Chapter XIX
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=Labor and prices.=——The amount of labor involved in producing a food material affects its price. Meats cost more than staple vegetable foods, like corn, wheat, or beans, because we must raise the corn first to feed the animals. Meat is as cheap as vegetable foods only when the animal can find its own food, as in the pioneer days of any country, when only a small part of the land is under cultivation. To the Pilgrim Fathers, meat was cheaper than corn, in terms of labor, with deer at hand in the forest and corn raised with difficulty in small clearings. Meat production is now an industry, and the product an expensive one, especially as the wide cattle ranges of our West, where the animals have formerly found natural food, are now used more and more for other purposes.
=Transportation.=——Carrying food from place to place increases its cost. In one sense this is another form of labor. Each person who handles the food material from producer to consumer adds something to what the consumer pays. We have heard much discussion of late of the “middleman,” and the effort to bring the producer and consumer closer together. This simply means doing away with some person who handles the product after it leaves the producer and before it reaches the consumer and who must have something for his labor. In transportation there is another element involved, the original cost of the means of conveyance; and the natural wear and tear on the product are items that increase the final cost. The modern farmer who carries his produce to market in an auto truck must have a return for the original cost of the truck and the keeping of it in repair. The long-distance railway furnishes cold-storage cars, and the cost of these and their maintenance affect freight rates. A peach from South Africa costs from fifty to sixty cents in the Boston market. It is probably true, in this case, that a fancy price is asked because African fruit is a novelty here; but the difficulty and expense of long-distance transportation naturally make it costly.
=Demand and supply.=——The relation of demand to supply affects the price of food in a way not difficult to understand. Where the supply is permanently small and the demand widespread, the price of the particular food material will be high, and _vice versa_. Olive oil is a good example of the permanently high-priced food. California olive oil brings a high price not only because it is pure and well flavored, but because many people want it, and the industry is a small one. Many years are needed to establish an olive grove, and olive raising is not a popular way of making money, because it is slow. One enterprising American firm has bought an olive grove in Spain, and is using new methods there, but the product, though delicious, is no cheaper. Although the manufacture of olive oil will doubtless remain a rather small industry, the use of olive oil is increasing, in this country, at least. It does not seem likely, therefore, to become a cheap form of fat.
We find nearly the opposite of this in cottonseed oil, a large supply and a relatively smaller demand making a low price. The seed (a by-product of the cotton industry) contains a large quantity of oil, and it is not all used as food. Therefore, it is permanently a low-priced fat, as contrasted with the permanently high-priced fat, olive oil.
=Agricultural conditions.=——There are two things of which the farmer can never feel sure, the kind of weather to expect and the general character of the season. Of course, the season affects the quality and the amount of any crop, and this, again, influences the price.
Another aspect of the effect of season on food is this: that a food is in its own locality cheaper when it is in season than at other times of year, when it has to be brought from a distance.
Insect pests and plant diseases not infrequently spoil a crop, and the market price goes up with the smaller supply. This is what happened not long since to the potato crop and potato prices, when potatoes were affected by the potato blight. Moreover, if the farmer succeeds in keeping his crop free from a particular pest, it means a more or less permanent increase in his expenses, for in fighting insects and fungi there is an outlay for machinery and chemicals, and much labor is expended. Unfortunately, injurious insects and plant diseases are on the increase, and this may mean a permanent rise in the cost of certain foods. Another fact has to be reckoned with in comparing the prices of different foods. Some vegetables are more difficult to raise than others, even when the season is favorable, and the insects at least partly conquered. Some plants have more vitality than others, and grow under almost any condition of soil and moisture.
Animal diseases must also affect the price of food. If a large number of cattle are found to have tuberculosis, and are condemned as food, healthy cattle bring a higher price, because, again, the supply is small in relation to the demand.
=Quality of food.=——Poor food always costs less money than good food, but it may not be economy to buy it. There may be more usable material in one good apple at five cents than in three wormy ones for five.
