The present situation of the meat markets throughout the world has reached so vitally important a stage that a few comments on the position cannot well come amiss in view of its inevitable direct influences upon Uruguay, and the similar stock-raising countries. Naturally enough, the primary centres of interest are to be found in the United States, and in its Beef Trust. Ere coming to this point, however, it would be as well to review the general situation. Until the present moment the British Isles have been the chief importers of frozen and chilled meat from both North and South America. The demand has, naturally enough, shown an annual increase corresponding with the growth of the population. A similar state of affairs has, of course, existed in North America, but here the increase of the inhabitants has been so rapid and so overwhelming that the breeding of cattle has been entirely unable to progress in the same ratio. The result of this is that the United States can now produce only a comparatively insignificant surplus over and above the quantity of animal food that is required for consumption by its own inhabitants. Of late, therefore, the shipments of North American beef to the British Isles have decreased with a rather startling celerity, and there can be no question that in the near future the trade will have ceased altogether. Exactly when this will occur--whether in two years or half a dozen--it is impossible for even the experts to tell, since so many elements of the unexpected enter into the question. But that it will come about is certain, and it is, of course, equally inevitable that the conclusion of the period of exportation will mark the beginning of another era when it will be necessary for the United States to import her animal food supply from countries outside her own frontiers. [Illustration: THE CATTLE DIP.] [Illustration: DRYING JERKED MEAT. To face p. 280.] In the meanwhile Argentina has stepped into the gap that North America had of necessity left vacant, and the establishment of its frigorifico will now enable Uruguay to take a hand in this business of shipping. The River Plate countries are undoubtedly in a position to cope with the situation for an indefinite period of years, although its effects are already evident to a certain extent upon the local markets of Argentina. In the latter country I have been present at the stockyards in November when the herds of cattle that had arrived from the Campo were being sold. The faces of those estancieros who were present were beaming, for prices were ruling quite exceptionally high. The reason lay in the demand for the London Christmas beef that had sent its stimulus all this distance--an emphatic proof of the closeness of touch that now obtains between the River Plate and the British Isles.