254 THE WORLD'S MEAT FUTURE 



"The record for Uruguay presents a quite uniform series of 

 average dressed weights of beef cattle from 1905 to 1910 ; they 

 ranged from 558 lbs. to 580 lbs. 



"The dressed weight of export sheep and lambs in Argentina 

 is considerably above the average in wholesale slaughtering 

 houses in the United States. The Argentine average ranged from 

 53 to 65 lbs. from 1906 to 1913. The cold storage mutton and 

 lamb for supplying the Buenos Aires city market had a dressed 

 weight that ranged from 37 to 45 lbs. from 1906 to 1912." 



VENISON. 



There seems no reason why much wider use should not be made 

 of venison. It is an old trade, and before the war the United 

 States was a very large customer of Great Britain in this respect. 

 The Americans them>selves have evidently been looking round 

 in other directions for a kindred supply, and a State 's authority 

 predicts that the day will soon come when reindeer meat will be 

 as common as beef or mutton in the American markets, as the 

 result of an investigation into conditions in Alaska. The meat 

 will come from Alaska. It will form the basis of a large pack- 

 ing industry, and will be shipped in cold storage steamers and 

 trains to every town in the United States. There are now from 

 75,000 to 100,000 reindeer in that territory. They are being 

 handled under Government regulations, and are doubling 

 in number every two or three years. At the present rate of 

 increase there should be 1,000,000 in 1925. By 1931 the number 

 should have increased to more than 3,000,000 and five years later 

 it might be almost 13,000,000. That will be only tAventy years 

 from now and after that the increase should be such that reindeer 

 meat wall probably be as cheap as any other in the American 

 markets. 



