INCREASING CONSUMPTION 49 



The Competition Question. Following the World War there 

 was a tremendous demand in the metropolitan press to settle 

 returning soldiers on the land. The Secretary of the Interior 

 sponsored a very large-scale plan to colonize soldiers on agricul- 

 tural lands in frontier districts. Without entering here into any 

 discussion of the merits or demerits of governmental colonization 

 schemes a very large question we may well face one phase of 

 the question of placing on the -land suddenly a large number of 

 additional farmers. These new farmers would compete with the 

 present farmers. Any competition which increased the production 

 of staple crops, or other crops, faster than demand increased for 

 such crops, would tend to lower prices for such crops. In such 

 cases we would have overproduction or what the Single Tax 

 school prefers to call " under consumption." The effect on the 

 producer is the same. An increase in demand would be necessary 

 to offset the competition of the new farmer, assuming such new 

 farmer actually to be placed on tillable, productive lands. The 

 question of increasing the demand for food products, of increas- 

 ing their consumption, is a question of more than academic 

 interest. With two-thirds of the people now living in cities and 

 towns, and with their potential buying power in the fields of 

 food products, manufactured goods, amusements, etc., it becomes 

 a matter of practical consideration as to how much they can 

 and ought to spend for their food supply as compared with their 

 other wants. 



Increasing Consumption. Under one condition could a system 

 of "small proprietor" agriculture flourish at the present time in 

 the United States, and that is, there must be an enormous increase 

 in the consumption of agricultural products to offset the increase 

 in production. With the staple crops there is an unknown margin 

 of increase. Cotton, with its hundred by-products, is an example. 

 Any one or more of these products may suddenly flare into world- 

 wide demand. So also with the various uses and by-products of 

 corn, wheat and oats. But clearly more is to be expected from the 

 increase in the consumption of the minor products of the farm, 

 such as milk, cheese, butter, poultry and poultry products, etc. 

 The French peasant, however poor, is said to enjoy his "fowl in 

 the pot." Yet to our city dweller a roast chicken is a luxury. 

 The poultry crop now has about the same value as the wheat crop, 

 but the room for increased consumption here is very vast. But 

 increased consumption seems dependent on either improved quality 

 or lowered price, and lowered price in turn depends on economies 

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