Ii8 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



to produce a pound of it. It has been estimated that a given 

 amount of grain will support five times as many persons as will 

 the meat grown from it. As population increases, the price of 

 grain rises faster than does the price of meat. During the last 

 ten years, corn has risen in price much faster than have steers. 

 This is the reason why farmers are not raising more beef. The 

 childish suggestion that each farmer should raise two steers a year 

 would result in a very much higher cost of living, if farmers were 

 foolish enough to follow the advice. This advice ignores the fact 

 that we cannot eat the grain and also produce beef from it. Laws 

 are often introduced in Congress and in state legislatures to pro- 

 hibit the killing of heifer calves, in the apparent assumption that 

 calves live on air. The food in the milk that it takes to produce a 

 given amount of veal will support more persons than will the veal. 

 The longer the calf is fed on milk, the less is the supply of human 

 food. The comparative prices offered for the milk and for the veal 

 produced from it are measures of the comparative need of the city 

 for these products. Hence, calves are not kept long except where 

 milk is cheap. Few cattle are raised except where feed is cheap. 



A given amount of feed will produce much more human food 

 in milk than it will in beef. Dairy cows are therefore increasing 

 about as rapidly as population. We keep a little more than one 

 cow for five persons. In addition to milk, this number of cows 

 provides about one veal or one old cow or bull for beef for each 

 family each year. 



Hogs are much more efficient users of food than are steers. 

 A given amount of grain will produce many more pounds of pork 

 than it will of beef. For this reason, hogs are increasing in 

 number while beef cattle are decreasing. 



Poultry are very efficient users of food. As meat rises in price, 

 more eggs are used. The egg receipts in the seven leading egg 

 markets. New York, Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, San 

 Francisco, and Milwaukee, were as follows : ^ 



1 891 5,040,888 cases 



1901 8,655,001 cases 



191 1 14,275,271 cases 



1 U.S. Dept. Agr., Year Book, 191 2, p. 688. 



