HISTORICAL SURVEY 15 



where, as a wool producer, pure and simple, he is probably safe 

 for some time to come. All these changes, as shown in various 

 countries, are due to the same prime cause, namely pressure of 

 population, which, as we have seen, in earlier times turned hunting 

 from a means of livelihood into a luxury pastime. 



What are the tendencies of the present and of the near future ? 

 Land suitable for cultivation and settlement or even for pastoral 

 pursuits is now more or less limited within the temperate regions 

 of both hemispheres. In the meantime, in spite of great wars, 

 the consuming capacity of industrial Europe and of industrial 

 North America continues to increase faster than local supplies can 

 keep pace with. New industrial regions enter as great consumers. 

 Desperate efforts are being made in such regions to maintain and 

 even to raise the standard of living. The newer countries, which 

 a generation ago, unloaded huge surplus consignments on the 

 British market exclusively, are now in some cases themselves 

 filling up with their own population ; and the output of animal 

 foodstuffs relative to the world s consuming population and increased 

 standards of consumption, grows steadily smaller. 



