Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 190, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1917 — HOW AMERICA CAN FEED ITS ALLIES [ARTICLE]

HOW AMERICA CAN FEED ITS ALLIES

Important Message to People From Herbert C. Hoover, Administrator. WORLD SUPPLIES ESTIMATED Increased Elimination of Waste and Careful Control of Food Exports Form the Solution of Thia War Problem. Washington, Aug. 20.-— What the people of the United States not only can but must do in the matter of food production and use in order to help win the war is set forth in detail in a statement issued today by !*><»d Administrator Herbert C. Hoover. If we fail to do our part in this respect, he says, the people of the allies cannot be maintained at war, for their soldiers cannot fight without food. The normal imports of wheat and other cereals by France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Belgium, and the estimates of the 1917 crop in those countries compared to the normal production are given by Mr. Hoover in tabulated form, and the conclusion is drawn that in order to provide normal consumption it will be necessary for them to import in the next 12 months 577,000,000 bushels of wheat and 674,000,000 bushels of other cereals. If the crops of the United States and Canada all mature safely, North America will have an apparent surplus of 208,000,000 bushels of wheat and 950,000,000 bushels of other cereals. The allies, therefore, must use other cereals than wheat* for mixing in their war bread, and the people of America must reduce their consumption of wheat flour from five to four pounds per week per person. Decrease in Food Animals. A careful estimate of the world’s food animal position shows a total net decrease of 115,005,000, and this will be greater as the war goes on. As the increase of herds and flocks takes years, we must reduce the consumption, eliminate waste and carefully control meat exports. Our home dairy products supplies are decreasing, while our population is Increasing, and we must ship increasing amounts of such products to our allies. Consequently this industry must be stimulated, and home users must save the wastes in milk and butter. ‘Much the same may be said in the case of sugar. Mr. Hoover urges a greater consumption of fish and sea foods, in which our coasts and lakes are enormously rich. The products of the land, he reminds us, are conserved by the eating of those of the sea. Our Duty. “ In conclusion the food administrator says: I have endeavored to show in previous articles that the world is short of food; that Europe is confronted with the grim specter of starvation unless from our abundance and our waste we keep the wolf from the door. Not only must we have a proper use of our food supply in order that we may furnish our allies with the sinews with which they may fight our battles, but it is an act of humanity towards fellow men, women and children. By the! diversion of millions of men from production to war, by the occupation of land by armies, by the isolation of markets, by belligerent lines, and by the destruction of shipping by submarines, not only has the home production of our allies fallen by over--500,000.000 bushels of grain, but they are thrown upon us for a much larger proportion of their normal imports formerly obtained from other markets. They have reduced consumption at every point, but men in the trenches, men in the shops, and the millions of women placed at physical labor require more food than during peace times, and the incidence of their saving and any shortage which they may suffer. falls first upon women and children. If this privation becomes too great, their peoples cannot be maintained constant in the war, and we will be left alone to fight the battle of democracy with Germany. The problem of food conservation is one of many complexions. We cannot, and we do not wish, with our free institutions and our large resources of food, to imitate Europe in its policed rationing, but we must voluntarily and Intelligently assume the responsibility before us as one In which everyone has a direct and inescapable interest. We must Increase our export of foods to the allies, and in the circumstances of our shipping situation, these exports must be of the most concentrated foods. These are wheat, flour, beef, pork and dairy products. We have other foods in great abundance which we can use Instead of these commodities, and we can prevent wastes in a thousand directions. We must guard the

drainage of exports from the United States, that we retain a proper supply for “ / 3ue own country* .and we must adopt such measures as will ameliorate, so far as may be, the price conditions of our less fortunate. We might so drain the supplies from the country to Europe as by the high prices that would follow* to force our people to shorten their consumption. This operation of “normal economic forces" would starve that element of the community to whom we owe the mpst protection. We must try to Impose the burden equally upon aH. Action Must Be Voluntary. There Is no royal road to food conservation. We can only accomplish, this by the voluntary action of our whole people, each element in proportion to its means. It is a matter of equality of burden; a matter of minute saving and substitution at every point in the 20,000,000 kitchens, on the 20,000,000 dinner tables and in the--2,000,000 manufacturing, wholesale and retail establishments of the country. The task is thus in its essence the daily individual service of all the people. Every group can substitute and even the great majority of thrifty people can save a little—and the more luxurious elements of the population can by reduction to simple living save much. The final result of substituting .other, products and saving one pound of wheat flour, two ounces of fats, seven ounces of sugar and seven ounces of meat weekly, by each person, will, when we have multiplied this by one hundred million, have increased our exports to the amounts absolutely required by our allies. This means no more than that we should eat plenty, but eat wisely and without waste. Food conservation has other suspects of utmost importance. Wars must be paid for by savings. We must save in the consumption in commodities and the consumption of unproductive Iflbor in order that we may divert our manhood to the army and to the shops. The whole of Europe has been engaged ever since the war began in the elimination of waste, the simplification oflife, and the Increase of its industrial capacity. When the war is over the consuming power of the world will be reduced by the loss of prosperity and man power, and we shall enter a period of competition without parallel in ferocity. After the war, we must maintain our foreign markets if our working people are' to be employed. We shall be in no position to compete if we continue to live on the same basis of waste and extravagance on which we have lived hitherto. Simple, temperate living is a moral issue of the first order at any time, and any other basis of conduct during the war becomes a wrong against the interest of the country and the interest of democracy. The impact of the food shortage of Europe has knocked at every door of the United States during the past three years. The prices of foodstuffs have nearly doubled, and the reverberations of Europe’s increasing shortage would have thundered twice as loudly during the coming year even had we not entered the war. We are today in an era of high prices. We must maintain prices at such a level as will stimulate production. for we are faced by a starving world and the valve of a commodity to the hungry is greater than its price. As a result of the world shortage of supplies, our. consumers have suffered from speculation and extortion. While wages for some kinds of labor have increased with the rise in food prices, in others, it has been difficult to maintain our high standard of nutrition. By the elimination of waste in all classes, by the reduction in the consumption of foodstuffs by' the more fortunate, we shall increase our supplies not only for export but for home, and by increased supplies we can help in the amelioration of prices. For Better Distribution. Beyond this the duty has been laid upon the food administration to co-op-erate with the patriotic men in trades and commerce, that we may eliminate the* evils which have grown into our system of distribution, that the burden may fall equitably upon all by restoration, so far as may be, of the normal course of trade. It Is the purpose of the food administration to use its utmost power and the utmost ability that patriotism can assemble to ameliorate this situation to such a degree as may be possible. The food administration is assembling the best expert advice in the country on home economics, on fodd utilization, on trade practices and trftte wastes, and on the conduct of pubffc eating places, and we shall outs’" line,from time to time detailed suggestions, which if honestly carried out by such individuals in the country, we believe will effect the result which we must attain. We are asking every home, every public” eating place and many trades, to sign a pledge card to accept these directions, so far as their circumstances permit, and we are organizing various instrumentalities to ameliorate speculation. We are asking the men of the couhtry who are not actually engaged in the handling of food to sign similar pledges that they shall see to it, so far as they aFe able, that these directions are followed.