WILD LIFE IN NATIONAL ECONOMY 19 



same number of acres devoted to raising feed for dairy 

 cattle, the production in the form of dairy products was 

 nearly 15 per cent greater. 7 



Advances in mechanization have led to the withdrawal of 

 some 27,000,000 acres which formerly were needed to pro- 

 duce the feed for approximately 9,000,000 horses and mules 

 which since 1921 have been replaced by machinery. These 

 acres in most part have been planted to products fit for 

 human consumption and thus have contributed their share 

 towards upsetting the balance between supply and demand. 8 



Demand for American Agricultural Products Decreased: 

 Now turning to the demand side of the balance, consider 

 for a moment what had been happening there. The nation 

 witnessed a tremendous growth in population up to 1914, a 

 growth caused partly by a high birth rate and partly by 

 large immigration from Europe. 



With the opening of the Great War in Europe, immigra- 

 tion slowed down and finally almost stopped altogether. In 

 the years that followed the War when it would normally 

 have recommenced, various statutes were passed by Con- 

 gress restricting the number of immigrants allowed to enter 

 the country each year. During the same period, that is, 

 from 1914 onwards the birth rate at home was lower than 

 in the period that preceded the War. If these trends in 

 population continue, it is expected that by 1950 the American 

 population will have become practically stationary. 9 



7 Nourse, E. G., " The Outlook for Agriculture," Journal of Farm 

 Economics, January 1927. 



8 Hyde, Arthur, Secretary of Agriculture, "Developing a National 

 Policy," Proceedings of the National Conference on Land Utilisation, 

 November 1931, p. 31. 



9 Olsen, Nils, Chief, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, "The Agri- 

 cultural Outlook," Proceedings of the National Conference on Land 

 Utilisation, November 1931, p. 5. See also Dublin, Louis, Population 

 Problems, passim (New York, 1926). 