=Form and place in which food is sold.=——Food in the package costs more than in bulk, and each fancy label adds a fraction to the cost. Plate-glass windows and ribbon decorations in a shop and the large expense of rent on a fashionable street are all paid for by the consumer.
=Relative cost of home and shop products.=——When prepared food of any kind is purchased, one pays for raw material plus the cost of fuel and the labor involved in the cooking and the cleaning of apparatus and kitchen. For example, canned soup sold by one of the best manufacturers brings a good price because so much time and labor are used in a careful inspection of all material, and in keeping up a high standard of cleanliness. Remember, too, that whenever cooked food appears on the table, these two items, fuel and labor, are in reality added to the cost of the raw material. We may not pay cash always for the labor, but it must be accounted for in time and energy. The woman who says, “My time doesn’t count,” has a poor opinion of herself. Whether or not it is better to buy cooked food or to prepare food at home is discussed on page 292.
=Other elements in food prices.=——So far we have considered those causes of food prices that are what may be called “natural,” always to be taken into account, and only partly under our control. There are others that have to do with big business methods and interests and that have great influence at some one period in a nation’s life, and less at others. They are more or less under our control if we have the wisdom and courage to act. A discussion of these causes is part of the study of economics proper, and we can only stop by the way to think of them for a moment.
Transportation must always increase cost, as we have learned, but bad methods, involving the handling of food by many people, increase it unnecessarily. Our present methods of marketing food are clumsy, and not economical, especially in large cities. The subject is being seriously studied with a view to improvement, possibly by the establishment of public markets.
At present we have a bewildering state of things, but the housekeeper who sincerely desires, can learn to buy and prepare the less costly foods in an appetizing way, and leave nothing for the garbage pail but the parts that are actually not eatable.
=Comparative costs.=——It would be useless to print here a list of actual prices, since they vary in different localities, and are constantly changing. This list can be made by yourselves in your notebooks for your own home town, and for the current year. The table on page 318 is a guide, however, for in spite of fluctuations in prices there are certain foods that are permanently more economical than others; for example, grain products than meats, for reasons already explained. As a rule, the rising cost of food has been so general as not to change greatly the relative economy of the different types of food as compared with each other.
=Cost and nutritive value.=——The discussion of cost has dealt so far with the cost of _food materials_ as they are found in the market. What we are really seeking to learn is the amount of _nutritive_ material to be obtained for a given sum of money, and in order to do this, we must think of our purchases in terms of the _foodstuffs_ and their values. The accompanying table from a government bulletin[17] gives an estimate of cost from this point of view in terms of protein and fuel value. Notice that wheat bread is a cheap food, standing first in the amount of building material and energy.
AMOUNTS OF PROTEIN AND ENERGY OBTAINED FOR 10 CENTS EXPENDED FOR BREAD AND OTHER FOODS AT CERTAIN ASSUMED PRICES PER POUND
__________________________________________________________________ | | | 10 CENTS’ WORTH | | | WILL CONTAIN | | 10 CENTS |___________________ FOOD MATERIALS | PRICE | WILL BUY | PRO- | A FUEL | | | TEIN | VALUE OF ________________|___________________|__________|_________|_________ | | Ounces | Ounces | Calories Wheat bread | 5 cents per lb. | 32.0 | 2.9 | 2400 Cheese | 22 cents per lb. | 7.3 | 1.9 | 886 Beef, average | 20 cents per lb. | 8.0 | 1.2 | 467 Porterhouse steak 25 cents per lb | 6.4 | 1.3 | 444 Dried beef | 25 cents per lb. | 6.4 | .1 | 315 Eggs | 24 cents per lb. | 10.0 | 1.3 | 198 Milk | 9 cents per qt. | 38.3 | 1.2 | 736 Potatoes | 60 cents per bu. | 160.0 | —— | 2950 Apples 1-1/2 cents per lb. | 106.7 | —— | 1270 ________________|___________________|__________|_________|_________
The price quoted for eggs is low, and even less could be obtained for ten cents at prevailing prices in 1913-1914. This kind of estimate is a help in making menus and dietaries. (See