nt consumption of meat were
cut in two. It is a question of habit, but with the present reduced
supply of meat one must adopt new habits. It would be highly desirable
if the grain now fed to fatten beef were given to maintain herds of
milch cows.

Indulgence in meat is due to the desire for strong flavor. With the
increased distribution of wealth, the demand for meat grows. Its
consumption by all classes had vastly increased in all prosperous
countries prior to the war. It is well, however, to remember that its
use has been excessive and unnecessary, and its price can be cut by
wholesale voluntary abstinence. The British people have suffered no
hardship in the recent reduction of their meat ration.

A British Commission has reported to Parliament that it takes three
times as much fodder to produce beef as it does to produce milk or pork
of the same food value. Since cows eat chiefly hay and grass and pigs
eat grain the cost of the production of a unit value of milk is much
less than the cost of the same value in the form of pork. It takes only
fifty per cent. more fodder to produce veal than to produce pork. Milk,
pork, and veal have long been the established protein-containing foods
of nations on the continent of Europe. According to these figures beef
should cost in the market twice what veal costs, and yet the butcher
charges nearly the same for the two. It would save food for milk
production if steers were eaten as veal and not fed up into beef cattle.
A suitable tax on all steers over a year old would accomplish this
result. If all heifers were developed into milch cows and no cow capable
of giving milk in quantity were slaughtered, the country would be placed
on a much better basis than at present. It might make beef expensive,
but there is every reason why it should be expensive. It would increase
the dairy business, which is evidently a need of the times, something
for the protection of the welfare of mankind. For it must be remembered
that a well-nourished cow during a single year will give in the form of
milk as much protein and two and a half times the number of calories as
are contained in her own body.

This was written before the publication of the following words of
Armsby, the foremost authority on animal nutrition:[2]

Roast pig, to those who like it, is not only a delicacy but a
valuable article of diet, but nevertheless, it is possible to
pay too high a price for it, and while a proposal