There was a loss of 7.4 per cent. in the number of swine on American farms and a decrease of 14.7 per cent, in the number of sheep—the inevitable result of which loss while population was increasing to the extent of 223
10 per cent. was an increase in price per pound in pork, ham, bacon, mutton, etc., which automatically cut off a large part of the demand.
A loss of twenty-nine pounds per capita on animal flesh
When urging the necessity for close study of the food problem, President Wilson pointed out the fact that during a ten-year period there had been a loss of 29 pounds of animal flesh per capita per year. With such a record it is obvious that some foods to replace meats must be found.
Why Spend Millions For Imported Nuts?
“We are annually importing between 60,000,000 and 70,000,000 pounds of nuts at a cost of between $12,000,000 and $13,000,000, while we export nuts worth less than a half million dollars. Why should we spend millions of dollars each year in buying nuts from foreign countries, when we can grow the pecan, the equal of any other nut, either native or foreign, in unlimited quantities?”—Congressional Record of the United States, Vol. 54, No. 27.
Poultry Gains Fail to Equal Increase of Population
Poultry was the only exception among meats to this history of diminishing supply, increased prices and diminishing demand. Yet the gain in the number of all fowls on American farms was only 17 per cent., while the population was increasing 22.3 per cent. The American production of nut foods was increasing 55.7 per cent. in the same period without beginning to meet the demand.
Though the increase in value of the American nut crop was 128.1 per cent., still the increase in consumption required an increase in imports so great that in 1910 America was supplying only one-fourth of the nuts it was eating; while in 1900 it supplied half.
Government figures, taken from a leading nut publication, show that in 1900 the value of nuts imported into the United States was $3,484,651. By 1910 it had risen to $12,775,196, which is 365% of 1900 importations, although the population of the United States increased only 22.3% during that ten-year period.
In 1919 there were $57,499,044 worth of nuts imported, which is 450% of the importations in 1910, although the 1920 census shows an increase of only 15% in population since 1910. Nut importations in 1919 are 1650% of those in 1900, while population increased only 40% between 1900 and 1920.