Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Current Economic Affairs (1924).pdf/113

Rh gain. Hydraulic power is rendered available for consumption only with great capital outlay. There is but little hydraulic power available in bulk in the United States at less than four mills per kilowatt hour. In the largest modern steam plants power can be developed as low as six mills per kilowatt hour even with present prices for coal.

The evidences of diminished production and diminished consumption of anthracite are positive. The rise in the price for that fuel is more or less a reflection of the conditions of supply and demand.

In considering the consumption of food stuffs we must of course bear in mind that the major part of the use of corn is for feeding animals on the farm, whence it is marketed after transformation into beef and pork. The consumption of oats is largely by draught animals. In 1912-14 a large part of the use of barley was for the brewing of beer, which in 1920-22 was greatly curtailed by the Volstead law, that had then come into effect. Of the most important cereal for human consumption—wheat—there was a smaller supply per person in 1920–22 than in 1912–14.

Of meats and lard there was an increased consumption. Among the other food-stuffs there was a decreased consumption of white potatoes—a cheap food—and decided increases in the use of milk, eggs, poultry and sugar. There was a decreased use of