1 1 2 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



the smooth and fertile lands of the Mississippi basin in the 

 growing of field crops, but these highlands furnish excellent 

 pasturage and there is not the slightest scarcity of water. 



The general decline of the range industry may possibly, 

 though not necessarily, bring about a diminution in the number 

 of cattle grown in this country. It will certainly bring about such 

 a diminution unless the price of beef rises and remains perma- 

 nently above the average of the last century. In order that the 

 decline in the number of range cattle may be counterbalanced, 

 there must be a corresponding increase in the number of farm- 

 bred cattle. But such an increase cannot come about until the 

 price of beef rises sufficiently to compensate for the higher 

 cost of raising cattle on the farms as compared with the ranges. 

 As our population increases and as the demand for beef in- 

 creases correspondingly, this demand can stimulate a commen- 

 surate increase of supply only by offering permanently higher 

 prices. Eventually, however, it is not improbable that our coun- 

 try, especially the great seaboard cities, will come to depend 

 more and more on foreign beef imported from countries where 

 land is still cheap enough and abundant enough to make pas- 

 turage an economical use of it. Beef production requires more 

 land per unit of food value produced than almost any other 

 branch of agriculture, though under range conditions it is rather 

 economical of labor. As the demand for food increases through 

 the rapid growth of our population, it will become more and 

 more the tendency to devote the land, wherever it is physically 

 possible, to the production of those crops which require less 

 land per unit of food value, and to depend more and more upon 

 newer countries, where land is abundant and labor scarce, for 

 such products as beef. The fact that the area of cattle grazing 

 has always followed the frontier suggests, at least, that it may 

 follow that frontier beyond those imaginary lines known as 

 national boundaries. 



