Page:Henry Stephens Salt - A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays.pdf/71

Rh rustic industry; for, instead of a few men tending oxen, there would be large numbers employed in growing crops. Thus the stream of migration from country to town, which is at present so much deplored by all who are interested in the welfare of the poor, would be checked and turned backwards to the country. From whatever point of View we regard this question—the interest of the individual, or the interest of the community—it appears to be equally undeniable that an immense saving may be effected by the substitution of vegetable for animal food ; and, therefore, this question of economy cannot possibly be overlooked by anyone who wishes to arrive at a sound and trustworthy conclusion as regards the choice of diet. Nothing can be more emphatic than the opinion of Dr. B. W. Richardson (and it would be difficult to name a more competent authority) on this necessity for thrift. "We have also to learn," he says, "as a ﬁrst truth, that the oftener we go to the vegetable world for our food the oftener we go to the ﬁrst, and, therefore, to the cheapest, source of supply. The commonly accepted notion that, when we eat animal ﬂesh, we are eating food at its prime source, cannot be too speedily