New-York tribune., 1917-07-17
The Sinews Of War
Women of Kansas Are Fighting the War in Their
Gardens and Kitchens While the Men Fight 1t in
,bsFields; 800 900 Families Raising Own Produce
Bv THEODORE M. KNAPPEN

=
how back in the home village: Oh, YOU New York cliff
dyeler how YOU used gather hazel and spread
m On the shed roof dry and how mother utilized your
t energies scrapng from the cob to be spread
~ Tor driving that sunny shed roof? Perhaps you
ber too how YOU wcpt when your pet pig sacrificed
Ill bacon ham and salt pork To this day you recall
oeng fragrance OF the drying and the farewell squeal
,be oorkcr OF course YOU can.
Those good old days coming back-are back War, the
e N the primitive contest driving the nation back
,yc davs OF family industry. when the ruling principle
dr,estc economy produce home much pos
~ a the family consumed You have read about the revival
dcn but YOU thought pifAe Maybe ii is somewhere but
~ Kansas the energetic and the thorough The OF
vnsas are fighting this in their gardens and Kitchens while
4. men fight the broad fields.
Excuse the figures but fact that 10000 Kansas aml-
are getting large part Of their garden produce from their
m Gardens and are putting up surplus against the winter
ents OF the family The garden products of the state will
,s amount twice much this year in other
This is not orehandedness 1t is patriotism. Kansas strives
d itself largely on unusual production, that the ordinary
extraordinary commercial production may 80 to meet the
ordnav demands occasoned by the Every put up
e means one more available for the fighting OF the
t derocracics and manufacturing millions that stand be
lind them.
60 Mother and Daughter Clubs all the
n the simple household food preservation industries OF the
,.tvh some modern notions tackled Eight thousand
en and girls enrolled in hundred regularly organized
enng and canning clubs The conservation committee OF the
e Council OF Defence working largely through the extension
son of the State Agricultural College has this work in charge
provides and gives the instruction in drying
md canning
Forty villages and cities have engaged teachers for the
w months to supervise the gardening and canning work -Four
conservatives of the agricultural college devotng all OF their
m 10 demonstrations and they supported by members OF
he faculty Of other educational institutions ten special CLUB
r twenty county agents and many experienced local voun
tes.
The Deope are being Systematically taught that not only
does home consumption garden production release GER
m amount garden produce for commercial utilization but that
product the gardens be used to reduce the nome con-
sumption wheat bread Every family IS being urged to increase
Is consumption Of corn and expected that pretty near every
Kansas family will have little kitchen mill this winter where
the meal will be ground the family cornbread thus leaving
commercial mills free to grind cornmea for export
The idea Of getting along with little wheat bread as pos
b as war measure is we'll brought in cartoon now beng
distributed nv the conservation committee OF the Defence Council
which graphically shows much OF the national bread
caf must be cut off for the Allies this year than last
This is efficiency in fighting the war at home
On the other hand lot OF nefhcency has resulted from
volunteer The American people the greatest oner on
earth When there anything be done the first step instead OF
doing it. is almost always form organization OF some Kind
Everybody ion everybody contributes The next step to get
circular letter and inquiry blank OF some KIND buy cara
index and get the typewriters and mutgraphs gong.
The result great overlapping OF organizations as wen as
Interference with regular official nstrumenales This confusion
and multiplication OF agencies particularly noceaoe III the
labor field The national and labor bureaus and the haod
councils defence have been engaged IN 6rd
game OF adding confusion confusion with all sorts OF amateur
organizations doing part Some OF the Kansas farmers nave
been almost forced to quit farming in order to get time to answer
problem letters and fill out blanks.
CHICAGO nespaDer conceived highly original idea OF
hstutng employment bureau It heard that Kansas "ou
require 800 for the harvest Without learning Whe'hcr
Kansas knew where get these in the ordinary course
began shooting laborers to Kansas, where they were no more
needed than akrabbts Ridiculous and incredible as II may sec
the papers employment commissioner wrote IN 'ne same
which he coDaned Of Kansas taking OF the men ne
had sent that he understood Kansas had lOOOO surplus lah
aborers the labor bureau was lax III o
eng him know all about situation, so that ne couu Pae
these where needed At last accounts the amateur i
t,,roiss;o,. m e ~ evolainnq TO number OF ate labor
why he should not reompense them for about S45 each spent
searching Tor the nonresident Kansas job