( 130 ) 



sufficient food for 3 to 9 million people. If livestock produc- 

 tion were curtailed and cereal grain were shipped, there 

 would be enough food for 17 to 50 million people. 



Another important consideration is the length of time the 

 two plans could operate. A twenty-per-cent reduction in the 

 consumption of livestock products, with no change in their 

 production, would enable us to feed 6 million people for 

 about seven years ; a twenty-per-cent reduction in livestock 

 production would enable us to feed 35 million people in- 

 definitely. 



If, owing to a decrease in production, our civilian popu- 

 lation decreased its consumption of the highly prized foods 

 to the Chinese standard, the nation could feed about 170 

 million additional people. 



These estimates were based on a continuation of 1942 pro- 

 duction, which is not likely. A material reduction in crop 

 production would not change the principle ; it would merely 

 reduce the numbers that could be fed. 



Present Policy Will Not Meet Commitments 



Although these estimates are general approximations, they 

 indicate clearly that reducing the standard of living that 

 is, curtailing the consumption of highly prized foods with no 

 change in their production fills the stomachs of only a 

 few million additional people. This is the current policy and 

 apparently that contemplated for the future. Such a policy 

 can be continued only as long as abundant feed is available 

 for livestock, and wheat is available to compensate for the 

 decline in the civilian consumption of livestock products. 



Our agricultural policy has been to expand livestock pro- 

 duction and stimulate the feeding of wheat. If the nation 

 assumes that there is an overproduction of grain, that crop 

 production will continue at the high levels of 1942, that our 

 Lend-Lease and rehabilitation programs will not expand 



