Show MEAT INDUSTRY SHOWED I 1 RADICAL CHANGES LAST YEAR there liere I api appeals eaas to bo be considerable speculation in the minds of tile the peo plo as to why tile the livestock tit maikut it ket prices should have declined fco 0 I 1 materially serially teri ally I 1 in tile the twelve months mont lis therefore in order to give a few facts concerning the abo situation wo we will refer to a few of tile tho conditions which prevail I 1 in this industry there was nas less meat produced produce d less and less consumed tit in tile the united st states ates last year 1920 than in cither bitile of tile the two previous years vears although tile the consumption in ill 1919 and 1920 1920 failed but little tile the grent great change being in ili tile the exports beet beef growers made their war effort in 1918 antl and during that year sent bent to maibet animals which yielded slightly over seven even and one halt half billion pounds pound of dressed beef this number has hab nevor never been approached before or since in two years the cattle rings have fallen to with an accompanying compa nying decline of one and one half billion pounds in beef production the exports of beet beef pio products ducts fell front from pounds in ili to lG rounds in ili 1920 this was to bo be expected as the united states for several yearb before the world war was not a beet beef exporting country ou south america and aus tr alasta are now the great sluices of cheap beef and mutton and natural ly y will dominate the export trade in these hese commodities ten tell years ago the consumption for beef per head of the population in ili tho the united states is shown to have been 7 78 S pounds last year it was not quite 56 12 1 2 pounds beef consumption in ili the american household has undergone a great change during this time especially in ili reducing waste and doubtless a considerable part of tile the difference between these amounts formerly found its way into the garbage can call Fler perhaps haps the most outstanding feature of the domestic mea mca situation in recent years has been the increase inci ease ense tit in the production and consumption of veal the demand for calf products has caused a steady increase each year for the last six years and calves marketed in 1920 moro more than doubled the number in 1914 and 1915 true the consumption of veal in 1920 was little more than one seventh that of beet beef and one ninth that of pork yet the tact fact remains that it is the only class of domestic meat that has made a consistent annual gain in recent years with mutton and lamb iamb the slaughter was greatest from 1911 to 1914 after which it declined for three years then increased for two years and in 1920 again declined exports and imports of mutton and lamb have been almost negligible until last year when new zen zealand frozen lamb carcasses were imported in it large quantities making an epoch in the trade tho the total weight imported during tho the year was pounds nearly one fifth of the total domestic production pio of both mutton and lamb it is not to be assumed however that this is the beginning of a permanent trade of such magnitude tho the importations in a sense were merely an incident due to tho the war the new zealand product as well as that from other sources normally is absorbed by the english market but the unusual conditions following the war ar caused the british last year to te overstocked over stocked and the meat found an outlet in this country the quantity of lamb it may bo be remarked Is of somewhat less significance on oil the other side than it Is here since according to figures previously previous i published the average briton consumes relatively about seven times as much mutton and lamb iamb as tho the average american while the average for fiance is nearly four times as much consumption or 01 mutton and lamb in tho the united states is only about 6 pounds per person per annum annual and is is very small compared to beef and pork it is smaller even than veal of which about 8 pounds per person is consumed polk production in 1920 fell con below tile tho high record made in 1919 when were unusually largo large owing to the high prices prevailing during a part of that year including the highest ever paid for livo live hogs nevertheless the consumption of pork was slightly greater in 1920 because of the heavy decrease in exports and reduced price |