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264
1912]
in consequence of its better exploitation, and this increase has been as much
as 81 per cent. in some of the States of the Union. A richer productivity has
increased the value of the land, and it is clear that cheap meat cannot be the
product of dear land."
2. The universal progress of industry, which attracts the rural population
to the urban centres, and thus tends both to restrict and to increase the costliness
of agricultural production, in spite of advanced methods of agritulture.
3. The increase, both relative and absolute, in the number of consumers
of meat throughout the whole world, as a consequence of a general social
evolution.
The demand for meat in the United States has led to an agitation there
for the abolition of the import duty on it, and the Medical Officer of Health
understands from a source which he believes to be reliable, that it is not
improbable that this duty will be removed. If so, then there can be no doubt
that it will form another and very decisive factor in contributing to the increased
price of meat in this country, for unquestionably if the United States
be opened to Argentine meat, the imports into England will be greatly reduced.
As showing the scarcity of meat in the United States, the Medical Officer
of Health may state that while this portion of this report was passing through
the press, the representative of a large American firm of meat canners, whose
English factory is situate in Islington, applied to him for a certificate to
enable his firm to export canned corned beef to the United States; and yet
a few years ago, as we have seen by the figures given above, there were over
400,000 live animals imported from that country. It is clear, therefore, that the
supply from the United States and from Canada also will in the future be a
negligible quantity.
Slaughter Houses.—These have now decreased to 28 from 57 in 1898.
As the slaughtering of cattle locally grew less, so too did these places become
fewer, as they were not in so much demand. Another factor has been the
more strict enforcement of the regulations governing these places by the
Council's Inspector, and also the unwillingness to renew licences unless the
slaughter-houses are kept in good condition.