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people each year for about fourteen years, until the shift 

 from livestock products to grain would deplete our stocks of 

 excess wheat. 



With a twenty-per-cent reduction in the consumption of 

 highly prized foods, the nation could feed about 6 million 

 persons for about seven years. With a thirty-per-cent reduc- 

 tion, it could feed approximately 9 million for about five 

 years. 



We Can Feed Many Millions on Grain 



If livestock production were decreased ten per cent, the 

 nation could feed about 17 million additional mouths, and 

 this could be continued year after year. Reductions of 

 twenty and thirty per cent in our livestock production would 

 enable us to feed 35 and 50 million additional mouths re- 

 spectively for an extended period of time. Such a stretching 

 of the food supply would be due to the efficiency of consum- 

 ing cereals directly rather than indirectly in the form of live- 

 stock products. It takes about seven pounds of dry matter 

 in the form of grain, in addition to hay, forage, and pasture, 

 to produce a pound of dry matter in the form of livestock 

 products. This is a luxury which few nations can afford even 

 in time of peace. War is a time when luxuries are usually cur- 

 tailed. 



A ten-, twenty-, or thirty-per-cent reduction in our pro- 

 duction of livestock would involve the same sacrifice on 

 the part of American consumers as a ten-, twenty-, and 

 thirty-per-cent reduction in the consumption of these highly 

 prized products with no change in their production. In either 

 case the American consumer would be called on to reduce 

 his standard of living. However, the number of mouths fed 

 under Lend-Lease or rehabilitation would be quite different. 

 If livestock production were continued and the excess above 

 our restricted consumption were shipped, there would be 



