Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1920-06-05
THE FOOD SITUATION
Must Have the Production or Go Hungry
Both Official and Private Sources
Would Indicate.

Washington. Reviews of the food
situation from both official and private
sources indicate an alarming prospect
for the next year or two, at least and
probably longer The department OF
agriculture and statisticians of perod
Gals dealing with agricultural topics agree
that there has been large decrease in
the acreage sown to grain, and farmers
are planning to curtail operations in
production of other cultivated food crops
because of the scarcity of labor. Now
comes information from member Of the
federal reserve board in the west, show
ing that on account of enormous exports
of beef, there is a certainty of short
age of meat. According to bis state.
ment, Information from the dairy dis.
trcts indicated marked encroachmenl
upon the dairy herds for beef slaughter
At the close of 1919, most large h,e
stock communities, such as Texas, Mon
tana, Colorado, Wyoming and Idaho
showed that the breeding stock had been
reduced to less than 90 per cent of nor
NAL" 1t will be remembered that un
der the operation of the food admins.
tration the cost of some cattle feeds Nas
increased until dairymen found it un.
profitable to conduct their business. In
some states, dairy men went out OF busi
Dess in large numbers and sent then
cows TO the slaughter houses. They quil
an Improbable business, and went to
town where they could get high wages
offered by cost plus contractors or in
other lines Of city employment.
A general idea of the enormous in
crease in the slaughter of beel animals
is indicated 10y the fact that in 1914 the
total exports Of beef from the United
States amounted to only SO, 900, 900
pounds, whereas in 1918 the exports in
creased to 7OO,OO0,0 900 pounds. In 1915
the exports were in the neighborhood OF
$50, 900, 900 pounds or nearly nine times
the exports Of 1914. If this export OF
beef meant merely the killing of ami
mails in the normal way-the slaughter
OF the increase-there would be no cause
for concern, but the figures mean that
there has been an extensive slaughter
of The female beef cattle-the animals
upon which the country must depend
for the annual beef crop.
incidentally it may be remarked thai
iB addition 10 the heavy slaughter oil
dairy cattle by reason of the unproft
ableness of the business, there has also
been large decrease i'll the number o.
dairy animals due to strict enforcement
Of health laws. In many sections of the
United States where there has been
rigid inspection of dairy herds, the in
spectors have condemned from twenty
five to fifty per cent of the animals on
the ground that they show a reaction
when subjected to the tubercular test
This loss must be taken into considera-
ton in the study of our food problem.
Since it takes practically six years to
replace breeding animal, it is manifes,
that not for many years can the United
States get back to its normal beef-pro.
ducing basis. Hysterical campaigns for
the purpose Of inducing people to con-
sumo chuck steak rather than the more
choice cuts will be unavaiing. The
problem is not so much to induce peo-
pie to consume one particular kind OF
food in preference to another, but to Sc
cure by some means or other the pro-
duction of larger quantities of food SO
that there shall be supply adequate for
the country's need.
Unless the usual law of supply and
demand has been set aside, which is
not likely, the only promising solution
for the food problem is the assurance to
the food producers that there will be a
reasonable prospect for profitable oper-
ations thus inducing increased produc
tion not only on the part of those who
are already producing, but also through
a more general drift of city residents
back to the farm and checking of the
drift from the farm TO the city.