38 PRODUCTION 



55'2 in 191 1. 1 In the United States the per capita production of 

 meat, including edible offal, declined from 245'5 Ibs. in 1900 to 169 

 Ibs. in 1914, while meat exports declined from 32 Ibs. per head 

 in 1900 to 8-7 Ibs. in 1913. 2 During the 4 years 1910-1914 meat 

 animals declined by 7 million head, but it is significant that at 

 the same time the total value of these animals rose by 395*5 

 millions of dollars. 2 



In Canada, Australia and New Zealand, taken together, the most 

 important animal foodstuffs producing countries within the British 

 Empire, the percentage increase in food animals in the period 

 1901-11 was only just equal to the per cent, increase in population, 3 

 when allowance is made for the unusually small numbers of sheep 

 in Australia in 1901 owing to the drought. The International 

 Congress of Refrigeration held in Chicago in 1913 came to the 

 conclusion that a shortage of meat in the world trade was undoubted 

 and that the only remedy lies in considerable improvements in the 

 methods of production. 4 



Prices also of meat products, which may be taken as reflecting 

 the abundance or scarcity of supplies in relation to consumption, 

 declined in the United Kingdom with small fluctuations from 

 1883 to a minimum in 1898. 5 Since the year 1900 they have 

 shown a general upward tendency. By 1912 the price-level of 

 1883 was once more reached. The period 1894-1899 marks the 

 lowest part of the curve. It is perhaps not unreasonable to 

 attribute the general low price-level of all other commodities 

 during this period in part at any rate, to the abundance and con- 

 sequent cheapness of foodstuffs, particularly of animal produce. 

 Cheap production of all commodities depends to a considerable 

 extent upon cheap human labour and services, and these in their 

 turn upon cheap food supplies. 6 



The prime cause of the relative growing shortage of meat supplies 

 since 1900 with the consequent rise in meat prices, has been " the 



1 The corresponding decline for the whole of Europe was from 56-7 to 55-3 

 units. (See table, p. 41, below). 



2 U.S. Dept. Agric., Farmers' Bulletin, 575, Feb., 1914, p. 3. 



3 On taking cattle and sheep only and disregarding pigs (which are of im- 

 portance only in Canada) it is found that the actual increase, when reduced 

 to " cattle units," is 29%. 



* See Weddel & Co., Review of the Frozen Meat Trade, 1913, p. 6. 



6 R. H. Hooker, " Course of Meat Prices at Home and Abroad," Statistical 

 Journal, 1912. 



6 The causes of the general changes in price-levels, and particlarly of the 

 rise since 1895, are a vexed question, upon which opinions differ. A number 

 of leading economists in Europe and America hold that the increased gold- 

 supply is the chief determining factor in the recent rise. There is much evi- 

 dence in support of this theory. For further discussion relative to food prices 

 see : 



Bauer & Fisher, Internation? 1 Agric. Inst., Bulletin of Social and 

 Economic Intelligence, April, 1912, Review Article. 



I. Fisher, American Economic Review, Sept., 1912. 



M. O. Zella, Revue des Deux Mondes, Oct. 15th, 1911. 



Levasseur, Revue Economique Internationale, May, . 909. 



