The meat which we are shipping now is coming in part from an increased slaughter of cattle and hogs, a condition which may have serious consequences in reducing our reserve. The need for conservation is constant, though at times the situation becomes easier in one kind of meat or another. In the summer of 1917 we were short on hogs. In the spring of 1918, thanks to the "keep-a-pig" movement and vigorous conservation, as well as high prices, we temporarily had hogs in plenty. Beef is short for the summer season. Policies must change frequently with fluctuating supplies and varying demands from Europe. However, the export demand for our forces and the Allies is limited only by shipping capacity, and it may be that we shall have a still larger demand at the war's end which will tax any reserve which we can possibly accumulate. MEAT CONSERVATION Meat does not play nearly so important a part in the world's dietary as we are accustomed to think. There is no comparison, in the quantity consumed, between meat and bread, or even meat and sugar or potatoes. Half of the people of the earth eat little or none of it. Only in two kinds of communities is meat used largely--new and thinly populated countries with much grazing-land, or wealthy industrial countries. Australia and New Zealand are of the first type, consuming more meat per person than any other country in the world--5 pounds a week in Australia and 4 pounds in New Zealand. The United States, parts of which may be considered in both classes, eats about 3¼ pounds per person weekly. This is much less than some years ago, when there was more grazing-land. Great Britain, because it could afford to import it, used about 2¼ pounds a week before the war. Germany's consumption was slightly lower. France, Denmark, Switzerland, with fewer animals or less wealth, are small meat-eaters, the average amount being about 1½ pounds a week--about half as much as our consumption. MEAT AND OTHER PROTEIN FOODS Meat is eaten partly because of its pleasant flavor and partly because it is a source of protein which is necessary to build or renew the various parts of the body. Every cell in the body contains it and needs a steady supply. Meat is a valuable protein food, but so are plenty of others--fish, cheese, eggs, milk, dried beans, dried peas, nuts, cereals. Cottage-cheese is the most nearly pure protein of anything that we eat. We can get protein just as satisfactorily from cheese and the other animal protein foods as from meat, and almost as satisfactorily from the vegetable protein foods. THE OLD IDEA THAT MEAT IS ESPECIALLY "STRENGTHENING" HAS NO FOUNDATION. Neither is one kind of meat less thoroughly digested than another.