12 
BULLETIN 999, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
much unemployment. After the Civil War wages remained high for 
a number of years. The prices of animal foods were somewhat above 
the price level of other farm products for some years and the animals 
were increased. The prices of animal foods did not drop as rapidly 
as the prices of crops in 1920. Some recovery in numbers of animals 
is probable, but the shortage is small compared with the Civil War 
changes, so that no such decided increase is probable. The long-time 
tendency is to keep fewer animals per capita as the population be- 
comes more dense. 
Table VII. — Relation of population to animals. 1 
[Animal units per 100 persons.] 
Country. 
Animal units 
of cattle, 
reindeer, 
sheep, goats, 
hogs. 
Country. 
Animal units 
of cattle, 
reindeer, 
sheep, goats, 
hogs. 
Argentine 
443 
395 ; 
82 
92 
89 
67 
87 
93 ! 
73 i 
69 
65 ! 
Rumania 
France 
38 
37 
33 
1S50 
Germany 
33 
1860 
Russia 
31 
1S70 
British Isles ". 
29 
1380 
Belgium 
29 
1890 
Japan 
23 
1900 
2 
1910 
1920 
1 Data for foreign countries are before the war. 
One head of grown cattle, 2 young cattle, 7 sheep or goats, 14 lambs, 5 hogs, 10 pigs are each called an 
animal unit. 
These data are necessarily only roughly correct, but they are believed to be suffieie.itl y accurate to indi- 
cate correct conclusions. 
The effect of wages is not as great as might be inferred from wage 
rates and wholesale prices. When prices rise rapidly,, wages lag 
behind, but there is full employment, so that the wage earners are 
not in as serious a condition as the wages indicate. When prices 
fall rapidly, wages lag behind and remain high, but there is likely to 
be unemployment, so that the buying power is not as high as the 
wages suggest. 
WHOLESALE PRICES OF FARM PRODUCTS DURING THE CTVIL WAR 
AND WORLD WAR PERIODS. 
Farm prices by months are not available for the Civil War period. 
Wholesale prices in cities are shown in figures 5 to 11, and Tables 
XII to XVI. Usually the wholesale prices lag behind farm prices, 
and usually they do not have such extreme fluctuations as do farm 
prices. 
In all cases the weather has had a very decided influence on grain 
prices. 
