TEMPERATE SURPLUS-PRODUCING REGIONS 57 



type of a specialised industrial one. It follows, therefore, that, as 

 compared with other countries in the same class, the Argentine 

 surplus of animal and cereal produce bears a very high proportion 

 to total output, and is more apparent than elsewhere. Since 

 Argentina has no industrial population to feed and a comparatively 

 small leisured class, much produce goes into export channels that 

 in other countries is consumed by local non-agricultural populations. 

 By way of illustration, the case of the United States may be quoted, 

 where the remarkable decline in the export surplus of animal 

 produce shortly after 1900 was partly due to the growth of manu- 

 facturing industries ; manufactured goods have there tended to 

 be substituted more and more for foodstuffs in the export trade. 



The total production of animal foodstuffs in Argentina cannot 

 be accurately ascertained owing to inadequate official statistics, 

 and the same is more or less true of the numbers of animals, of 

 which only an occasional census is taken. Except as regards 

 exports, therefore, the available statistical material consists largely 

 of estimates only. 



The following figures will serve to show the tendencies in pro- 

 duction, and in export trade of animal foodstuffs from the Republic : 



It will be seen that the numbers of Argentine live stock, expressed 

 in "cattle unit? " passed a maximum prior to the year 1914. It is 

 true that later estimates show an increase upon the figures for 

 1914, but the previously existing numbers have apparently not yet 

 been completely restored. 2 On the other hand, there was a con- 

 tinuous and somewhat rapid increase in the quantities of meat 

 exported between 1901 and 1912, and more recent figures show 

 that since 1912 the total exports have been maintained at the same 

 level, if not actually increased. 3 This is all the more striking, since 

 the table shows that the per capita numbers of " cattle units '. 

 declined continuously and sharply between 1895 and 1914. Several 

 factors have contributed to this discrepancy between the numbers 



1 Including live cattle (average = -720 Ibs. dressed meat) and live sheep 

 (average = 55 Ibs. dressed meat). 



2 In 1917 the estimated numbers of cattle and sheep in Argentina were 

 respectively 29 millions and 55 millions Weddel & Co., Review of the 

 Frozen Meat Trade, 1917. In 1911 there were estimated to be 28-8 million 

 cattle and 80-4 million sheep in the Republic ; in 1914, 25'9 and 43'2 millions. 



3 The exports of meat (exclusive of live animals) from Argentina in 1915 

 were estimated at 471,250 tons, which marks an advance upon the figures 

 for 1912. 



