In areordadcc with the pulley of (lie Food Administration since Its founda tion to consult representative men I the agricultural Industry on occasions of lniortnnee to seclal branche of the Industry, on October 24 there w convened In Washington a meeting of the Live Stock Subcommittee of the Agricultural Advisory Board and the ineclal memhera representing the swine Industry to consider the situation In (he hog market. The conference lasted for three days, and during this time met with the executive committee of the fifty packing Arms participating In foreign order for pork products and with the members of the Food Administration directing foreign pork purchase!. The conclusions of the conference were as follow: The entire marketing situation has i producer and the Insurance of an arte- o changed since tne repieniir juuu conference as to necessitate an entire alteration In the plans of price stabi lization. The current peace talk has alarmed the holder! of corn, and there has been a price decline of from 'J3 cents to 40 cents per bushel. The fact that the accumulations of low priced corn In the Argentine and South Afri ca would, upon the advent of peace and liberated shipping, become availa ble to the European market has cre ated a great deal of apprehension on the part of corn holders. This decline has spread fear among swine growers that a similar reduction In the prices of hogs would naturally follow. More over, the lower range of corn prices would, If Incorporated In a 13-to-l ra tio, obviously result In a continuously fHlling price for live bogs. In view of these changed conditions many awlne producers anticipated lower prices and as a result rushed their hogs to market In lnrge numbers, and this over-shipment has added to and aggravated the decline. The Information of the Department 'of Agriculture Indicates that the sup ply of hogs has Increased about 8 per cent, while the highest unofficial esti mate does not exceed 15 per cent. In creased production over last year. On the other hand, the arrival of hogs during the last three weeks In the seven great markets has been 27 per cent more than last year, during the corresponding period, demonstrating' the unusually heavy marketing of the available supply. In the face of the excessive receipts some packers have not maintained the price agreed last month. On the other band, many of the packers have puld over the price offered to them In an endeavor to maintain the agreed price. The re ault In any event has been a failure to maintain the October price basis determined upon at the September con ference and undertaken by the pack ers. Another factor contributing to the break In prices during the month ban been the Influenza epidemic; It has sharply curtailed consumption of pork products and temporarily de creased the labor staff of the packers about 25 per cent The exports of 130.000,000 pounds cf pork products for October com pared with about 52,000,000 pounds In October a year ago, and the export orders placeable by the Food Administration for November, amount to 170,000.000 pounds as contrast ed with the lesser exports of 98.000.000 for November, 1917. The Increased demands of the allies are continuing, and are In themselves proof of the necessity for the large production for which the Food Admin istration asked. The increase In ex port demands appears to be amply sufficient to tike up the Increase In hug product! ni, but unfavorable mar ket conditions existing In October af ford no fair Index of the aggregate supply and demand. It must be evident that the enor mous shortage in fats in the Central Empires and neutral countries would Immediately upon peace result in ad ditional demands for pork products which, oil top of the heavy shipments to the Allies, would tend materially to Increase the American exports. In asmuch as no considerable reservoir of supplies exists outside of the United States. It seems probable that the present prospective supplies would he Inadequate to meet this world demand with the return to peace. So far as It Is possible to interpret this fact, It ap pears that there should be even a stronger demand for pork products after the war, and therefore any alarm of hog producers as to the effect of peace is unwarranted by the outlook. In the light of these circumstances It is the conclusion of the conference that attempts to hold the price of hogs to the price of corn may work out to the disadvantage of pork producers. It Is the conclusion that any interpre tation of the fornnt'a should be a , broad gauged policy applied over a long period. It Is the opinion of the conference that In substitution of the previous plans of stabilization tin. Live Stock Subcommittee of the Agri cultural Advisory Board, together with the specially Invited swine represi nta tlves, should accept the Invitation of the Food Administration to Jolu with the Administration and the packers In determining the prices at which con trolled export orders are to be placed. This will he regularly dons. The in fluence of these orders wil' be directed to the maintenance of thf: common ob ject namely, the stabilization of the price of live hoi:s .so as ;o secure as far as It Is possible fair returns to the quale future supply. These foreign orderi are placed upon the basla of oust of hogs to the packers. As the result of long negotiations between this body and the Packers Committee, representing the 45 to 50 packers participating n foreign or ders, together with the Allied buvera,1 