 to $2.00 per one hundred pounds of 
fluid milk, or twenty-five to fifty cents per pound of butter fat. 
Maximum war prices and post-war prices up to and including 
January 1, 1920, reached the figure of $4.17 per 100 pounds of 
milk. 
Cane sugar varies in price largely with the season and with 
the success or failure of the sugar cane crop. Sugar prices 
usually reach their climax in fall and their minimum price in 
late winter or early spring. Pre-war variations usually fell 
within the limits of $4.00 and $6.50 per one hundred pounds of 
sugar. Since the war and up to January 1, 1920, the price of 
sugar has risen to 17 cents per pound. 
Tin cans vary in price with style of can and whether made 
in the condensery or bought from a can-making concern. Some 
factories are paying more or less heavy royalties for the priv- 
ilege of using certain patents of cans. Cans intended to be 
sealed without the use of solder, but which are guaranteed to 
make a hermetical seal, are generally higher in price than those 
in the sealing of which solder is used. This difference in price, 
however, is offset, in part at least, by the cost of the solder 
and gasoline. Cans purchased from can-making concerns usually 
are more expensive than cans manufactured in the condensery. 
This holds true only where the tin-shop of the condensery is 
properly equipped and efficiently manned. In normal times 
the cost of cans bought from can-making concerns is about 45 
cents per case of 14 ounce cans and 55 cents per case of tall 
size cans, varying somewhat with size and style of can; when 
made in the condensery the price may be lowered from 10 to 
20 per cent. January 1, 1920, prices for cans were about 88 cents 
