ABSTRACT
The United States has been in a period of low crop production for several years. Every time in history when prices have declined, the usual explanation has been that there was a general over-production of everything. An intelligent consideration of the price problem must consider population and production. Since a bushel of wheat is more important than a bushel of corn, it is given a correspondingly greater weight in the index of production. Low prices gave the impression of over-production, but the low prices prevailed throughout the world for all basic products—not merely for crops. Minerals include coal, petroleum, natural gas, iron, scrap iron and other secondary metals, lead, copper, and practically all the important metals. The violent fluctuations in production justify the statement that the industry has always been a prince or a pauper. When a depression comes, unemployment and low consumption occur, factories close, and the low demand gives the appearance of over-production.
