318 PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION 



In the years prior to the war increasing quantities of animal 

 foodstuffs were finding their way from European countries and from 

 Siberia to Germany and Austria l ; and it is to be noted that if 

 closer commercial relations are established between the Central 

 Powers and the Russian territory before or after a general peace is 

 made, any surplus of animal foodstuffs and of feedstuffs from this 

 region will be forthwith exported to Germany and Austria, and 

 the trade thus established may continue to the practical exclusion 

 of other deficiency countries. In any case, Germany had become 

 a large customer for Siberian butter before the outbreak of war, 2 

 and sooner or later would probably have absorbed the greater part 

 of the Russian and Siberian surplus of animal foodstuffs to meet its 

 growing deficiency. 



In conclusion, there is little doubt that the war in several ways 

 will have the effect of increasing for a time the shortage of animal 

 foodstuffs in Europe, that was beginning to be felt before its out- 

 break ; but the situation may be relieved to some extent by an 

 increased use of fish and by a better utilisation of the various kinds 

 of animal foodstuffs themselves, and in the meantime production 

 will be stimulated in the surplus countries outside Europe ; more- 

 over, the purchasing power of European populations may for a time 

 be impaired in such a way and to such an extent as to lessen their 

 effective demand for the more costly foodstuffs, in which case the 

 shortage would not be so apparent. 



In the long run it does not appear that the war will have any 

 appreciable effect in hindering the progress of agricultural pro- 

 duction, and the anticipation remains that, after a period of shortage 

 lasting, perhaps, for a decade, given favourable conditions there 

 will be a comparative abundance of animal foodstuffs for the white 

 populations of the world. 



1 This applied particularly to the surplus from the Scandinavian countries 

 and from Holland, as well as to that of Siberia (in butter) noted below. 

 Practically all the live animals exported from Denmark, Holland and Sweden 

 went to Germany, and Danish butter was finding an increasing market in 

 Austria- Hungary. (See Report, British Consul, Denmark, 1913, p. 5. Ger- 

 many's imports of perishable foodstuffs were increasing more rapidly than 

 those of the United Kingdom, though the latter were of course still larger. 

 (See Annales de Gtographie, March, 1918, pp. 112, 113). 



2 In 1911 approximately 432,000 casks of Siberian butter went to Germany, 

 as compared with approximately 440,000 casks to the United Kingdom, 

 (See Report British Consul at Omsk for 1911.) 



