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ing needs of the army, together with Lend-Lease, necessitate 

 shifts in the diet of the civilian population. Changes in the 

 purchasing power of different income groups within the ci- 

 vilian population cause further changes in civilian food hab- 

 its. Rationing makes for still further shifts. 



These shifts in the diet might be diminished or postponed 

 for a short time if bad weather should result in a sudden 

 liquidation of the country's livestock. This would increase 

 our meat supplies, but the increase would be only tempor- 

 ary and would be followed by drastic reduction later. The 

 weather will influence the timing of our dietary changes, but 

 cannot prevent them. 



As the amount of highly prized concentrated animal foods 

 has declined, a substitute must be found. People have dif- 

 ficulty getting enough turnip greens, lettuce, potatoes, and 

 other healthful, watery foods into the stomach to replace 

 the concentrated foods. Therefore these concentrated foods 

 must be replaced by another concentrated food, which in- 

 evitably is grain. 



The sudden shift to grain will raise problems other than 

 dietary ones. Our cereal industry is not equipped to operate 

 on the scale that will be necessary if the consumer suddenly 

 changes his diet. In these days of scarce materials and labor, 

 it may be difficult for the flour mills, the breakfast-food man- 

 ufacturers, and the corn-products plants to expand their op- 

 erations sufficiently to fill the gap that will be left by dimin- 

 ishing supplies of highly prized foods. 



Increased grain consumption need not be monotonous. 

 Grain can take many forms more of the Scotchman's oat- 

 meal, more of the Indian's corn meal, more of the Oriental's 

 rice, more Pennsylvania Dutch buckwheat pancakes, or more 

 fortified bread from Kansas wheat. For varity there is the 

 possibility of more of Chinese sprouted soybeans produced in 



