The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-05-28

! OF LIVESTOCK
PRICES SHOWN
Federal Reserve Bank, Trac-
ING Course Since War,
Finds Sheep Prices Best
SOME IMPROVEMENT
Conditions Now Better Than
in 1919 and 1920 But Not
SO Coed as 1921 or 1922
IMPROVEMENT

THE ratio of profitablcncss i'm
livestock raising was smaller in 1923
and during the first months in 1921
than in 1927 or 1922, but larger
than in 1919 and 1920, from the
standpoint Of the relation of the
price for finished livestock to the
cost Of feed says Il bulletin Of the
Federal Reserve Bank of Minnea-
polls. No analysis of conditions
could show more clearly the effect
of alternate periods of excessive
supplies of feed and excessive num-
hers Of livestock to be fed than the
present study which this office has
just completed OF the course of live.
stock prices at South st. Paur and
the cost Of feed for livestock in the
four complete states in this district
for the years from 1919 to the pres
ent. Judging from each years re-
laton to the five years average, the
price of livestock and the cost of
feed were about evenly balanced in
1919, but feed prices held up longer
than the price of livestock in 1920,
SO that the profit in feeding was
apparently materially reduced. Feed
prices declined more in 1921 than
did the price of livestock, and con-
sequently the profit in livestock
raising was greater in that year.
This situation continued in 1929 and
was directly responsible for the
great increase in the number of
hogs in the Northwest in 1923,
which greatly increased the demand
for feed in 1923 and raised the
price Of feed so that livestock pro-
fits diminished.
Course Downward
The course of livestock prices
has been downward in the main
during the five postwar years. From
Il high level in 1918 and 1919 there
was an almost continuous decline
until June, 1921, then a slight re-
covery lasting through 1922, after
which prices were depressed and
remained at Il low level, with the
exception Of the last two months of
1923. There were temporary bulges
in the price curve in the latter part
of 1919 and the fall of 1920 on ac-
count of shortage in livestock
supplies, caused by the transporter
ton tie-up, which lasted throughout
the two years. However, the rail
roads took the necessary steps to
expedite cattle shipments and to
reduce delays ut terminals, thereby
making it possible for livestock. es-
pecially cattle, which had accumu-
lated in country shipping pens, to
enter the market in abnormal guam
ties in November.
In the first, four wears of this
period. the ,price< received for cat
tie Had Il larger influence upon the
general price level of livestock than
any other class; but in 1923, and
the first four months in 1924. hogs
have predominhted and are largely
responsible for the low level of the
index.
Class Variations
The different classes and grades
of animals for which we have COM
puted median prices during this
period show some interesting vari-
atoms from one another in price
trends. The cattle group, after
sharing in the general decline in the
first part of the period, has shown
a steady hut very gradual recovery
from the low point in 1921. The
median price of butcher steers, rep
resenting the highest grade cattle
which come to market, has respond
ed readily to shortages in supply or
to 'raordinary demand and exhi-
bited pronounced peaks in the curve
adjusted for seasonal variations, in
the fall of 1919 and the fall of 1920
and twice in 1928; but at the present