| Relative Wholesale Prices. | |||||
| Cloths | Fuel | Metals | |||
| Farm | and | and | and | ||
| Year. | Products. | Food. | Clothing. | Lighting. | Implements. |
| 1890-1899 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| 1897 | 85.2 | 87.7 | 91.1 | 86.4 | 86.6 |
| 1898 | 96.1 | 94.4 | 93.4 | 95.4 | 86.4 |
| 1899 | 100.0 | 98.3 | 96.7 | 105.0 | 114.7 |
| 1900 | 109.5 | 104.2 | 106.8 | 120.9 | 120.5 |
| 1901 | 116.9 | 105.9 | 101.0 | 119.5 | 111.9 |
| 1902 | 130.5 | 111.3 | 102.0 | 134.3 | 117.2 |
| 1903 | 118.8 | 107.1 | 106.6 | 149.3 | 117.6 |
| 1904 | 126.2 | 107.2 | 109.8 | 132.6 | 109.6 |
| 1905 | 124.2 | 108.7 | 112.0 | 128.8 | 122.5 |
| 1906 | 123.6 | 112.6 | 120.0 | 131.9 | 135.2 |
| 1907 | 137.1 | 117.8 | 126.7 | 135.0 | 143.4 |
| Lumber and | House | ||||
| Building | Drugs and | Furnishing | Miscell- | All Com- | |
| Year | Materials. | Chemicals. | Goods. | aneous. | modities. |
| 1890-1899 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| 1897 | 94.4 | 94.4 | 89.8 | 92.1 | 89.7 |
| 1898 | 95.8 | 106.6 | 92.0 | 92.4 | 93.4 |
| 1899 | 105.8 | 111.3 | 95.1 | 97.7 | 101.7 |
| 1900 | 115.7 | 115.7 | 106.1 | 109.8 | 110.5 |
| 1901 | 116.7 | 115.2 | 110.9 | 107.4 | 108.5 |
| 1902 | 118.8 | 114.2 | 112.2 | 114.1 | 112.9 |
| 1903 | 121.4 | 112.6 | 113.0 | 113.6 | 113.6 |
| 1904 | 122.7 | 110.0 | 111.7 | 111.7 | 113.0 |
| 1905 | 127.7 | 109.1 | 109.1 | 112.8 | 115.9 |
| 1906 | 140.1 | 101.2 | 111.0 | 121.1 | 122.5 |
| 1907 | 146.9 | 109.6 | 118.5 | 127.1 | 129.5 |
From the data in the foregoing table, which show advances averaging nearly forty-five per cent., the following table, indicating the present purchasing power over railway freight service of each class of articles, in a manner similar to that adopted to measure the increased power of labor to buy railway freight transportation, has been derived:
| Increased power | ||||
| Relative prices. | to purchase | |||
| railway | ||||
| Commodities. | Increase | freight services | ||
| 1897. | 1907. | per cent. | per cent. | |
| Farm products | 85.2 | 137.1 | 60.92 | 69.19 |
| Food | 87.7 | 117.8 | 34.32 | 41.22 |
| Cloths and clothing | 91.1 | 126.7 | 39.08 | 46.23 |
| Fuel and lighting | 96.4 | 135.0 | 40.04 | 47.24 |
| Metals and implements | 86.6 | 143.4 | 65.59 | 74.10 |
| Lumber and building materials | 90.4 | 146.9 | 62.50 | 70.85 |
| Drugs and chemicals | 94.4 | 109.6 | 16.10 | 22.07 |
| House furnishing goods | 89.8 | 118.5 | 31.96 | 38.74 |
| Miscellaneous | 92.1 | 127.1 | 38.00 | 45.00 |
| All commodities | 89.7 | 129.5 | 44.37 | 51.79 |
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND FREIGHT RATES.
The statistician to the United States Department of Agriculture obtains annually a very large number of reports from farmers as to prices obtained for their products and these are carefully tabulated. The results show the average prices, at the farms, of the principal agricultural products. The following table shows the increased prices obtained for such products, and the increased power which these producers enjoy, per unit of their products, to purchase railway freight services:
| Increased power | ||||||
| Prices. | to purchase | |||||
| railway | ||||||
| Product. | Value of | Increase | freight services | |||
| crop of 1907. | Unit. | 1897. | 1907. | per cent. | per cent. | |
| Corn | $1,336,901,000 | Bushel | $0.263 | $0.516 | 96.20 | 106.28 |
| Wheat | 554,437,000 | " | .808 | .874 | 8.17 | 13.73 |
| Oats | 334,568,000 | " | .212 | .443 | 108.96 | 119.70 |
| Barley | 102,290,000 | " | .377 | .666 | 76.66 | 85.74 |
| Rye | 23,068,000 | " | .447 | .731 | 63.53 | 71.94 |
| Buckwheat | 9,975,000 | " | .421 | .698 | 65.80 | 74.32 |
| Potatoes | 184,184,000 | " | .547 | .618 | 12.98 | 18.79 |
| Hay | 773,507,000 | Ton | 6.62 | 11.68 | 76.44 | 85.51 |
| Cotton | 613,630,436 | Pound | .066 | .104 | 57.58 | 65.68 |
| ——————— | ||||||
| Total | $3,932,560,436 | |||||
Detailed tables presenting the data from which the foregoing averages for the whole country have been derived and showing prices and purchasing power over freight service are given in Appendix D[G]. These tables disclose the uniformity, throughout the United States, of the advance in agricultural prices and of the augmented command of agricultural producers over railway freight service.
FARM ANIMALS AND FREIGHT RATES.
The Department of Agriculture of the United States also collects data concerning the value of farm animals and annually publishes the average values reported for the first day of each successive year. All classes of farm animals have increased in value since 1897 and each represents a great command over railway freight services, for the sum representing the average value of each animal will now buy much more freight transportation than it would in 1897. This is shown by the following table: