WILD LIFE IN NATIONAL ECONOMY 2 I 



Thus, on one side of the equation we have had the drive 

 for a larger food supply continued from the pre-war period 

 into the post-war period, a drive the full force of which 

 was just beginning to be felt from 1920 onwards, while on 

 the other side of the equation we have a change in popula- 

 tion growth which in the post-war period has developed 

 into a definite trend towards a stationary population. With 

 the loss of foreign markets the ratio between food supply 

 and demand at home was bound to get out of balance, while 

 the industrial depression aggravated the situation by lessen- 

 ing the purchasing power of the urban workers. 12 



As for probable agricultural land needs of the future, it 

 is likely that population, until it becomes stationary, will 

 need a slight annual increase in land under cultivation. On 

 the other hand, the increase in efficiency of production is 

 expected to continue. Therefore, the amount of acreage 

 needed will expand very slowly, if at all, in the next few 

 decades. 13 



Attempts to Restore a Balance: The only solution of the 

 agricultural depression, as the Administration sees it, is to 

 balance production with demand. Some attempt has been 

 made to stimulate demand by bringing about an increase in 

 wages of the urban workers and by negotiating reciprocity 

 treaties with foreign nations. The chief reliance of the 

 Administration's leaders, however, has been placed upon 

 reducing supply, temporarily, by means of a crop-reduction 

 program as provided for by the Agricultural Adjustment 

 Act, 14 and permanently by a shift in land use. 



This permanent program will result in the complete with- 

 drawal of between fifty and one hundred million acres of 



12 Ostrolenk, Bernhard, Annals of the American Academy, vol. 148, 

 p. 207. 



13 Baker, O. E., What About the Year 2000? (1929), pp. 24-26. 



14 Statutes of the United States, Session Laws, 73rd Congress, ist 

 Sess., Chap. 25. 



