"Here is a fact worth careful noting, that in these days of close competition, every cent realized for a by-product is credited to the cost of producing the main product--the human food--and that in addition to itself being converted into additional food for man, that is, into meat, dairy products, poultry, eggs, etc., its sale operates directly in a very large way as a saving to the consumer upon the main product from which it is derived. In other words, there is only one profit figured, and that is upon the main product--the food for man--the by-product being figured solely as such, sold for what it will bring, and the returns credited to the cost in figuring cost prices for the main product. "The problem of feeding the world--much less the problem of feeding the people of the United States--had not as yet commenced to trouble the scientist, the statesman, or the business man of the day. No one expected that in the short space of sixty years, all of our available lands would be occupied and that our population would have increased from 31,000,000 to 91,000,000 people, and that the problem of the cost of living, the cost of food, would, during the lives of people then living, be the thought and problem uppermost in the minds of our people. That this is the thought uppermost in the minds of our population today is evidenced by the daily conversations of our friends, by what we read in the newspapers, and by the action of Congress and our National Government in providing a commission for investigation of its cause." The following data was taken from the Statistical Report of the Illinois State Board of Agriculture, December 1, 1913,--(Assessor's Reports) _Illinois Pasture Lands_ Year Acreage 1877 4,367,603 1878 3,983,450 1879 4,193,884 1880 4,257,054 1881 2,206,621 1882 4,697,966 1883 4,752,828 1884 5,085,817 1885 5,417,147 1886 5,537,873 1887 5,630,571 1888 5,796,935 1889 5,679,874 1890 5,083,438 1891 4,681,972 1892 4,338,899 1893 4,954,871 1894 5,052,952 1895 4,631,270 1896 4,389,666 1897 4,745,917 1898 4,669,270 1899 4,880,101 1900 4,857,961 1901 4,774,062 1902 4,569,905 1903 4,447,287 1904 4,377,486 1905 4,359,426 1906 4,243,030 1907 4,308,402 1908 4,022,598 1909 3,807,796 1910 3,970,302 1911 3,819,412 1912 3,593,523 1913 3,521,966 (United States Census, and Year Books of Agricultural Department) Year Acres of Av. Val. of F. and Av. Val. Acres of Imp. Land Build's. per acre Per Farm Far. Land 1850 5,039,545 $ 7.99 $ 1,663 12,037,412 1860 13,096,374 15.96 3,480 20,911,989 1870 19,329,952 28.45 4,358 25,882,861 1880 26,115,154 31.87 4,598 31,673,645