Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1917-05-26
AN APPEAL TO WOMEN
Secretary of Agriculture Points Out That
in Their Own Homes They Can
Aid the Nations Armies.

The Secretary of Agriculture, in re.
sponse to requests from many editors fol
a statement as to service women can rem,
der the Nation in the direction of pro.
ducing and conserving agricultural pro.
ducts, has issued the following.
To the Women of the United States.
Every woman can render important
service to the Nation in it's present emer-
gency She need not leave her home or
abandon her home duties to help the
armed forces. She can help to feed and
clothe our armies and help to supply
food to those beyond the seas by prac-
tising effective thrift in her own house
hold.
every ounce of food the housewife
saves from being wasted in her home
all food which she or her children pro-
duce in the garden and can or preserve
every garment which care and skill
ful repair make it unnecessary to re-
| place-all lessen that households draft
on the already insufficient world sup
plies.
''To save food the housewife must
learn to plan economical and properly
| balanced meals, which, while nourish-
ing each member Of the family properly
do not encourage oVereating or offer
excessive and wasteful variety. 1t is
her duty TO use all effective methods to
protect food from spoiiage by heat dirt,
mice, or insects. She must acquire the
culinary ability to utilize every bit Of
edible food that comes into her home
She must learn to use such foods as vege-
tables, beans, peas, and milk products
as partial substitutes for meat She must
make it her business TO see that nothing
nutritious is thrown away or allowed to
be wasted.
Waste in any individual household
may seem to be Insignificant, but if only
a single ounce of edible food, on the
average, is allowed to spoi! or be thrown
away in each of our 20,000,000 homes,
over | 100000 pounds of material would
be wasted each day. 1t takes the fruit
of many acres and the work of many
people to raise, prepare and distribute
464,O00, 900 pounds of food year. Every
ounce of food thrown away, therefore,
tends also to waste the labor of an army
c: Busy citizens.
Clothing is largely an agricultural
product and represents the results of la
Dor on the sheep ranges, in cotton fields
and in mills and factories. Whenever a
useful garment is needlessly discarded
material needed to keep some one warm
or dry may be consumed merely to
crafty passing fancy. Women would
do well to look upon clothing at this
time more particularly from the utili-
tartan point of view.
Leather, too, is scarce and the prop
er shoeing of armies calls for great sup.
plies of this material. There are only
so many pairs of shoes in each hide, and
there is a shortage of animals for leather
as well as for meat. Anything that can
be done to encourage adults or children
to take care of their shoes and make
them last longer means that so much
more leather is made available for other
purposes.
Employed women, especially those
engaged in the manufacture of food or
clothing, also directly serve their coun
try and should put into their tasks the
enthusiasm and energy the importance
of their product warrants
while all honor is due to the women
who leave their homes to nurse and care
for those wounded in battle, no woman
should feel that, because she does not
wear nurses uniform, she is absoved
from patriotic service The home
women of the country. if they will give
their minds fully to this vital subject of
food conservation and train themselves
in household thrift, can make of the
housewives apron uniform of national
significance.
Demonstrate thrift in your homes
and encourage thrift among your neigh
bors.
make saving rather than spending
your social standard.
Make economy fashionable lest it be-
come obligatory"