POSSIBILITIES OF INDUSTRY 21 



States. The Census for 1910 gives the following value of 

 the various kinds of live stock maintained : 



Kind of stock. Number. Value. 



Horses 19,833,113 $2,083,588,195 



Jacks, jennets, and mules . . 4,315,737 538,591,975 



Cattle 61,803,866 1,499,523,607 



Sheep 52,447,861 232,841,585 



Swine . . . 58,185,676 399,338,308 



Total 196,586,253 $4,753,883,670 



These figures are sufficient to indicate the vast economic 

 importance of the live stock industry. Live stock judging 

 and selection has maintained an important part in developing 

 the industry to its present magnitude and importance, 

 both from the standpoint of numbers and value. How 

 much greater the value would have been through keener 

 methods and practices in judging and selection, it would be 

 difficult to ascertain. Suffice it to say, however, that the 

 increase in quality which might have been attained by better 

 methods and practices would have reduced the cost of keep 

 materially as measured in terms of the finished value of the 

 product. As this is the problem in which the live stock 

 husbandman is interested, the application of better methods 

 would not only increase the quality of the product from a 

 connoisseur's standpoint, but add profit as well to the 

 industry. 



Possibilities of Industry.- The figures given above illus- 

 trate the possibility of securing increased revenue by more 

 careful judging and selection and better ultimate handling 

 and management. The opinion is thoroughly conversant 

 and borne out by facts that it does not require any more 

 to maintain an animal with a high order of merit than it 

 does an inferior one. Based on this statement, an average 

 increase in weight of one pound on all kinds of domestic 

 animals hereafter considered, exclusive of horses, mules, and 

 asses, would mean an increase of 172,437,40s 1 pounds of 

 edible meats. It is readily imaginable how this increase could 

 be obtained by closer selection alone. From these figures it 



1 United States Census, 1910. 



