The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-04-18
Fl Elaborate Plans Were Made to Keen
tho People In the City From
Being in Need of
Food.
STEPS FOR PROTECTION
War Has Developed Boosters In
France Who VIII Show That
Country is as Good
az Germany.
by Henry Wood, United Press Staff
CORRESPONDENT.

by Henry Wood, United Press Staff
Correspondent
PARIS, Harch 80 (by mail to New
York)-"Had the Germans last fall
really besieged Paris and had the
siege continued until today, would the
gay Parisians now be suffering from
lack of food?'' ,'"'- #
This is the question which has just
been asked the French government,
and it has promptly replied, Not on
your life" or words to that effect.
Now that Paris really isn't in dan
ger, the government has just con-
scented to explain in full all Of tie ex-
cellent preparations that were made
for feeding the city. In fact, now that
the Germans really are short of food
themselves, there is more than a
faint suspicion that France really
sought the occasion of telling how
much better she would have eaten
than Germany is eating now.
Deputy Adrien Dariac, chairman OF
the committee on agriculture in the
chamber of deputies, is the man VINO
was chosen by the government to tell
how it would have been done AMI he
has left no detail unexplained.
When the Germans last August be-
gan their sudden march ON Paris, all
Of the machinery which had previous
lily been arranged to prepare Tor the
feeding of 100000 mouths Of Paris
/ in the event of siege, was at once
put into action. The operation VI
| $500 men under the direction ot 500
directors. 70 te'--. .
Four grand divisions of the work
were at once established The first
one was known as "The service Of
the exploitation OF the resources avail
able" This department at once pro-
ceeded to an inventory of all the food
supplies to be found within the en-
| trenched camp which included nor
only Paris, but the Seine, the Seine.
I et-Oise and portion Of Seine-et-
4 Marine. - ssl SaS'{z z'&F
he second division Of "The serv.
ice of warehouses and markets" was
charged with dividing up all the ar
rivals of food supplies and supervis-
ing the flfty-five stations and ports ut
which food supplies could arrive. 1t
also had the task OF taking care Of
the herd OF 100000 steers, $4,000
sheep, 10000 hogs and $500 mich
COWS which were to be maintained
within the entrenched camp. The de-
tails allotted to this department IN
cluded even the daily pasteurization
Of the milk from the $500 cows. >a
The third division OF THE service
of mills, manufactures and cold stor-
age plants" had among its other
duties that of keeping forty flour
mills and thirty food factories in con-
slant operation.
The fourth division OF "The service
of manufacture and preservation oc-
cupied itself chiefly with the opera
ton Of forty factories for the curing
of meat and the preparation Of fruit
preserves.
Although the failure Of the Ger
mans to besiege Paris relieved this
elaborate organization of most of the
duties assigned to it. nevertheless a
portion OF it has been continually at
work up to the present moment. Es-
pecially has this been the case with
the division charged not only with
keeping up an adequate bread supply,
but also with keeping it down to nor
NAL prices.
This has been accomplished largely
by the government buying the wheat
and selling it to the millers at fixed
price with the agreement that they in
turn sell the flour to the bakers at an
ablished price. On an average,
the government gave the millers the
wheat at from $500 to $3.50 per 200
weight and the millers were obliged
to turn over the flour to the bakers
at $3.50 for 900 pounds. !
During the first four months of the
war of the 100000 pounds of wheat
ground by the millers, about one-half
of it was sold them by the govern
ment while the other half was bought
by them on the open market. In no