Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-02

Copyright, 1917. by Frank G. Carpenter)
STOCKYARDS, Chicago:
NR ROM this city of animals, in the
IN heart of this city of men. write
Of the meat industry OF the
- United States. This country is
the chief meat producer Of the world.
and Just now. when all the nations are
fighting, it becomes most important as
supply. Let us look at all the assets
of the nations and take account of
the stock now on hand. 1 have before
me reports from the Department of
Agriculture giving the latest statistics
of cattle, hogs and sheep for all parts
of the world. They show that We have
now on our farms 100000 cattle.
6S,OOO.OO0 hogs and. 100000 sheep
These alone are more than double the
stock of Germany and Austria-Hun-
gary. You might add the animals from
Bulgaria and Turkey, and the whole
would not nearly equal those of our
country.
In addition, our allies in Europe
have vast numbers OF domestic ami
mails. At the. beginning of the war
Russia had two and one-half times as
many cattle as Germany. The number
was 52.O0O,00U. and at the same time
it had about 43,ooU,0G0 sheep. 1t ranks
as the fourth sheep country OF the
world its only superiors being the
United States, with 100000. and Ar
gentil.a and Australia, each of which
has more than S0,oO0.0oo. We may
fairly reckon Australia with the allies.
although the meat has to be brought
about 1000 miles in getting to Europe.
and the same is true of Canada, which
has something like eleven or twelve
t~, f-r ot,,,n 10 q in
the stomachs of the soldiers in France
At the beginning of the war Germany
had 2O,0000O0 cattle. 17.o0o,Oo0 hogs
and 100000 sheep, and Austria-Hun-
half as many. On the other hand.
France, Great Britain and Russia had
at home and in their colonies about
81 OOO,OUO cattle. 2S.o00O0o hogs and
90, coo, 900 sheep.
But among these great stock raisers
of the world Uncle Sam stands alone
He is the Job of the twentieth cen
fury, and, like the man in the land of
LIZ, his substance makes him the
greatest of all the men in the east"
He is the chief cattle raiser and owner
among the nations. Last year his live
stock was estimated at a value of
1882, 900 900, or more than S33 per
head of our population. This referred
only to the stock on the farms and
ranges. and outside of that there was
an additional value of cattle, sheep and
hogs, which amounted to over SO per
family. The wholesale packing houses
and. Strengthening establishments and
the farms upon which the animals are
raised represent a capital of hundreds
of millions, and it is estimated that
Uncle Sans whole meat-producing plant
is worth in the neihgborhood of eight
cen billions of dollars. or enough to
give every American family $500 worth
of stock in the company. This does not
include the receipts from transporta-
ton or the retail trade
The numbers of the cattle, sheep and
hogs raised here are so great that II
they were divided equally every family
would have three cattle. two sheep and
three hogs and there would be many
thousand little pigs and lambs to spare
AS consumer of meat the United
States also stands at the head of the
list. There are many countries where
almost no meat is eaten, and 1t IS sara
that over half the worlds population
lives upon food other than meat. The
nations which have a surplus of meat
for export are all meat-eating coun-
tries. and they are comparatively few
in number. In fact, the worlds export
trade in meat products is maintained
by only nine nations. 1t is from the
United States, Argentina, Australia,
Canada. Denmark, Mexico, New Yea
land. Uruguay and Russia that the
worlds supply of meat is obtained. The
entire production is estimated at about
fifty billion pounds per year, and this
! is consumed by the people of com
!. paratively few countries. 1t is divided
, among a population of about five hum
bred millions, and the average con-
, sumption per capita is just over
ninety-three pounds of beef. mutton
, and pork in one year. We Americans
, are the biggest meat eaters on the
globe. with perhaps the exception OF
the Australians or the New. Zealand