THE WORLD'S MEAT FUTURE 11 



The past experience in Argentina and Uruguay, and the present 

 experience in Brazil, are sufficient to show the more backward 

 countries what they can look forward to under modern business 

 methods. The great need in most new countries is for animals 

 that will improve the native stocks so that they may increase in 

 weight, shape and quality. That such animals are procurable 

 in large numbers in Great Britain, the United States, Australia 

 and New Zealand, is quite evident if one visits the magnificent 

 stock shows in those countries. Cattle and sheep are available 

 of high-class quality, of all breeds, and to suit all climates 

 and pastures, and directly the world settles down after this 

 war madness is (pienched, it is highly probable that men will 

 be touring those countries and buying largely to improve their 

 backward flocks and herds. The stud breeder is doing an inter- 

 national work, and should be encouraged by the Governments 

 of the countries in which he is carrying on his good work. 



The Latin-American Division of the U.S. Bureau of Foreign 

 and Domestic Commerce has prepared a report on the meat- 

 packing industry in South America, with the view of showing 

 that that country, with its increasing areas suitable for cattle 

 raising and its meat-packing establishments, is in a position to 

 play an important part in the world's meat production in the 

 future. The report is as follows: 



"One of the most serious questions confronting the countries 

 of the world is that of the meat supply of the future. For nearly 

 a decade the number of cattle has not been increasing in propor- 

 tion to the demands of the growing populations. The decrease 

 in the supply of meat has affected the United States as well as 

 Europe. Russia, which before the war had some 50,000,000 

 head of cattle and two-thirds as many sheep as Australia, has 

 ceased, temporarily at least, to be a factor in the European 

 trade. The herds of western Europe, small before the war in 

 comparison to the demands of the increasing population, are 

 now greatly depleted and cannot be replaced for many years 

 after the war. The situation in the United States is reachiiig 

 an- interesting stage. Within the last ten years, the population 

 has increased about 18 per cent., while the herds have decreased 

 20 per cent. In 1893 the United States imported 3,293 head of 

 cattle, and from its abundant supply exported over 287,000. In 

 1915, twenty-three years later, the import and export figures 

 are practically reversed. In the latter year the United States 

 exported only 5,484 head and imported 538,167 cattle. 



