THE WAR AND THE EUROPEAN MEAT-SUPPLY
Imports of both animals and fodder are interrupted. With meat as with
wheat, the great shortage is due to lack of ships. Australia and New
Zealand, and to a lesser extent South America, are cut off. Fodder
such as cottonseed press-cake cannot be shipped in large amounts as
it takes three times as much shipping to transport feed as it does the
meat made by the animals from it. Denmark's supply of animals to Great
Britain has practically stopped, because of her own shortage, and
because much of what she has goes to Germany.
The European herds have been cut down. Every one of the warring
countries has fewer meat animals now than before the war. There were
roughly 100,000,000 animals less in Europe at the end of 1917 than
in 1914. Many of those left are in very poor condition, so that the
shortage is even more serious than is indicated by the falling off in
numbers.
Belgium, Serbia, and Roumania are in the worst condition. Practically
all the animals in those countries have been killed or confiscated by
the invading German and Austrian armies. This is one cause of their
terrible famine conditions.
The United Kingdom, France, and Italy have also lost seriously. France
is the greatest loser of the three, with more than one-fifth of her
herds gone. The enemy has driven off large numbers of her cattle. She,
like the others, is in difficulty not only for meat, but for milk.
Pages:
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46