The St. Johns herald., 1918-05-30
ALLIES DEMAND
 MORE CEREALS American Meat Restrictions Re- faxed to Effect Greater
 Wheat Savings. ARGENTINE ARRIVALS SHORT. Meat Supply Here Considerably En. larged - Food Administration, However, Warns Against
 Waste.
ARRIVALS SHORT.

JneSe enlarged tenants DelnS CduSeu
 to some degree by shortage in arrivals
 from the Argentine. It is, therefore,
 necessary for the U. S. Food Admins
 tration to urge a still further reduction in the consumption of bread and bread
 stuffs generally if we are 10 meet our export necessities. The Food Admin
 istration has issued a statement ex
 blaming the situation in detail, partic-
 ularly the reasons which lead it, for the purpose of centering effort for the time being upon the cereal situation to relax temporarily the restrictions on meat consumption.
 Experience shows, this statement says, that the consumption of bread StuffS is intimately associated with the consumption of meat For various reasons our supplies of meat for the next two or three months are cOnsid- erably enlarged, and we can supply the allies with all of the meat products which transportation facilities render possible and at the same time some what increase our own consumption. In these circumstances the Food Ad- ministratiOn considers it wise to relax the voluntary restrictions on meat con- sumption to some extent with a view to further decreasing bread consump- tion.
 Conservation of food must be ad- justed to meet necessities from time to time, for neither production, nor al- lied demands are constant factors. nor can any of these factors be anticipated for long periods in advance in the dis turbed conditions in which we al pres ent live. While the world situation is not one that warrants any relaxation in the efforts to eliminate waste or to relax economy in food, the Admins tratiOn desires to secure better adjust ment in food balances.
 So long as the present conditions continue the only special restrictions we ask are the beefless and porkless Tuesday.
 The meatless meal and the porkless Saturday are no longer asked.
 The farmers of the United States are responding to the national call to increase hog production. Their in- crease, to all appearances is being at- tained more rapidly. Of more imme- diate importance, however, are several complex factors which have effected an immediate increase in meat sup plies
 The transportation shortage before the government took over the rail- roads, the bad weather in January and early in February, the large percent age of immature corn in the last har- vest and the necessity of feeding this corn as rapidly as possible to save 1t from decay, have not only resulted in backing up the animalS-particula hOgS-On the farms for a longer pc riod of feeding, but have resulted in a great increase in their average weight and will result, with improved trans pOrtatiOn conditions, which already ap- pear, in larger than normal arrivals al market for the next two or three months The weight of hogs coming to the market for the past two weeks indicates an increase in weight of from an average of 2O3 pounds last year to the almost unprecedented average of 232 pounds, or a net in crease in their meat value of over 15 per cent. This is a distinct addition to the nations meat supply. It there fore now seems certain that we have such enlarged supplies for at least some months to come, that we can not only increase our exports to the allies to the full extent of their transporta- tiOn facilities, but at the same time can properly increase our domestic consumption.
 The response of the public to our re- quests for reduced consumption of meat during the past few months has been most gratifying, and this service alone has enabled the government dur ing this period to provide such SUD- plies as transportation to the allies permitted.
 The Administration also suggests that in those parts of the country where the old fashioned home preser- 1 vation of pork Is still the custom, this practice should be extended at the present time, as 1t will relieve the bur