was desired to have produced, which uncertainty was in some cases
due both to ignorance of the available stocks and to uncertainty as to
future requirements. While prices were generally fixed on the basis of
cost, there were necessarily many exceptions. Sometimes no costs
were available. Sometimes cost was only partly available as a basis,
as in the case of “joint products” and of products for which
complete cost data did not exist. Sometimes, again, no effort was made
to use cost, as in the case of substitutes whose prices were fixed on
the basis of the commodity in the place of which they might be used.
In a few instances the price was fixed without regard to cost, merely
on the basis of preëxisting prices, such prices being taken for what
was presumably a normal period. Perhaps the chief difficulty in most
cases was to ascertain a fair return on investment. This phase of
the matter was never satisfactorily dealt with by any U.S.
price-fixing agency during the war. The Federal Trade Commission in
connexion with its cost findings frequently reported to the
Price-Fixing Committee of the War Industries Board a figure representing
the investment, but time did not permit the careful investigation
that would have been necessary to ascertain the actual money
invested, nor was the attitude of the price-fixing agency, as a rule, one
which favoured the strict construction of “investment.” In general,
it may be said that in a majority of the price-fixing operations of the
War Industries Board, some consideration was given to the estimated
investment, and that in such cases the figure used was one which lay
somewhere between the book value claimed by the companies
concerned and the actual net investment made. On the other hand, a
majority of the price-fixing operations of such agencies as the Food
Administration appear to have been made on the basis of a margin
(interest and profits) per unit of product, determined upon with
reference to past experience. And of course, exceptions to any usual
practice were at times necessary.
In general there were three chief purposes in fixing prices: (1) to secure production of needed commodities; (2) to prevent social unrest by checking profiteering, coordinating food prices and wages, and stabilizing industrial conditions; (3) to assure Government economy of purchase. The greatest success was attained with regard to the first purpose. The accomplishment of the second, which was more vague, is difficult to measure, but appears considerable. The most that can be said concerning the third is that things might have been worse had there been no price-fixing.
The table on page 148 shows the yearly and quarterly average prices of important articles whose prices were regulated.
On the whole, it may be said that price-fixing in the United States suffered from the lack of a programme. No adequate study was made of interrelations between commodities or of the various complicated factors affecting demand and supply. No general principles were formulated. Too frequently, each step was taken up as a separate proposition. Much trouble would have been saved by a better understanding among the different price-fixing agencies and by the adoption of certain broad fundamental principles, such as the basis for determining marginal cost and the basis for determining investment. There should have been a general board of strategy to supervise the entire price-fixing programme and to coördinate it with the Government's fiscal arrangements and with the various steps taken to control the production and consumption through priorities and rationing. Some progress was made in this direction, but it remains true that the price-fixing operations were not sufficiently correlated with taxation and borrowing (inflation) on the one hand, and with rationing and priorities on the other.
- (L. H. H.)
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND (see 22.344).—The pop. of this Canadian province in 1911 was 93,728, having sunk from 109,078 in 1891. It is the most densely populated province in Canada, with 42.92 persons to the square mile. In 1911 the origin of the people was: Scots 36,772; English 22,176; Irish 19,900; French 13,117; all other nationalities 1,763. Charlottetown, the capital (pop. 11,198 in 1911), standing on one of the best harbours in America, is celebrated as the birthplace of the Canadian Confederation, the first conferences having been held there in 1864.
The Legislative Assembly is composed of 15 councillors elected on a property qualification, and 15 members elected on a popular franchise. The Executive Government consists of nine members.
The superintendent of education acts as secretary to the board and administers the system through school inspectors. In 1920 there were 468 schools, 597 teachers, and a total enrolment of 17,861 pupils; the expenditure was $268,547 in 1919.
Prince Edward Island has been aptly described as the garden province of the Dominion, more resembling an English shire than a Canadian province. The population is almost entirely agricultural, and practically the whole island has been cleared and brought under cultivation. The soil of the island is best suited for oats and potatoes, which are the staple crops. Wheat is grown for local purposes only. Maize, for fodder, and barley are grown. Cattle and hogs flourish. The total value of field crops in 1920 was $18,530,400. Poultry-raising and dairying are extensively and profitably carried on. Beef and bacon, as well as fruit, poultry, butter, cheese, eggs and potatoes, are exported in large quantities to neighbouring provinces, Newfoundland and the New England states. Coöperative dairying was begun in 1891 and the growth of the industry has been rapid. A new source of revenue began in 1910 with the breeding of black foxes and the industry of fur-farming was developed. About $10,000,000 had already been invested in this industry in 1918, in which year the sale of fox pelts realized over $750,000. In 1919 300 fur ranches sold skins and live animals to the value of $1,500,000, and in 1920 there were approximately 11,000 pairs of black foxes on the ranches of the island.
The once celebrated Malpeque oyster has almost become extinct through disease. The lobster industry is also on the decline. The value of the fisheries in 1919 was $1,536,844, the catch including cod, herring, mackerel, oysters and lobsters. The men employed in the industry numbered about 6,000.
No mining is carried on. Manufacturing is connected chiefly with the preparation of foods such as butter and cheese. Pork-packing and lobster-canning are large and growing industries. The value of manufactured products was $3,136,470 in 1911.
The strait of Northumberland separates Prince Edward Island from the mainland, the distance across varying from 9 to 31 miles. At the narrowest point a railway-car ferry established in 1918 by the Dominion Government connects the Canadian National railway system of the mainland with that on Prince Edward Island, and affords continuous connexion summer and winter across the strait. This is the principal highway of transportation to and from the island province, but the ferry service is occasionally interrupted by ice and the substitution of a tunnel has been advocated.
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY (see 22.347).—In Sept. 1910 President Wilson accepted the Democratic nomination for governor of New Jersey and resigned the presidency of the university. In Jan. 1912 Prof. John Grier Hibben, of the faculty, was elected president. His administration was marked by further development of student self-government, the conducting of discipline and general student activities and the regulation of athletics being in 1921 shared by undergraduate representatives and university officers. Especial attention was paid to the scientific safeguarding of student health and physical fitness by careful periodical examinations and required supervised athletics. The potential effectiveness of the alumni organization was increased by the formation of a National Alumni Association, whose working administrative centre was the Graduate Council of about 100, representing the graduate classes, the alumni associations, and different regional districts of the country. The national character of the university was expressly recognized by the addition of regional trustees to the governing board, and also by the establishment of a large number of regional competitive scholarships.
On the scholastic side, the entrance requirements and the undergraduate curriculum were completely revised. To put the university into closer touch with American secondary education, especially the high schools, Greek was no longer required (although strongly advised) for the A.B. degree. The Litt.B. degree was discontinued. The elective principle was broadened so as to bridge the gaps between preparatory school and college, and underclass and upperclass years, giving the student in his underclass years a broad general training in subjects deemed fundamental to real education, and in his upperclass years requiring him to follow continuous work in one of three divisions of studies, the literary-philosophical, the historical-economic, or the mathematical-scientific. The regulations governing admission to the graduate school, and in particular to candidacy for the competitive fellowships, the awards of which depend entirely on scholarship and ability, attracted to the school an increasing number of select advanced students in liberal studies. The erection of the residential graduate college in 1913 rendered permanent what had previously been an experimental and, in America, an unique feature of the Princeton graduate school, namely, the provision of adequate living quarters for graduate students, who there shared a common scholarly life amid attractive conditions. The graduate college accommodated in 1921 about 100 students.
During the World War over 5,000 undergraduates and graduates were in Service; about 3,000 receiving commissions, and 284 receiving 293 decorations and citations. The honour roll of those who gave
