1342 RT'RAL ECOXOMICS 



tion per unit of surface in the United States is far from being attained, but 

 the phase of production at cheap cost price has been passed. 



The farmers rapidly adapt their production to the price of products^ 

 and if the present prices are maintained the production will increase, and if 

 they go up still further the production may grow considerably. 



There is apparently no likelihood of the prices paid to farmers for their 

 products showing a permanent decline. There are some means, however, 

 by which the price of products to the consumers may be reduced The pre- 

 sent mechanism of the distribution of agricultural products to consumers 

 is exceedingly expensive in the United States, and a great part of the ex- 

 penses entailed might be eliminated. A sum ranging from 50 to 66 % of the 

 price paid by the consumer does not reach the producer, and the greater 

 portion of this percentage is absorVjed by the town distributing mechanism. 

 It is estimated that one half of these expenses could be eliminated ; such a 

 saving in distribution would of course entail a change of occupation of a 

 large part of the persons occupied in the present system. 



Necessarily, in proportion as the population increases, the consumption 

 of the less expensive commodities also increases, and beef is one of the most 

 expensive agricultural products, because in order to obtain it a considerable 

 quantity of cultivation products must be converted. It has been calculated 

 that a given quantity of cereals can feed a number of persons five times 

 greater than the meat obtainable by transformation of these cereals. With 

 the increase of population, the price of cereals goes up more rapidh' than that 

 of meat. A given quantit}' of products converted into milk produces a 

 larger quantity of commodities intended for human consumption than would 

 the same quantities converted into meat ; consequently the number of 

 dairy cows increases almost parallel with the growth of the propulation. 

 The United States possess one cow to five head of inhabitants. In addi- 

 tion to the milk, this quantity of dairy cattle yearly supplies a calf, a cow 

 and a bull to the butcher for each family. 



Pigs convert the food intended for animal consumption more economic- 

 ally than beef cattle, and with the same quantity of cereals a higher pro- 

 portion of meat is obtained with pigs than with cattle. This explains the 

 increase in the number of pigs and the reduction in the number of beef cat- 

 tle. Poultry, finalty, convert foods still more economically than other clas- 

 ses of domestic animals. The substitution of eggs for beef is observed chiefly 

 in those parts where the greatest increases of population occur. From 1890 

 to 1910 the increase of the population in the 7 principal egg-consuming 

 markets (New York, Chicago, Boston, Saint Ivouis, Cincinnatti, San Fran- 

 cisco and Milwaukee) was 78 % and the increased egg consumption amount- 

 ed to 183 %. When the population becomes very den.se, the forage pro- 

 duced on farms is converted into milk, and the meat production is limited to 

 the quantity obtainable from the forage and grasslands still available when 

 the former demand has been met. The quantity of cereals transformed by 

 means of cattle diminishes constantly. This state of things finds its con- 

 firmation in the progressive reduction of fattening cattle and in the tendency 

 to kill off young animals for the butcher. 



