678 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



head were divided between 23 markets. In another, 114 head 

 reached 20 markets, while 121 head reached 15 markets and 15 head 

 reached 4 markets. 



Although every effort was made to select typical lots for tracing, 

 and the tracing was done with the utmost care by an experienced 

 investigator, and the figures as to yields, prices, and other facts 

 were taken from the records of the packing companies, the number 

 of lots was not great enough and the department's stud}^ of the 

 packers' accounting and cost records has not gone far enough to 

 warrant its unreserved sponsoring of the results. As conditions 

 require and opportunity occurs, work of this character will be 

 carried further. 



GENERAL ASSISTANCE TO THE LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY. 



Cooperating with other branches of the department, particularly 

 the Bureaus of Agricultural Economics and Animal Industry and 

 the former Office of Home Economics of the States Relations Serv- 

 ice, the Packers and Stockyards Administration has during the past 

 year inaugurated certain activities to remove misapprehension on 

 the part of producers, distributors, and consumers as to the depart- 

 ment's attitude toward meat as a food. 



The military and economic exigencies of the war period resulted 

 in many highly intensive and successful efforts to conserve some 

 products, both through restraining consumption and through sub- 

 stitution of others for them. In the case of meat, this was carried 

 to the extent of questioning the wholesomeness and desirability of 

 meat in the diet. One of the results was that it left in the public 

 mind to some extent a scientificall}^ inaccurate and economically 

 unfair discrimination against meat as a food. The department, 

 therefore, felt justified in undertaking some publicity to counteract 

 the results of the previous campaigns with reference to meat con- 

 sumi^tion. 



After due consideration it was decided that a poster in full colors 

 would prove the most effective vehicle for conveying the depart- 

 ment's position to the public. For pictorial attraction and appetite 

 appeal the poster relies upon a well-cooked roast of beef in natural 

 colors surrounded by browned potatoes and a green garnish. The 

 printed matter is brief and to the point and attracts attention to 

 the fact that meat is wholesome; that well-balanced meals promote 

 health and vigor; and that in buying meats consumers should give 

 attention to the full variety of kinds and cuts available, this chiefly 

 with the underlying idea of economy. 



The National Live Stock and Meat Board, made up of 11 pro- 

 ducers, 2 packers, 2 retail representatives, and 2 livestock commis- 

 sion men, was invited to finance the lithographing and distribution 

 of the posters, of which more than 100,000 have thus far been dis- 

 tributed in large size and over 3,000,000 in the form of a diminutive 

 sticker. In this work not only the National Live Stock and Meat 

 Board, but the Institute of American Meat Packers, American Na- 

 tional Live Stock Association, National Wool Growers' Association, 

 National L'ive Stock Exdhange, National Association of Meat 

 Councils, and the LTnited Master Butchers' Association have co- 

 operated. 