all under the Chairmanship of' the Food Administration, the following un- dertaklng hag been given by the pack-1 era : i In view of the undertakings on the part of the Food Administration with regard to the co-ordinated purchase of pork products, covered In the at tached, It Is agreed that the packers participating In these orders will un-' dertake not to pnrchase hogs for less than the following agreed minimum for the month of November, thai Is dally minimum of $17.50 per hundred pounds on average of packers' drove, excluding throw-out. "Throw-outs" to be defined as pigs under l.'iu pounds, stags, boar, thin sow and skips. Further that no hogs of any kind shall be bought except throw outs, at less than $10.50 per hundred pounds. The average of packer' droves to be construed as the average ' of the total sales In the market of all hogs for a given day. All the above to be based on Chicago. i We agree that a committee shall be 1 appointed by the Food Administration , to check the dully operations In the ' various markets with a view to super- vision and demonstration of the carry-! Ing out of the above. The ability of the packer to carry out this arrangement will depend on there being a normal marketing of hogs based upon the proportionate In crease over the receipts of last year. The Increase In production appears to be a maximum of about 15 per cent, and we can handle such an Increase. I If the producers of hogs should, as ' they have In the past few weeks, pre maturely mnrket bogs In such Increns-; Ing numbers over the above It Is en- j tirely beyond the ability of the pack-, ers to maintain these minimum, and therefore we must have the co-opera-; tlon of the producer himself to main tain these results. It is a physical Impossibility for the capacity of the ' packing house to handle a similar over-flood of hogs and to find a market for the output. The packers are nnx- ious to co-operate with the producers In maintaining a staMllrjttlon of price . and to see that producers receive a fair price for their products. (Signed) THOS. E. WILSON, Chairman Packers' Committee. The plan embodied above was adopt ed by the conference. The Food Administrator has appoint ed a committee, comprising Mr. Thom as E. Wilsop, chairman of the Pack ers' Committee; Mr. Everett Brown, president of the Chicago Livestock Ex change; Major Itoy of the Food Ad ministration, Mr. Louis D. Hall of the Bureau of Markets, to undertake the supervision of the execution of the plan In the various markets. Commis sion men are asked to co-operate In ! carrying out the plan embodied In rhe j puckers' agreement It must be evl-j dent that offers by commission men lo j sell hogs below the minimum estab- lislied above Is not fair, either to the j producer or the participating packers, j Mr. Brown has undertaken on behalf i of the commission men in the United ! States that they will loyally support the plan. It Is believed by the conference that this new plan, based as It Is upon a positive minimum basis, will bring bet ter results to the producer than aver age prices for the month. It does not limit top prices and should narrow the margins necessary to country buy ers in more variable markets. It I believed that the plan should work out j close to $18 average. Swine producer of the country will contribute to their own Interest by not flooding the market, for It must be evident that If an excessive over per centage of hogs I marketed In any one month price stabilization and con trol cannot succeed, and It Is certain that producers themselves can contri bute matei'all'- to the efforts of the conferences If they will do their mark- ' etlng In as normal a way as possible. The whole situation as existing at present demands a frank and explicit assurance from the conferees repre sentednamely, that every possible effort will be made to maintain a live hog price commensurate with swine production costs and reasonable sell ing values In execution of the declar ed policy of the Food Administration to use every agency In Its control to secure Justice to the farmer. The stabilization methods adopted for November represent the best ef forts of the conference, concurred In by the Food Administration and the Livestock Subcflmmltte of the Agri cultural Advisory Hoard, together with special awlne members and the representative! of the packers, to Im prove the present unsatisfactory ltu atlon, which ha unfortunately result ed because of the Injection of uneon trolluhle factor. We ink the producer to co-oxrnte with u In a most dltllcult task. The member of the Conference were: Producers II C. Stuart. Elk C.nr- ; den, Va Chairman Agricultural Ad visory Hoard; V. M. McFadden. Chi cago, III.: A. Sykes, Ida drove, la.; John M. Evvard, Ames, In.; J. II. Mer cer, Uve Stock Commission for Kan ani ; J. O. Brown, Monon, Ind. ; E. C. Itrown, I'reildent Chicago Livestock Exchange; N. II. Gentry, Sedalla, Mo.j John (iratlan Broomtlcld, Colo.; Eu gene Funk, Rloomlngton, HI.; Isaac Lincoln, Aberdeen, S. I.; C. W. Hunt, Logan, ta. ; C. E, Yancey, W. II. I)od on. Food Administration Herbert Hoo ver, F. S. Snyder, Major E. L. Itoy. O. II. Powell. IVpartment of Agriculture Loul D. Hull, F. It. Marshall. The packer present and other sharing In foreign order were repre sented by the elected packer' commit tee. Those represented were: Packers Armour A Co., Chicago, III. ; Cudahy Packing Co., Chicago, ill.; Morris A Co., Chicago, III.; Swift ft Co.. Chicago, III. Wilson A Co. Chica go, Ill.j