368 LIVE-STOCK AND MEAT INDUSTRY 



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the railroads, the bankers, the Federal and State governments 

 and many other interests are now cooperating with the farmers 

 for the purpose of increasing the number and improving the breed 

 of live stock. The factors making for and the factors making 

 against an increase may be considered in turn. 



(1) For an Increase. The breeding of cattle and sheep on the 

 ranges represents one phase of extensive agriculture. But inten- 

 sive agriculture is gradually encroaching on this area. This means 

 that the breeding of live stock will need to shift to the more inten- 

 sive form of agriculture, in most cases, if any increase is to be 

 expected. The problem of an increase is therefore, a two-fold one, 

 namely, an increase in live stock in the so-called range country of 

 the West, and an increase in livestock in the farming sections of 

 the rest of the country. The Federal Department of Agriculture 

 made an optimistic report in the year 1916 on the subject " Live- 

 stock Production in the Eleven Far Western Range States." In 

 these eleven States (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Mon- 

 ana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and 

 Wyoming) the investigators for the Government found a decline 

 of 13 per 'cent in the number of live stock between the years 1910 

 and 1914. This decline was attributed to the settlement of public 

 lands and the consequent reduction of the range. However, in 

 spite of this actual decline, the prediction was made that this 

 decrease would in the future give way to an actual increase. The 

 belief in an increase was based on the probability that the number 

 of live stock on farms would be greater in the future ; that the stock 

 ranges in the national forests would continue to improve ; that the 

 carrying capacity of the range on the public domain would be 

 increased by legal regulations; and that, finally, better and more 

 scientific use would be made of forage. The Government's opti- 

 mistic prediction is based on the calculation that the carrying 

 capacity of the forest reserves can be increased by 15 per cent, and 

 of the public domain by 30 per cent. Some consideration is also 

 given to the use of better sires, and to more scientific feeding 

 methods. The chief conclusions reached by this federal investi- 

 gation are, to sum up, that hereafter there should be a slow increase 

 in the output of beef and mutton in the range States of the West, 

 but that this increase is likely to be accompanied by an increase 

 in the cost of production. However, the problem of live stock 

 increase cannot be solved by the eleven range States alone. As 

 one of our leading publicists, Easton G. Osman, states it, "The 

 future of meat depends on intensive agriculture rather than exten- 



