GENERAL SURVEY OF THE SOURCES 25 



for export from home-grown and imported materials, they (and 

 others like them) may be called the elaborating-commercial group. 



The adjustment between the world's production of animal food- 

 stuffs and its consumption of the same is geographically far from 

 simple. The final result resembles a balance-sheet of accounts 

 where the correct equalisation of the totals has been obtained only 

 by numerous transfers from one side to the other of the ledger. 

 In the end, of course, total world's production is equal to total 

 world's consumption plus wastage. It is convenient to follow the 

 ordinary political divisions according to countries, since the 

 statistics both of production and of international trade are classified 

 in this way. It is necessary, also, in order to obtain a clear under- 

 standing of the ultimate sources of supplies, to distinguish animal 

 feedstuffs from finished animal food products in import and export 

 trade. This is not so necessary in considering that part of the 

 finished products that enters directly into the home consumption 

 of the newer important sui plus -producing countries, such as 

 Argentina, since these countries seldom import animal feedstuffs. 

 The total consumption of the great animal foodstuffs importing 

 countries, such as Great Britain, falls into three divisions, namely, 

 first, home production of finished animal foodstuffs, containing as 

 supplementary raw material, second, imported animal feedstuffs, 

 less what is fed to horses or is otherwise diverted from the con- 

 sumption of food-producing animals, and third, imports of finished 

 animal foodstuffs. Similarly also the total production of the 

 surplus-producing and exporting countries may also be divided into 

 three groups namely, home consumption of finished animal food- 

 stuffs, exports of finished animal foodstuffs, and exports of animal 

 feedstuffs. It has been shown above, however, that the separation 

 of animal feedstuffs from cereal foodstuffs for direct human 

 consumption, can be made only approximately in practice. 



The most conspicuous feature in the world's balance sheet of 

 the production and consumption of animal food products is the 

 transfer to Western Europe as defined above, from the rest of the 

 world, of such surplus of these products as arises directly, or 

 indirectly through the elaborating-commercial group in the same 

 region. British South Africa, though v elatively a small consumer, 

 may perhaps be grouped with the countries of Western Europe, 

 as taking some small share of the surplus. 1 



1 Though it seems necessary, for the purpose of convenience in terminology 

 and statistics, to follow the ordinary division according to countries, this is 

 opposed to any logical regional classification. Thus in British South Africa 

 the industrialised Transvaal accounts for most of the imports of foodstuffs, 

 while other parts, notably Natal, may have at times a surplus in excess of 

 local requirements. Marked industrial, and therefore food-importing areas 

 occur in countries that are mainly food-exporting. Prominent among these 

 areas are the North-Eastern States of America, North- Western Italy, and 

 North-Eastern Ireland. Mining districts, especially in newer countries, 

 represent importing " islands." Conversely, certain parts of highly indus- 

 trialised countries are predominantly animal-food producing. See below, p. 27. 



