New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-21
The Food Problem

Mr.. Herbert {. Hoover talks ike man
who has the qualities needed in war
time food administrator. His programme
is level-headed. He has not been stam-
peded by loose talk about famine condi-
tions which are going to overtake us be-
fore the end Of next winter. Nor does he
think it necessary to stampede the public
as first step toward setting up Federal
food dictatorship.
There has been too much hysterla in
Washington over predicted food shortages.
The only portion of the United States which
was ever really put on short rations was
the Southern Confederacy, which found
itself suddenly shut in by land and sea
end thrown on its own scanty food re
sources. The Southern people raised cot
ton instead of cereals. They had very
little wheat. But they ate corn instead
Of wheat. and somehow lived through four
years of pitiless siege.
The United States is not besieged. 1t
has a vast agricultural area Of its own.
II can pool its food crops with those OF
Canada. 1t can also draw on tropical
America. If our people are ever brought
TO a condition resembling privaton it will
only be because they do not utilize the
gifts of nature and fail to modernize an
outworn system Of production and distri-
button, distorted from its true purpose by
the greed Of middlemen and characterized
by gross inequity and wastefulness.
All that is needed to eliminate ineffi-
cheney and waste is intelligent government
supervision. Mr.. Hoover recognizes this.
We have abundant acreage. If the farmer
If assured Of reasonable minimum prices
he will rapidly increase his production.
More foodstuffs can be raised in the South,
for instance, and less cotton. On the
other hand, if reasonable maximum prices
ere assured to the consumer, he can face
the prospect of long war without panic.
He will be safe so long as the government
suppresses food speculation and delivers
him from the clutches of middlemen who
fatten themselves by forcing high prices
on him and low prices on the farmer.
One great American failing has been
extravaganza in food consumption. Our
4 household economy has been primitive and
faulty. The average American family can
more than offset the burden of relatively
high minimum prices guaranteed to the
farmer through a cutting out of waste,
through using less food and food which is
less expensive. II is easy to substitute corn
for wheat, to replace our inferior peace
bread with more nutritious war bread, to
give the preference to commodities which do
not have to be transported long distances,
10 consume less of those commodities which
our allies in Europe need most, to frown
On mere display and luxury at table and
the peace-time excuses Of public and pri-
vate entertainment.
Moderation is really all that is required
to save the situation. Greedy boarding is
as much out Of place as hysterical self
denial. Mr.. Hoover strikes the golden
mean when he says: eve do not ask that
the American people should starve them
selves, but that they should eat plenty,
wisely and without waste"
The war does not threaten the people
Of the United States with either semi
starvation or hard times. There will be
enough to eat, and the supply will be
within everybody's reach, If we only exer
else little common sense in food regula-
ton. War is a great teacher. If this one
lasts long enough it will come near max
ing over the United States. And one of its
most beneficial results may be the demon
stration of what sensible food regulation
can do for public welfare. Seeing what it
can do, 1t is incredible that the people will
ever consent to 90 back TO the clumsy and
wasteful system from which both the, pro-
Queer and the ultimate consumer have so
long needlessly suffered.
Justifying Reprisals