so far as this can be accomplished
on a voluntary basis.

Second, the controlled buying for the Allied civil populations and
armies, the neutrals and the American army and navy, dominates the
market in certain commodities at all times, and in other commodities
part of the time. In these cases it is possible to effect, in
cooeperation with producers and manufacturers, a certain amount of
stability in price. I have never favored attempts to fix maximum prices
by law; the universal history of these devices in Europe has been that
they worked against the true interests of both producer and consumer.

The course of prices during the first year of the Food Administration,
that is, practically the period ending July 1,1918, is clearly shown by
the price indexes of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of
Labor. Taking 1913 prices as the basis, the average prices of farm
produce for the three months ending July 1, 1917, were, according to the
Department of Agriculture's price index, 115 per cent more than the
average of 1913 prices, and according to the Department of Labor index,
it was 91 per cent over 1913 prices. The two departments use somewhat
different bases of calculation. The average of farmers' prices one year
later--that is, the three months ending July 1,1918, was, according to
the Department of Agriculture indexes, 127 per cent over the 1913 basis
and, according to the Department of Labor index, was 114 per cent over
the 1913 average. Thus farm prices increased 12 per cent on the
Department of Agriculture calculations and 23 per cent upon the
Department of Labor basis.

An examination of wholesale prices, that is, of prepared foods, shows a
different story:

The Department of Agriculture does not maintain an index of wholesale
prices, but the Department of Labor does, and this index shows a
decrease in wholesale prices from 87 per cent over 1913 basis to 79 per
cent over the 1913 basis for the three months ending July 1, 1917, and
July 1, 1918, respectively. The Food Administration price index of
wholesale prices calculated upon still another basis shows a decrease of
from 84 per cent to 80 per cent between these periods one year apart.

Thus all indexes show an increase in farmers' prices and a decrease in
wholesale prices of food during the year ending July 1, 1918. In other
words, a great reduction took place in middlemen's charges, amounting to
between 15 per cent and 30 per cent depending upon t