Soon after the report of the commission on cost of producing hogs, the Food Administration announced among other things that it would do its best to pay hog producers, for a hundred pounds of hog flesh, the equivalent of thirteen bushels of the corn which went into these hogs, the ratio system to apply to hogs farrowed in the spring of 1918. It was expected that there would be an urgent need for hog products during 1919, and it has generally been regarded that this announcement of the Food Administration was wise. The thirteen-bushel ratio was 13 per cent over the historic ratio, and encouraged the transforming of a larger amount of corn into hogs than usual. When it came to putting the thirteen-bushel ratio into effect, in the fall and winter of 1918–1919, the Food Administration did all in its power to squirm out of living up to its guarantee. First, the effort was made, in the month of September, 1918, to make it appear that the thirteen-bushel ratio was based on a ratio between farm corn prices and Chicago hog prices, in spite of the fact that the pamphlets originally issued by the Food Administration to farmers of the corn belt in November of 1917 explained the ratio on a basis of Chicago corn prices and Chicago hog prices. By using farm corn prices, the Food Administration secured a figure of about $2.50 per hundredweight lower than if the thirteen-bushel ratio had been applied literally as described in the original pamphlets. The Food Administration, however, claimed that it could not live up to its original guarantee, because the export prices of pork would not justify it. In this respect, it is interesting to note that in August of 1918, just before the Food Administration took up this matter of carrying out its thirteen-bushel guarantee, Great Britain reduced its maximum price on American bacon by about $12 per hundredweight. It is also interesting to note that the British Food Administration was making money on its handling of pork products, altho it was losing money on its wheat. Those American producers who were most familiar with the situation believed that there was a concerted effort by the American and British food administrations to buy the large American hog crop, which had been secured by the thirteen-bushel guarantee, as cheaply as possible, avoiding its guarantee with such chicanery and deceit as an experienced business man knows how to use in case of emergency.