THE RATE OF CONSUMPTION 200 



known that the per capita meat consumption of certain large popu- 

 lations in Europe, as well as in North America, showed some decline 

 in the period 1907-13. Now it is not generally held that the stan- 

 dard of living declined in these countries to any extent in the same 

 period. One of the ways in which the standard of living was 

 maintained in face of a growing meat shortage was by an increased 

 use of dairy products, 1 among which butter, with its substitutes, 

 ranks as the chief. 



The fact that the production of butter has been comparatively 

 elastic in recent years has been due to two main conditions in agri- 

 cultural economics ; newly-developed regions, remote from the 

 world's markets, such as Australasia and Siberia, have, under 

 improved transport facilities, been able to specialise more pro- 

 fitably in butter production than in any other branch of agricul- 

 ture 2 ; and the earlier developed or long settled-regions, nearer 

 to the great centres of population in Europe and North America 

 have been forced by the rising prices of land to adopt more in- 

 tensive methods of farming, and dairying has been one of the 

 readiest means of accomplishing this. 3 



The rise of margarine manufacture on a large scale, since the 

 commencement of the twentieth century, has undoubtedly eased 

 the pressure that would have arisen upon the world's supplies of 

 butter. In the earlier stages the materials used for the manufac- 

 ture of margarine were almost wholly of animal origin, animal 

 fats and milk being the principal ingredients. 4 In recent 5'ears, 



1 The standard of living was also maintained, and perhaps even raised 

 somewhat on an average, by an increased consumption of poultry produce, 

 tropical fruits, sugar, etc. See U.S. Dept. Agric., Bureau of Crop Estimates, 

 Report 190, p. 134. 



2 As noted above, the cheapness and efficiency of butter transportation 

 under cold storage by land and on the sea, has aided in this direction. It has 

 been pointed out also (Part I., Chap, ix.) that the introduction of the cream 

 separator, the establishment of butter factories, and the rapid recent improve- 

 ments in milking machines have all assisted in making dairying a prominent 

 industry in certain newer regions where wages are high and hand labour 

 costly and difficult to obtain. In the older countries, where hand labour has 

 been comparatively cheap, these mechanical developments have played a 

 less important part. 



3 It will be seen later (Chap, v., below) that the dairy cow is a highly efficient 

 converter of fodder into human food ; hence where conditions are favourable 

 good dairy cows are a profitable means of utilising land. This fact has no 

 doubt assisted the development of dairying in the newer countries also, but 

 is more prominent in the older countries where land is scarce. 



4 For detailed information concerning the manufacture of margarine and 

 for recipes giving materials used, see " Die Margarine Fabrikation," by Th. 

 Buddinger, Trier, 1913 ; and " Die Margarine," by H. van Voornveld, Trier, 

 1913 ; also a paper entitled " Modern Margarine Technology," published 

 by the Society of Chemical Industry, Dec. 15th, 1917. Animal fats (oleo, 

 lard etc.) are still used for certain higher grades of margarine, though excel- 

 lent products were made in Germany before the war from coconut oil. The 

 recipes given in the above publications include three different classes as 

 regards the liquid constituent (a) with whole milk, (b) with skim-milk, (t) with 

 water. 



