Adams' American Railway Accounting. Review. By W. J. Cun- American Railroads under Government Control, Organization of. Behavioristic Man, The. Note. By T. N. Carver Conditions of Labor," A Definition of. Note. By P. H. Douglas Cost of Production and Price. Note. By P. G. Wright. Economist Confused, An Eminent. Note. By H. G. Brown. Eight Hour Problem, A Peculiar. Note. By W. Z. Ripley Foreign Exchange and International Balances during the War, Latin American. By J. H. Williams. Government Control of Sugar during the War. By Joshua Bern- hardt Indebtedness of Principal Belligerents. By L. R. Gottlieb International Trade and Prices. Note. By J. E. Norton. Iron-Ore Problem of Lorraine, The. By Abraham Berglund Labor Programs, Four. By T. N. Carver Laughlin's Credit of the Nations. Review. By E. L. Bogart. 560 717 672 344 180 632 205 71 Railroads during the War, Federal Operation of. By F. H. Dixon Standard of Living in China, An Estimate of the. By C. G. Dittmer 107 Taxation of Luxuries and the Rate of Interest, The. By A. F. 298 War and Future Generations, The Burden of. By A. C. Pigou. War Labor Policies and Their Outcome in Peace. By L. B. Wehle Wheat and Flour Trade under Food Administration Control: 1917 1 Books, periodicals, and manuscript to be addressed, EDITORS of QUART JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS, Cambridge, Mass. Business letters to be addressed, HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS, R IV. FIXED COSTS AND MARKET PRICE. F. W Stuar Spur [Entered as Second-class Mail Matter. Acceptance for mailing at special postage rate provided fo SUMMARY I. Commercial situation and price trend during the crop year 1916- 17, 2.-II. Evident necessity for government control, 5. III. Slow progress of legislation, 11. — IV. The Food Act, 14.-V. Voluntary agreement between millers and Food Administration, 18. — VI. The Wheat Price Committee, 23. — VII. Resentment of wheat growers, 25. — VIII. Efforts to stimulate milling, 25. — IX. Distribution of wheat stocks, 29.-X. Stabilizing the market, 32.-XI. Effort of growers to get an advanced price, 36.-XII. Decline in milling activ- ity early in 1917, 38.-XIII, XIV. Increase in output after price stabilization, 39.-XV. Control of percentage of flour and feed, 43. -XVI. "Cost plus " method of price regulation, 45.-XVIII. Eva- sions, 48. — XX. Complications with excess profits tax, 51.-XXII. THE act authorizing the President to establish agen- cies for the control of foods and fuels was approved August 10, 1917. Under its provisions the Food Ad- ministration was at once given legal standing and began to function as the directing and controlling authority in the food trades of the United States. Sufficient time has 1 directions at least. Easily the most important of its problems, and in some respects the most difficult, have been encountered in the regulation of the wheat and flour trade. In this paper an attempt is made to analyze these problems and to discuss the efficacy of the measures adopted to meet them. I THE COMMERCIAL SITUATION AND PRICE TREND DURING THE CROP YEAR, 1916-17 In 1913, in 1914, and again in 1915, the United States produced the largest wheat crops ever harvested in this country; the average for the three years was almost 900,000,000 bushels. The average exports of wheat (and flour) for the same years were almost a quarter of a million bushels; the exports for the years 1914-15 and 1915-16 were much the largest recorded during the present century. In striking contrast to these huge crops was the exceedingly disappointing harvest of 1916, which amounted to only 636,318,000 bushels. However, there was a large "carry-over" from the 1915 crop, amounting at the beginning of July, 1916, to 179,174,000 bushels, which, together with the new crop, made possible an export movement of 209,438,795 bushels during the succeeding twelve months. It is the occurrences of these twelve months to which this paper must first give attention. The facts just recited make it evident that during the first two years of the European war this country had played a large part in the provisioning of western Europe. The neutral nations as well as the entente allies had drawn very heavily upon the United States for wheat and flour, but it had also been possible for them to draw upon the |