Evening star., 1921-03-13
PLANS FOR FOOD PROBLEM STUDY
ON NATIONAL SCALE AT STANFORD

! the study Of coefficients of consump-
tion as being essential. semi-essential
and non-essential. the Food Admins
tration. cooperating with the War
Trade Board and the War Industries
| Board.
The practicable study of the problem
| has two aspects. In the first place. a
| commodity must be traced to its end :
products, the ultimate states in which
! it is consumed. In order to do this
properly for foodstuffs. similar inves-
legations would have to be carried out
for certain other commodities. for ex-
ample the fibers and other raw ma
terials that have close relations with
foodstuffs.
! How little we know of the uIti-
mate destinations of even a simple
primary crop. like wheat, is shown
/ by the fact that during the period
| of careful control by the Food Ad-
miniStration we lost account in one
! year of some 100000 bushels re-
| ported in the crop.
| Tracing raw products through their
various ramifications to the final
| states of consumption requires sur
/ veys of the various manufacturing
i trades. Leading men in the trades
+: have. indeed, repeatedly expressed
! their regret that the study of these
/ processes had been discontinued.
The second aspect in the investiga-
/ tion is revealed from the side of the
! consumer The population in zones
| would be divided into income groups.
| occupation groups and family groups
! in such representative manner in
city and country districts AS to pre-
F., sent weighted averages of the popu-
/ lation. The surveys would then de-
/ termine the disposition of incomes
throughout the year and the con-
/ sumption of various commodities in
f, unit terms of commodities as well as
<,f wi %
production and consumption in units
of commodities. whether of weight
or yard or cubic, with consumption
! in units of price.
From the results of such surveys
statistical method would be able to
| erect coefficients of the standard of
| living. These could be compared be-
| tween zones, classes and states, and
could be contrasted with similar in
vestigations now being carried on in
several European countries. me
plane of the standard of living. and
shiftings Of the plane. could be guam
titatively measured and expressed.
Cost Of Production.
During the war we attempted to de-
termine the cost of production of
! many basic commodities. The wheat
| fair price committee made guess at
! the cost of wheat production. that
! represented a compromise OF inter
| cStS rather than an lnNeStiSd'lou
| Approximations were also arrival at
! for rice .cottoiisned oil and -n-f
products: and than approx
| imation determined for sugar.
Applied to a particular commodity
! like wheat. that is at present very
much in the public eye. the problem
resolves itself not merely into the for
! mutation of cost sheet. but also
i into a definition of the marginal acre
and the scope of normally in the
growing of this cereal. One must
make a definition of the normal datum
! line in wheat acreage and fix the cost
sheet within that acreage: and then
determine for different increments of
/ the marginal acreage the cost of pro-
! duction,
The country would be divided into
zones and these zones into counties.
From the records of the national gov
ernment states, the counties. the
state agricultural colleges. the expert
ment stations. the railways, the ele-
vators. the mills. the grain exchanges
and trade journals. the data of pro-
duction would be obtained. Through
special Investigations conducted with
county agents. the state agricultural
colleges and the experiment stations.
the various items in cost of produc-
tion would be obtained for each
county. state and zone.
Matter OF Correct Analysis.
Success would be a matter of cor