As long as we cling to our present retail system, it is worth while to know the standard differential between retail prices on the one hand and wholesale prices and farmers’ prices on the other hand. For instance, in 1913, ham quite customarily retailed at around 26 or 27 cents a pound, whereas the wholesale price at the same time was around 16 or 17 cents a pound, and farmers were selling their hogs at around 8 cents a pound. It was a fairly normal state of affairs, previous to the war, for ham to sell retail at 10 cents a pound above the wholesale price, or 18 cents or 19 cents a pound above the price of hogs. Just what the normal differential will be, now that the war is over, can not be foretold with accuracy. As long as we are on a price level twice as high as in 1914, it is obvious that the differential between retail and wholesale prices will be just about twice as great. The retailer may not pay quite twice as much to his labor, and he may not pay quite twice as much rent, but he will have to have twice as much operating capital, and his bad debts will probably be twice as great. At this writing, early in 1920, it seems obvious that the retailers should be allowed to have a differential fully 80 per cent larger than before the war, if they are to fare as well as most other classes. As a matter of fact, the retailers now seem to be selling ham at a differential of about 18 cents a pound over the wholesale price and about 36 cents a pound over the price of hogs. In the case of ham, the retailers began demanding an increased margin in May of 1917, the month after the war broke out. They kept increasing the margin as opportunity presented itself, but not till the summer of 1919 were the retailers able to widen out the differential between retail and wholesale prices sufficiently to cover the cost of doing business on a price level twice as high as in 1914. [Illustration: Illustrating how the differential between farmers’ price and wholesale and retail price widens in proportion to the higher price level. ] The facts concerning the retail price of ham, wholesale price of ham, and price of hogs, are presented in the accompanying chart. Other retail prices are given in the appendix, and it is possible from the figures there presented to work out normal differentials for such products as wheat and wheat flour, corn and corn meal, sirloin steak and cattle, etc. PORK EXPORTS THE BAROMETER OF CORN BELT PROSPERITY For years we have exported from the United States more corn in the form of pork than in the form of shelled corn or corn meal. In recent years we have been exporting an average of about 40,000,000 bushels of corn in the form of corn and corn meal, whereas we have been exporting the equivalent of about 130,000,000 bushels of corn in the form of pork products. And for the year 1919 we exported the equivalent of about 350,000,000 bushels of corn in the form of pork.