20 PROBLEMS IN WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



In addition there have been significant changes in the diet 

 of the American people during the last three decades. People 

 whose diet contains as large a proportion of animal food as 

 ours did before 1900 must have a larger land area for their 

 support than people who prefer a vegetable diet. Since 70 

 per cent of our crops not including pasturage is fed to 

 animals and only 30 per cent to humans directly, a change 

 from meats to fruits, vegetables, and cereal foods such as 

 has taken place means that less acreage is required to meet 

 home demands. Besides, as the tastes of the average Amer- 

 ican have shifted to some extent from staple cereals and 

 meats grown on American farms to sugar, tropical fruits, 

 and oils, so to a like degree his demands have shifted from 

 the products of American farms to those of tropical lands. 10 



Effect of the Loss of Foreign Markets on Demand: Ten- 

 dencies in the foreign agricultural markets of the United 

 States have been no less significant. The rising tide of 

 nationalism, the desire for self-sufficiency and the clamor 

 of agrarian groups have led to the erection of tariff barriers, 

 the quota system and to exchange restrictions in Europe. 

 It has been estimated that the products of fully forty million 

 acres were formerly sold in foreign markets now closed 

 to us. 11 



In addition the purchasing power of our foreign buyers 

 has been seriously impaired by the disruption of industry 

 resulting from the World War and more recently from the 

 world-wide depression. The recovery of foreign markets 

 for our agricultural products is a prospect of the distant 

 future if indeed America will ever recover them completely. 



10 Baker, O. E., " Population, Food Supply and American Agriculture," 

 Annals of the American Academy, March 1929, vol. 142, pp. 119-33. 



11 Tugwell, Rexford, Under-Secy. of Agriculture, New York Times, 

 January 14, 1934, 8: I. 



