The Monticellonian., 1917-08-23

this demand will interfere with the American supply of 100000 tons is difficult to forecast, first, because some increased supplies may be obtained by the allies from the East Indies. and, second, because the allies have re- duced their consumption to some ex- tent
 In any event, if all the enemies of Germany are to be supplied. there must be economy in consumption everywhere. The normal American consumption is about 90 pounds per person per annum and is just double the French consumption.
 Vegetables.
 We have this year most abundant crop of vegetables for our use as re- suit of patriotic endeavor almost l universal throughout the country. Our potato harvest alone promises an in- crease from 2S5,000,000 bushels last year to over 400000,000 bushels this year. The other vegetables are like wise enormously increased through the planting and extension of millions of gardens. The sweet potato crop promises to be from 10 to 20 per cent above what 1t was last year, and the commercial crop of sweet corn for | canning purposes is estimated to be from 20 to 30 per cent above that of last year. The commercial crop of tomatoes for canning purposes will probably be somewhere between 10 | and 20 per cent above what it was last year. There is an increase in the acre age of late onions of about 54 per cent over the area harvested in 1916. Fish and Sea Foods.
 The waters of our coasts and lakes are enormously rich in food fish and shell fish, Our streams, too. contribute great quantity of fish. Many varie- ties are now not used for human food, but are thrown away or used for ferti lizer. Habit has confined our use of fish to few varieties, and inadequate methods of commercial handling have limited our use of these largely to only certain days in the week. With better marketing facilities, with better under standing of how to use the most varie- ties with proper preservation by ST 'ng and salting and by establish ing plants for frozen fish, we can in | crease greatly our supply and thus re- lieve largely the pressure due to the inadequate supply of meat. We only have to harvest our own fish supply. It feeds itself. Every fish eaten is that much gained in solving the pres 1 ent problem of living. The products of the land al< conserved by eating 1 those of the sea-
 Our Duty
 have endeavored to show in previ- ous articles that the world is short of food E; that Europe is confronted with the grim speeter of starvation unless from our abundance and our waste we 1 keep the wolf from the door. Not only must we have 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 oecu- patton of land by armies, by the iso-
 laton of markets, by belligerent lines, and by the destruction of shipping by submarines, not only has the home pre-
 duction of our allies fallen by over 900 0O0. .000 bushels of grain, but they are thrown upon us for much larger proportion of their normal imports for merly 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 re- quire more food than during peace times, and the incidence of their saving and any shortage which they may suf-
 fer, falls first upon women and chil- dren. If this privation becomes too
 great, their peoples cannot be main- tained 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 in-
 stitutions and our large resources of food, to initiate Europe in it's policed
 rationing, but we must voluntarily and
 intellgently assume the responsibility
 before us as one in which everyone has direct and unacceptable 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 l foods These are Wheat 6Our beef | pork and dairy products. We have oth-
 CT foods in great abundance which we
 can use instead of these commodities,
 and we can prevent wastes in thou
 sand directions, We must guard the
 drainage of exports from the United
 States. that we retain proper supply
 for our own country, and we must
 adopt such measures as will amelior-
 ate, so far as may be, the price eondi-
 tions 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 oper-
 alton of normal economic forces"
 would starve that element of the com
 munity to whom we owe the most pro-
 tection We must try to impose the
 burden equally upon all.
 Action Must Be Voluntary.
 There is no royal road to food con
 servation We can only accomplish
 this by the voluntary action of our
 whole people. each element in propor- | ton to its means It is a matter of