194 CONSUMPTION 



It is the purpose of the following chapters to analyse the condi- 

 tions that determine the consumption of animal foodstuffs through- 

 out the world, and in special areas. The causes that lead to varia- 

 tions in the consumption of different classes of animal foodstuffs 

 will require special attention. The broader questions, also, relating 

 to the proportions of animal foodstuffs to plant foodstuffs in human 

 nourishment will call for some discussion. 



As has already been anticipated, the theory of a world-market 

 for the more important classes of animal foodstuffs is assumed in 

 this discussion. Such a market existed, with certain qualifications 

 and exceptions, prior to the European War. Its existence is likely 

 to become still more decided at the close of the war, when lines 

 and means of transport are reorganised, and the possibility of any 

 country continuing to have an economic life independent of the 

 world's great markets more or ~ less completely disappears. 

 Local famines, formerly so common even in times of peace, are 

 already rapidly disappearing, and will before long become largely 

 things of the past. Tariff barriers, also, as relating to foodstuffs, 

 seem destined to be swept away. 



In the matter of terminology, it will be convenient to use the 

 term ' plant foodstuffs " to cover all articles of food derived 

 directly from the vegetable kingdom, whether cereals, fruits, nuts, 

 specialised crops such as potatoes and sugar, or garden vegetables. 

 The terms animal foodstuffs, feedstuffs and fodders will be used as 

 in Part I., above. Since meat in various forms is the most import- 

 ant and representative kind of animal foodstuffs, the peoples that 

 consume animal foodstuffs to a considerable extent will, for con- 

 venience, be called meat-consumers ; and those that live almost 

 entirely on plant foodstuffs will similarly be called meat-abstainers. 

 The term fish-consumers will explain itself. 



Attention will be confined in this section, mainly to the con- 

 sumption of animal foodstuffs, as distinct from the production of 

 the same articles. In discussing the adjustment between consump- 

 tion and production, however, the reactions of these upon each 

 other will require to be noted ; and some of the points and con- 

 clusions already stated in the section on production, will be 

 re-examined in the light of the study of consumption attempted in 

 the following chapters. Indeed, consumption and production in 

 this field are so intimately connected that it is scarcely possible 

 to discuss one of them without constant reference to the other. We 

 shall see as we proceed that the interdependence of these two sides 

 is a striking feature in the study of the economic questions relating 

 to the important class of commodities that forms the subject of 

 this enquiry. 





