Evening star., 1917-01-19
WITHIN THE iron RING
1.-THE War Sustenance
Office.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

BERLIN. November 2o.-The story of
the war sustenanoe ONCE is an unex-
ampled story of thrift: it 10 the story
OF tho conversion of the waste Of a ma
tion into that nations margin for ex-
istence. 1t is a battle In which grim
Gen. Hunger Is being combated trench
for trench. or. better. crumb for crumb.
The army under the command Of the
over the empire and its operations are
never halted. There are no moments
OF ease: there is no let up in the ten
sion; but. as each month passes there
is a sigh Of relief that the month has
gone. OF relief that fortitude and un-
wearied planning still are mat ching the
foe
The war sustenance Office has con-
troll over all the food of Germany. You
may not successfully import a case OF
eggs or a firkin of butter or cultivate
an acre Of potatoer but that this Of
nee steps in and claims it's share of
the produce for the people before you
are allowed to enjoy the least part of
the fruits OF your efforts. II you are
wholesale or retail dealer In foods
you know that the war sustenance Of
foe has detailed record of every
ounce Of supplies that you have re-
ceived. together with exact accounts
| or your sales. your number of Gus
! toners. your loss by wastage and your
profits The office fixes prices. and II
prescribes the amounts Of produce you
| may buy. In short. il knows fully az
much about your business as you know
yourself: and woe be to you IL you
break any of its regulations.
The dealer who advertises full milk
| for children and who sells a skimme ed
| milk Is cavalierly treated these days
| HIS case goes more quickly than a
| drum head court-martial. At one time
a few months ago lard. in consequence
or a severe shortage. was selling for
| more per pound than butter. This sit
uation led to the prosecution of an un-
usual food case, in which a butcher
was heavily fined for selling butter as
lard. Charging more than the maxi
mum prices allowed. or selling short
measures. bring down instant fines
upon the offenders heads: and moi
many fragrant violations are allow ed
| before the offenders shop is closed fol
| good and all.
The total amounts Of the crop pro
ductions Of each farm are known by
| the food office a:
No Market Worries soon as the farm
Confront Farmer. sna ,ha ,arm.,
does not find 1t wise to conceal part o.
his harvest. He is even likely to gel
nj q
| faulty estimate of his crops early II
the season. His grain and potatoes ant
live stock are sold at fixed prices II.
does not need to worry about price
| fluctuations or the duties of mark ct
ing; all that he is expected to do is t'
| raise as much g possible upon the linn
| tied area of his farm and place all bu
a necessary minimum to the order o.
the food office
The war sustenance Office was the
| invention OF the sternest of mothers
! II was created at time when the hear
national starvation. In those day!
babies died for want OF milk. The In
| hrm weakened day by day on a die
too rugged for spent health to bear
And the poor plodded week after week
heavy tasks doggedly week after week
miserable, voiceless. dulled by tn,
heart rt-breakine monotony and INSULT
| cheney of their food. In those days la 81
| winter and in early spring the OLD
prayer, Give vs. this day our daily
bread was offered in such an earnest
humble. fervid pleading as seldom In
all the centuries of our Christianity.
| 1t was in these dark days last spring
| that the war sustenance office was
| born. Ii was not known outside of Ger
many at that time that the preceding
harvest had been the poorest harNes,
! in twenty-five years. The government
/ had announced that the harvest had
| been satisfactory that fear might moi
paralyZe the people. A few statist les
can best explain the true state of af-
fairs.
! The German harvest of wheat and
| rye in 1912 totaled 100000 metric
| tons. In 1913. 1000. 900 metric tons OF
these foodstuffs were garnered in. while
! in 1914. ls.O00.000 metric tons were har-
vested. The Germans consumed. be-
| sides the whole OF these harvests. an
! annual import of more than one mil
! lion metric tons Of grain. In 1915. with
the avenues of importation closed. only
I l3.008.243 metric tons OF rye and wheat
were produced. Do not these figures
+ make clear the terrible winter and
spring of 1916 and the staggering prob
! lem that Batooki. with the newly
| formed war sustenance Office. was call
ed upon to fight? In the midst OF a
titanic war with most of the producers
upon the firing line. with all the lanes
of import closed. Germany had TO sub