prices a rather greater degree of caution would seem advisable. Odd prices are doubtless clever enough with a rather meretricious sort of cleverness, but this will hardly commend them to careful buyers. If certain figures are intrinsically so attractive one wonders whether the merchants who put their trust in such figures do not neglect other and more solid advantages which they might offer their customers. Reductions of a cent or two on some few articles the regular prices of which are definitely known may be bona fide, but with regard to the values of the great majority of things offered for sale under an odd-price scheme the ordinary purchaser is not competent to judge, and consequently is likely to be deceived. There are many reasons, as we have seen, why goods frequently have to be reduced in price in retail trade, but there is no reason at all for believing that an excessively large number of these reductions should follow in such a series as 98, 79, 69, 49, and so on. Nor can one attach much weight to the argument that odd prices attract so much additional custom that they enable the merchant employing them to purchase in so much larger quantities and to so much better advantage that he can afford to make frequent bona fide reductions of a cent or two. Retail competition is far too complex; it involves, as we have already had occasion to observe, so many factors besides price alone that the effect of the one rather doubtful factor of odd prices, assuming other conditions equal, would count for comparatively little. And other conditions would seldom be equal. Moreover, the sort of custom attracted by odd prices and similar devices is apt to be much more fickle than that which is built up by conservative and less sensational business practices. There is always one advantage to the purchaser in looking over goods marked at round price points, namely, that he can consider alternate utilities of the various articles of about the same value he may need, undisturbed by differences of a cent or two in cost. On the other hand, if merchants string their prices up and down the scale in order to take advantage of

popular figures, purchasers too often succeed in "saving" two cents on a 98 cent article they do not need at the cost of the far greater utility of a dollar article they really do need. In the long run such results are good neither for sellers nor buyers. To quote proverbs, which notoriously can always be made to contradict each other: those who "take care of the pennies" in the hope that "the dollars will take care of themselves" should remember also that there is such a thing as a "penny wise, pound foolish" policy. Retail trade may need reforming in many particulars, but such reform can only come pari passu with the reform of retail buyers. Education for giving future mothers and fathers a knowledge of articles of common use, their qualities, prices, proper employment, markets wherein they are sold, and so on, is sadly needed. Until the public attains this knowledge and this point of view, odd prices and even more objectionable practices will continue to flourish.

SOME SEASONAL PRICE-VARIATIONS IN FOOD

[THE seasonal variation in the production of some farm products and the corresponding changes in prices have been studied by H. C. Taylor and published in Bulletin 209 of the University of Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station (May, 1911). By the courtesy of Professor Taylor we are able to reproduce with the diagrams the following passages. The facts here given illustrate interestingly the nature and limits of elasticity of demand for these articles, the problem of time-value in perishable foods, and the influence of cold-storage in equalizing prices throughout the year.]

Eggs; irregularity of supply. The egg market lends itself well to the study of many of the forces which influence

MAR. APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT. OCT NOV DEC JAN. FEB Figure 1. Production of eggs on a Wisconsin farm; percentages of the annual total by months, five-year average.

prices. Irregularity of the supply, variation in the quality of the product, and a highly elastic demand are characteristics strongly accentuated in the egg market. The monthly dis

tribution of the average annual production of eggs on a Wisconsin dairy farm is shown in figure 1. The chart shows the percentage of the year's egg production gathered in each month in the year for five years. March and April were the months of greatest productions. The production fell off greatly during the summer months and reached its lowest level during the winter months.

It is believed that this chart tells fairly well the story of the irregularity of egg production on farms where the keeping of poultry is primarily for supplying the wants of the household, and the sale of eggs more or less incidental.

Figure 2. Weekly receipts and prices of "prime first" class eggs in the Chicago market, Feb. 1, 1909 to March 20, 1911.

It is possible for the poultryman to control the egg production in such a manner as to secure a much larger proportion of the annual product in the winter months, but the bulk of the egg supply is not produced under these conditions. . . . Egg production is a widely disseminated non-specialized industry and the supply is not likely to be appreciably influenced by the conscious action of a few individuals.

The Chicago egg market. The supply of eggs upon the Chicago market corresponds to these conditions of production. In Figure 2 the solid black line represents the weekly supply of eggs brought to Chicago, from February 1, 1909, to March 20, 1911. The supply of eggs reached the maximum in April and May and gradually fell off until the end of the year.

The price of eggs on the Chicago market shows the influ

ence of the irregular supply. The black dots connected by lines, in Figure 2, show the price of the best grade of eggs for one day in each week.

The relation between the supply curve and the price curve in this chart illustrates the influence of variation in the supply upon the price of this perishable commodity. The fact that the price of eggs in Chicago remained above 20 cents during the periods of greatest receipts in 1909 and 1910 calls for

Figure 3.

Storage of eggs by a Chicago firm; by months, in percentages of total annual storage.

some explanation. The elastic character of the demand for eggs has already been mentioned. At a price between 20 and 25 cents eggs become an inexpensive substitute for meat, and at the time of the year under consideration, weather conditions are usually such that eggs can be put upon the market in good condition. Under these circumstances the consumption of eggs expands enormously.

The storage of eggs. The market is not entirely dependent, however, at the period of maximum supply upon the demand for eggs for immediate consumption. At that period