Excerpts: The advance in food prices at the outbreak of the European war was due in part to unwarranted fears that food supplies available to consumers in the United States might become scarce, and in part to well-founded expectations that the demand for some foodstuffs would increase. Undoubtedly there would have been some advances in food prices even without the outbreak of the war. The prices of many foods had been low on account of large supplies and low purchasing power. Industrial activity was increasing, thus increasing payrolls and the purchasing power of laborers, and this would have increased the prices of some foodstuffs in the latter half of 1939. Fears as to absolute or even relative scarcity of foodstuffs in the United States were unfounded. The realization of this has caused prices of some products to decline after a few weeks of advancing. The outstanding case of unfounded fears and panic purchasing was that of sugar.
