310 DISEASES OF SWINE 



Beef roasts, which were formerly regarded as expensive at 8 cents 

 a pound, now sell for between 20 and 25 cents per pound. In 

 every other line of meat foods and meat-food products the tendency 

 has been steadily upward, and it must continue so unless some way 

 can be devised to check the ever-increasing shortage in meat pro- 

 duction. The demand is constantly on the increase with our steady 

 gain in population, and, if the supply continues to steadily decrease, 

 there can only be one final outcome, and that will be an acute meat 

 shortage. Prices must, of necessity, advance even still further, 

 and it is only a question of time until meat will be forced off of the 

 daily table of the ordinary laboring man. 



One of the most important questions of the time at the present 

 day is the high cost of living. Trusts are being dissolved, tariffs 

 are being reduced, and in every direction the most supreme efforts 

 are being made to reduce, in so far as possible, the high cost of 

 living. We have here before us an example of one of the most im- 

 portant factors in the increase of costs of meats in the past ten 

 years. With constantly decreasing supply, and a rapidly increas- 

 ing demand in the shape of increased population, the course cannot 

 be otherwise than upward. 



This makes the problem one of very great national importance. 

 It is a question that every citizen must, of necessity, be interested in. 

 Hog-cholera must be wiped out. We have now in our possession 

 an added weapon for use against this disease, and the aid of every 

 man in the United States must be enhsted to assist in the battle 

 against this disease which has for so many years ravaged our farms. 

 It is the duty of the banker, the merchant, the physician, the 

 lawyer, the minister, the laboring man, and the manufacturer, as 

 well as the farmer himself, to see that proper funds are appropriated 

 to carry on the strong campaign that is necessary for a winning 

 fight against the disease. 



As evidence of the ruin which has been produced in recent 

 years, and the effects which are being manifested in the swine 

 industry of the United States, the following figures from the 

 United States Bureau of Animal Industry are of interest. 



In the year 1907 the following figures were given for the number 

 of animals which were inspected by United States Government 

 Inspectors on antemortem inspection: 



