THE CONSUMING POPULATIONS 197 



mcnt local supplies otherwise deficient, was of great effect in 

 making laige increases in the industrial populations in Europe 

 possible. It is only in quite recent years that technical develop- 

 ments have been of marked effect in increasing the returns per 

 acre from occupied land. 1 In the main, however, a survey of 

 those fifty years shows, as we have seen, that the increasing 

 meat-consuming population of the world was utilising hitherto 

 undeveloped areas of land in order to obtain the additional supplies 

 of foodstuffs required, rather than seeking to do so by making 

 already occupied land more productive. 2 



The increase in the total population of the world and of the 

 meat-consuming population, that has continued during the last 

 fifty years, does not make it appear that there will be a marked 

 slackening in the rate of increase in the near future. Even under 

 a diminished rate of increase, the greater totals produce a relatively 

 large increase in absolute numbers ; thus an increase of 1% in the 

 present population of the United States means an addition of over 

 one million persons to the population, while fifty years ago an 

 increase of about 2J% was required to produce the same absolute 

 addition to the numbers of the population. From the point of 

 view of this enquiry, it is apparent that the problem of producing 

 food supplies sufficient in quantity and quality to meet the growing 

 needs of the world's population, still exists. In the last resort it 

 is a question whether the haman control over natural resources 

 for food production will be effective in maintaining the increases 

 in produce of different kinds required to meet the grovving needs of 

 increasing population combined with higher standards ot living. 3 

 Failing this, widespread modifications in the dietary may become 

 necessarv in the future : the concentrated animal foodstuffs, which 



/ 



are more costly in agricultural resources, may have to be replaced 

 to some extent by the less concentrated plant foodstuffs. 4 



A more detailed examination of the rates of increase in the popu- 

 lations of the various meat-consuming regions, during the ten 

 years from 1901 to 1911, throws light upon the present tendencies. 



1 This has arisen through improvements in farming methods due to the 

 advance of agricultural science ; in general, widespread improvements have 

 taken place in stock-breeding and in the manufacture and utilisation of 

 commercial fertilisers and feedstuffs, in the latter of which the cheapening 

 of transport has played an important part. 



* This is especially true of the Anglo-Saxon peoples. Those of Germany 

 and certain neighbouring countries were rather an exception in this matter. 



8 See Part I., Chap. xii. With reference to the dependence of human pro- 

 gress in the future upon agricultural production, see J. Russell Smith, Industry 

 and Commerce, p. 262, where it is stated that the comfort of human popula- 

 tions in the future probably depends more upon commercial fertilisers than 

 upon iron and coal. 



4 For a discussion of this question, see Chap, iii., below. 