John Agar Co., Chicago, III.; Armstrong Packing Co., Villus, Tex. ; Boyd Dunham ft Co., Chicago, III.; Brennan Packing Co., Chicago, 111. Cincinnati Abattoir Co., Cincinnati, O. ; Cleveland Provision Co., Cleve land, O.; Cudahy Pros. Co., Curtaliy, Wis. ; J. Dold Packing Co., Iluffalo. N. Y.; Pnulevy Packing Co., Pittsburg, Pa.; J. E. Decker ft Sons, Mason City, In.; Evansvllle Packing Co., Evans vllle, Ind.; East Side Packing Co., East St. Louis, 111.: Hammond Stnndlsb ft Co., IVtrolt, Mich.; 0. A. Hormel ft Co., Austin, Minn.; Home Packing ft Ice Co., Terre Haute, Iud.; Independ ent Packing Co., Chicago, III.; Indian apolis Abattoir Co., Indianapolis, Ind. International Provision Co., Brooklyn, N. Y. ; Interstate Packing Co., Winona, Minn. ; Iowa Packing Co., Dcs Moines, la.; Power Begg Co., Jacksonville, III.; Klngnn ft Co., Indianapolis, Ind.; Krey Packing Co, St, Loul, Mo.; Luke Erie Provision Co., Cleveland, O. ; Lay ton Co, Milwaukee, Wis.; Oscar Mayer ft Itro., Sedgwick and Beethoven street. Chlcngo, 111.; J. T. McMillan Co., St. Paul, Minn.; Miller ft Hurt, Chicago, III.; J. Morrell ft Co, Otttim wa, la. ; Nuckoll Packing Co., Pueblo, Colo.; Ogden Parking and Provision Co, Ogden, Utah; Ohio Provision Co, Cleveland, O. ; Parker Webb ft Co, De troit, Mich.; Pittsburg Packing and Provision Co., Pittsburg, Pa.; Hath Packing Co, Waterloo, la.; Roberta ft Ouke, Chicago, 111. ; Itohe ft Bros, New York City ; W. C. ltouth ft Co., Logan, port, Ind. ; St Loul Ind. Packing Co, St Louis, Mo.; Sinclair ft Co, T. M. Cedur Rapids, In.; fulllvan ft Co, De troit. Mich.; Theurer-Norton Provision 38 S3 MONMOUTH HARDWARE CO. Co.. Cleveland, tl.i Ttlison Provision Co, Peoria, III.; Western Packing mid Provision Co, Chicago, III. ; Charles Wolff Packing Co, Topek, Kuu, Much Red Cross Work Yet To Do Hecause peace is here, so many of our Red Cross workers are of the opinion that the work of this great organization is finished. This is an absolutely wrong; impression. Millions of American boys are still under arms. Thousands of them are sick or wounded. Owing to the shortage in shipping, it may tnke a year or more to bring- our boys home from France. Hut, whatever the time, our protecting arms must be about them and their families over the whole period which must elapse before the nor mal life of peace can be resumed. Our soldiers and sailors are enlisted until the Commanderin-Chief tells jlhem there is no more work for them to do in the war. Let every Red Cross member, amj worker, show our returning soldiers and sailors that to care for their health, welfare and happiness, we are en listed for no less a period than they are. The cessation of the war will re veal a picture of misery such as the world has never seen before, espe cially in the many countries which cannot help themselves. The Amer ican people will expect the Red Cross to continue to act as their agent in repairing broken spirits and broken bodies. Peace terms and-peace conditions will determine how we may best minister to the vast stricken areas which have been harrowed by war, and in this great act of mercy the heart and spirit of the American people must con tinue to be mobilized through the American Red Cross. On behalf of the War Council, we accordingly ask each member of our splendid body of workers, through out the land, to bear in mind the solemn obligation which rests upon each one to "carry on". We can not abate one instant in our efforts, or in our spirit, there will be an adundance of work to do, and speci fic advices will be given, but even Heating Stoves and RANGES at the moment of peace let no Red Cross worker falter. Our spirits must now rail us to show that it is not the rour of can non, or the blood of our own, alone that directs our activities, but that a great people will continue to re scind, greatly and freely, to its obligation and opportunity to serve mankind. Still Going For the Gopher "Polk County cun be eleured of gophers within six month if all the farmers will work together, aban don the slow trapping method of the past, and adopt the poisoning method now used in practically all the eastern states", concluded Mr. Theodore Scheffer of the U. S. Hit), logical Survey in an address before a meeting of farmers interested In rodent control. Poisoning is cheap, effective and easily administered. In other counties where it has been tried, the cost has been as low as ten cents er acre. A nmn can kill as many as 250 gophers a day. One of the essential factors in the new method is the position used. The old gas method, (carlton bisul phid) has been abandoned because of its expensiveness and general inefficiency and in its place strych nine alkaloid has been substituted. It is the most effective poison known. Mix one ounce with from one tenth to one eighth ounce of sacehurin to sweeten the bait and disguise the bitter tuste of the strychnine. Sprinkle the mixture over the preiared bait and stir well in a basin or pail to make sure that the total surface is covered. Co phers prefer in order, dandelion roots, sweet potatoes, carrots, par snips and Irish potatoes. Care should be taken to cut the bait sufficiently large so that the gopher will be obliged to cut it in pieces, w get it in his pocket. This is the critical part in the whole poisoning process. These animals store sev eral times more food than tjiey con sume, hence if the bait is small enough so they can carry it away without tasting it, the gopher will Continued on next page L3 earn