Lieut.-Colonel THORNEasked the Food Controller what were the official Chicago prices for light and heavy hogs and short rib sides of bacon last week and the corresponding period of 1918; if he has any statistics which will indicate whether the total quantity of pigs in America has increased or decreased during the War; and whether the real difficulty in the distribution of bacon under his Department is that prices are fixed on an unscientific scale, being too low for the best cuts of bacon in proportion to the wholesale prices of sides and too high for fore-ends, rough cuts, and clearance joints with the result 2234W that well-to-do people are having their supplies at a subsidy obtained by overcharging the poorest of the population?
Mr. ROBERTSThe official Chicago prices for light hogs during last week varied from 18 dollars 75 cents per 100 lbs. live weight to 20 dollars 75 cents. The prices during the corresponding period of 1918 varied from 16 dollars 40 cents to 17dollars 80 cents. In the case of heavy- hogs the price last week varied from 18dollars to 20 dollars 75 cents, and during the corresponding period of 1918 from 15 dollars 40 cents to 17 dollars 60 cents. In the case of ribs of bacon the prices last week ranged from 27 dollars 75 cents per 100 lbs. to 29 dollars 50 cents, and during the corresponding period of 1918 from 20 dollars 65 cents to 22 dollars 42 cents. My Department has statistics which indicate that the total quantity of pigs in the United States of America has been in creased by 16,500,000 since January, 1914. There is no Order controlling importers' or wholesalers' prices for bacon, and there is no differentiation between the prices which may be charged by a retailer for the varying cuts of bacon. The maximum price which may be charged by a retailer for any description of bacon is 2s. 4d. per lb., but, in practice, this price is only obtained for the best cuts. I have no reason to suppose that if the maximum retail price of bacon at the present time was raised or removed there would be any fall in the price of inferior cuts of bacon, and there is no truth in the suggestion that well-to-do people are having their supplies at a subsidy obtained by overcharging the poorest of the population.