The Nenana daily news., 1919-06-19
1878 PRODUCTION Of DRESSED MEAT
 BROKE RECORD

lard, amounted in 1918 to 2O,l29,- S0O,O00 pounds-a quantity never
 before approached in magnitude by
 the livestock industry of this or any other country. The corresponding figure for 1917 was 16,317,3O0,000 pounds.
 Three-fourths of this enormous in- crease was in pork and one-fourth was in beef.
 The meat surplus in 1918 was so great that extra export demands made little impression upon it, all though 1918 export shipments of meat and lard nearly doubled the 1917 figures - rising from slightly
 less than one and three-fourths bill-
 ion pounds to slightly more than three billion pounds-and these fig ures do not include shipments to American military forces abroad. The aggregate 1917 consumption of dressed meat and lard in the United States was approximately i14a billion pounds, but in 1918 it rose to 1714 billion pounds. This means, after allowing for increase in population, an addition of 23 pounds for every man, woman, and child in the country-despite the food conservation campaign, which in 1917 caused consumption to de- cline considerably.
 While the people as whole, through their abstinence, averted the immediate crisis, it was the farmer who was the really big factor in the ultimate situation," says the bureau of animal industry, United States department of agriculture. "The pro- ducer, of course, was expected to do his part, but he did it with such powerful effect that in a single year the meat shortage was turned into a pronounced surplus. Thus in 1918 there was not only meat enough to supply all foreign de- mands compatible with the restrict ed shipping facilities, but greatly enlarged quantity was available for home consumption.
 "To be sure, it cost the farmer more, much more, to feed his ami mals and get them to market. Like wise, all other steps from producer to consumer were more costly, hence the high prices. But the unprece- dented prosperity of the people as d whole enabled them to afford the in creased cost. In fact, laboring peo pie probably consumed more meat during the past year than in pre-war times.
 "The total number of cattle slaughtered in 1918 is estimated at 15,75O,400, as against 13,723,90O in 1917. Their average weights were practically the same for both years, and the beef produced from them was 6,686, 6,O0O,00O pounds in 1917 and 7,641, 100000 pounds in 1913 This was a remarkable achievement, as it hardly would have been cred ited that beef growers could increase their production a billion pounds in one year
 "The hog natures quickly, there fore a much more rapid increase would be looked for than was the case with cattle. Even so, the re- suits for 1918 can be described only as stupendous. The hogs marketed in 1918 numbered 69,s54,7OO, as against 57,483,8O0 in 1917 Fur | thermore, the average weight was 9k pounds more per hog i1 1918. Thus when the animals are turned into pork and lard we have a total production of 11,225, 5,664,0OO pounds in 1918, as against s,47S,2S9, ,OO0 pounds in 1917, an increase of g. 747,355,000 pounds, or SPA per cent, nearly one-third"
 Striking increases in exports are also shown by the bureau. Beef l shipments abroad in 1918 were 94 per cent more than in 1917-the chief 1918 items being 514,OOO,OOO pounds of fresh beef and 41,OOO,-