The Cordele dispatch. (Cordele, Ga.) 19??-1971, 1919-05-04
GREAT DRESSED
MEAT PRODUCTION

Washington, l:ay American
h dressed meat production. Including
Fiard, amounted ina191S to 2O,l39,SOO,-
! OOOspounds a quantity never before
app1 ,ached in magnitude by the the
livestock industry OF this or any
! other country. The corresponding fig
ure for 1917 was 16,317 300, 600
| pounds
,Three-fourths of this enormous" in
crease was in pork and one-ofurth
was in beef.
The meat surplus in 1918 was SO
great that extra expert demands made
| little impression on it, although 1918
export shipments Of meat and lard
nearly doub Ied the 1917 fgures-ris-
ing from slightly little less than one
and three-fourths billion pounds to
aslightly more than three billion
pounds-and these figures do rot in
I clude shipments to American military
forces abroad.
The aggregate 1917 consumption of
dressed meat and lard in the United
States was approximately IA IL bill
lion pounds, but in 1918 it rose to sew
enteen and one quarter billion
pounds This means, after allowing
for increase i'll population, and addit-
| ion of % pounds for every man. wo-
man and child in the countryside
spite the food conservation campaign
which in 1917 caused consumption to
decline 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 De-
partment of Agriculture. THE pro-
Queer, of course, was expected to do
his part, but he did it with such pow
erful effect that in single year the
meat shortage was turned into d pro
nouneed surplus. THUS. in 1918 there
was not only meat enough to supply
all foreign demands compatible with
the restricted shipping facilities, but
greatly enlarged quantity was avail
able for the home consumption.
"To be sure, it cost the farmer
more, much more, to feed his animals
and get them to market Likewise.
all other steps from producer to con-
sumner became more costly, hence the
high prices. But the unprecedented
prosperity Of the people as whole
enabled them to afford the increased
cost: In fact, laboring people proba-
bly, consumed more meat during the
past year than in pre-war times
1.-The total number of cattle slaugh-
tered in 1918 is estimated at 1880
fGU as against 1928, 900 in 1917.
Their average weights were practi
cally the same for both years, and the
beef produced from them was $685.
100000 pounds in 1917 and 7,641 ,O00,-
900 pounds in 1918 This was a re-
markable achievement as it hardly
would have been credited that beef
growers could increase their produc
ton 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 results
for 1918 can be described only as
stupendous. The hogs marketed in
1918 numbered 69,S54,7OO as against
57,4S3, 800 in 1917. Furthermore, the
average weight was 9 10. mounds more
per hog in 1918 Thus when the ami
mails are turned into pork and lard
we have a total production of H.
225,664,O0O pounds in 1918 as against
S,47S,289,OOO pounds in 1917, an in
crease of 2,747,35500O pounds, or 324
percent, nearly one-third.'