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bread. Soybeans may be used for paint and plastics as well 

 as for cooking fat. Lard may go into the soap vat. Through 

 the price system we determined how much of these com- 

 modities would be used by industry. If food was scarce, food- 

 consumers bid up the prices of wheat, cottonseed oil, soy- 

 bean oil, or similar products, choking off the supplies for the 

 industrial users. 



The food-consumers, urged on by hunger, outbid the man- 

 ufacturers. 



Lend-Lease a Shock Absorber 



Food has always been an economic problem. It is now 

 becoming a political problem as well. When economic and 

 political interests clash, the short-run political interests usu- 

 ally win. How the conflicting interests of our allies, the oc- 

 cupied territories, and the American voters will be equated 

 during the even-numbered years remains to be seen. 



Population Always Equals Food Supply 



The human population and the food supply will always be 

 in adjustment. If the supply of food is ample, the excess will 

 be exported or converted into concentrated livestock prod- 

 ucts, and all will be used. If the food supply is decreased, 

 livestock production will be reduced, more grain will be 

 eaten by man, and again all will be used. If the food supply 

 is decreased below the subsistence level and imports are not 

 possible, the harsh process of starvation will adjust popula- 

 tion to the food supply. 



About a hundred and fifty years ago Malthus observed 

 that the population tends to outrun the food supply. Some 

 say he could not foresee the improvements in the techniques 

 of food production, the possibilities of shifts in the type of 

 food consumed, and the voluntary restrictions on the growth 

 of population, but the long-range soundness of his general 

 conclusion is inescapable. 



