Evening journal., 1919-03-22
WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH BUTTER AND EGG



uraly ask:
"who Is rocking the boat?'
When, in three weeks butter and egg prices each
fan twenty-one CENTS and then butter prices begin to
swing up again. the consumer thinks that this must
be caused by manipulation and that temporarily the
law Of supply and demand is not in operation
What are asserted to be the real facts in the case
are interesting
There are two main factors which brought about
this unusual drop butter both Of which were abso-
lutely unforeseen is said Either factor alone prob
ably would have been sufficient to upset the market-
but taken together, the result inevitable.
The FIRST factor requires little explanation. In
August the Government commondeered approximately
sixty per cent Of the storage stock Of butter for the
Of the army navy and allied countries and notified the
trade that this large amount would not in ell prob
ability meet Government requirements
This left a severe shprtage IN regular commercial
! stocks and resulted in rising market.
In early January however, the Food Administration
that the Government would not require the
! full amount Of commandeered supplies.
No one knew the amount which would be thrown on
the market and the trade became panicky.
Retailers stopped buying, in anticipation Of much
lower prices and it became evident that read
iustment OF market values would occur II confidence
were to be restored.
As is usual under panic conditions. the reaction was
too severe prices dropped below values and the
tendency is now upward 10 levels warranted by condl-
tons
This reaction has been intensified by the decision OF
the Food Administration TO roinstae all orders which
had been cancelled by this FIRST announcement.
AZ present the available supply is FAR short Of meeting
the demand at reasonable prices for the demand far
ceeds the supply receipts having materially decreased
following The slump in prices
With increased demand and decreased production we
experiencing inevitable reaction from the
decline.
The second main factor which caused butter prices
90 fan, also affected This factor which could not
have been predicted the unusually heavy produc-
tion OF butter in January and eggs in January and
February This was due 70 The sprlng-like weather
which has prevailed practically the entire country
The season OF heavy production Of eggs normally be-
gins about one month later than 10 began this year. and
That of butter three months later We have had abnor-
mai conditions which no one anticipated
This greater production during January and February
Of 1912 is reflected in the statistics OF receipts New
York. which market is representative OF conditions
throughout the country.
Receipts Of butter running about $1,000 packages
week during the early part Of December then increased
production began 90 make itself felt and the figure
mounted rapidly until during the week ending January
"a, 626g packages received the New York mar
ket the weekly arrivals having almost doubled in one
month.
Up to February II the total New York receipts since
May amounted TO 36lS2 packages In excess Of the re-
cenis for The period last year Rejecting these
conditions, wholesale prices fresh creamery stock,
extras dropped from approximately sxiyeight to
forty-seyen cents per pound in three weeks.
The figures for eggs show surprising con-
dtons. Weekly receipts Of eggs in New York City rose
from approximately $1,000 in early December to
i2026l for the week ending February % in
crease of e25 per cent
During the week ending January 2S about 1900 cases
arrived; the next week receipts jumped to $1,000; while
during the week ending February % as stated above
i2026i entered The city.
The total receipts since March show an excess Of
approximately 100000 cases over the receipts for the
same period last year.
Is 10 surprising that wholesale prices tumbled from
seventy cents to thirty-nine cents2
The law Of supply and demand is working twenty
four hours every day just it always has and always
will
What we need is wider publicity and education OF the
public regdrdng the real Of price fluctuations.
Then the bugaboo OF manipulation would die early
death.