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 themselves have evidently been 

 looking round in other directions for a kindred supply, and a 

 State 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 con- 

 ditions in Alaska. The meat will come from Alaska. It will 

 form the basis of a large packing industry, and will be shipped 

 in cold storage steamers and trains to every town in the United 

 States. There were in 1916 75,000 to 100,000 reindeer in that 

 territory. They are being handled under Government regula- 

 tions, 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 seventeen years from now, and 

 after that the increase should be such that reindeer meat will 

 probably be as cheap as any other in the American markets. 



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