GEOGRAPHY OF WHEAT PRICES. 6 
In assembling the material herein, a threefold plan has been 
pursued : 
First, a tabular presentation of the price averages, by counties 
(Appendix, p. 34) is supplemented by maps and graphs, to show 
geographic price zones and related factors. 
Second, the most suggestive bearings of the indicated price 
differences are outlined. In an empirical method of treatment 
only is this phase attempted, for price factors are complex, fre- 
quently interdependent, and are not susceptible of absolute measure- 
ment. To this has been added a brief retrospective view of price 
factors from 1871 to 1915, for the purpose of showing present tenden- 
cies through their indicated development. 
Finally, gross price has been contrasted with actual returns by 
coordinating prices, yields, and cost of production per bushel and per 
acre. 
SURVEY OF GEOGRAPHY OF WHEAT PRICES. 
From a minimum in Idaho and Montana, prices paid wheat growers graduate 
upward toward the coasts, with maximum price in the southeast. 
Price increases follow direction of commercial wheat movement from exporting 
to importing regions. 
Map 1, which is given opposite, has been condensed to a 10 cent 
price unit, in order to delimit the general price zones without the 
intrusion of minor local variations. Blank spaces indicate areas of 
little or no production, according to the 1909 census. Figures 
within each State show estimated wheat surplus or deficiency (i. e., 
difference between production and consumption within the State), 
indicating the direction of the commercial wheat movement. 
The minimum price paid wheat growers occurs within the areas of 
surplus wheat production, in central Montana and eastern Idaho. 
With a high rail and lower ocean freight rate eastward, and a shorter 
rail but higher ocean freight westward, this territory is most disadvan- 
tageously situated as to foreign and domestic wheat markets. Radi- 
ating from this region, prices graduate upward in every direction until 
the maximum, toward the coasts, is reached. Generally speaking, 
the surplus-producing areas have the lowest prices, and the converse 
also is true. From the described region of lowest prices two main 
currents, Pacific and eastward, are apparent, following closely the 
direction of wheat shipments. 
The Pacific wheat movement is of much smaller volume than the 
eastward traffic. The surplus is concentrated in a relatively small 
area in the Northwest. Westward from this area prices increase 
steadily toward the Pacific seaboard. Prices rise also southward 
toward areas of insufficient wheat production, the maximum price 
being reached in southern California. 
