50 THE "BACK TO THE LAND" MOVEMENT 



in production and marketing. In short, the poultry grower must 

 learn the lesson from the orange grower of California. 



Milk is of all foods the most ideal the one perfect "balanced 

 ration." Yet our daily consumption per person is only one-half 

 a glass! When national prohibition arrived, we were spending 

 $5.00 a year for the milk we consumed, and $8.00 a year for the 

 beer we drank! The coming importance of our condensed milk 

 trade is illustrated by the recent figures from our Commerce Re- 

 ports. The condensed milk exports ran in value at about $1,000,000 

 to $2,000,000 a year for some years prior to 1915, according to 

 these Commerce Reports. For the year 1915, the value of con- 

 densed milk exports was $6,000,000, most of these exports going 

 to Europe. In the year 1918 the condensed milk exports to the 

 one port of Hong-kong amounted to $3,611,500, indicating the 

 tremendous increase in the use of this food by the Chinese. 



Cheese is a staple article of diet in foreign lands, being in all 

 respects a wholesome and cheap food. Yet our daily consumption 

 of cheese is only one one-hundredth of a pound per person. Con- 

 densed milk, fermented milk, and the various forms of milk by- 

 products suggest the possibility of developing an immense and 

 profitable market here. 



Tobacco. In tobacco we are spending, according to Harvey 

 W. Wiley, $1,200,000,000 a year. 9 This is twice as much as is 

 spent for butter, condensed milk, and cheese. Some shifting of 

 demand is possible here. In such case, however, the tobacco 

 farmer, would need to shift his production to meet the change 

 in demand. 



Jam. Pratt tells us that the English farmers when America 

 and Canada ruined the wheat market for them, turned to more 

 specialized foods. Jam is one. The acreage in fruit trees increased 

 to three hundred thousand acres an increase of sixty-three per 

 cent in thirty years. In America many of the farmers' apples, 

 peaches, pears, etc., rot on the ground. How much jam could, 

 for instance, New York City alone consume? Doctor Howe tells 

 us that New York is supporting commercialized leisure and amuse- 

 ments to the extent of eleven thousand, five hundred saloons, 

 eight hundred dance halls, and six hundred motion picture shows, 

 with an estimated expenditure on the people's part of $100,000,000 

 a year. 10 This merely illustrates the strength of market demand 

 for those things which the people happen to want or are educated 



9 Good Housekeeping, Jan. 1916, p. 92. 



10 Howe, Modern City and its Problems, p. 307 (published in 1915). 



