The Garden Island. [volume] (Lihue, Kauai, H.T.) 1902-current, 1917-06-26
How to Avoid the
Menace Of Starvation
(From Territorial Food Commi.sion)

1
wheat bread each week?
Why is such self denial asked, il
the name of all that is patriotic?
This man Hoover" as he il
coming to be known by everyone in
the United States, now Food Con.
troller for the nation, says America
must consume st least one-third
less wheat than our normal amount.
Unless this is done, in addition tc
all the strenuous growing of crops
now under way, the worlds food
problem will be absolutely unsolv-
able, and we will be facing absolute
starvation"
The warning is to be taken liter
ally; it applies to every individual
in this country, and to people in
Hawaii as well as TO those of the
States.
The why and wherefore of this
situation and Hoover's startling
demand upon us is explained with
unusual clarity and forcefulness in
an article by J Russell Smith, in
the Country Gentleman magazine
of June 8, just received in Hawaii.
1t perhaps is the best exposition of
the problem that has come to us
and is worth reading by every citi-
zen who seeks a clear understand
ing of the great world crisis.
Can we believe this?" the writer
of the article asks
The answer is: Yes, it is true,
and l only. hope that we can be-
lieve it before it is too late to do
something. We do not have to de-
pend alone upon Mr.. Hoover's
statement to know that he has told
the truth. 1t can be proved by
circumstantial evidence. An ex-
animation of the worlds food sit
uation makes it clear"
The author explains that Canada
and the United States must feed,
not merely our own army, but
supply almost the entire bulk of the
food for the civilian populations
and armies of Great Britain,
France, Belgium, Italy and Portu-
gal-all the western Allies. In the
first two years of the war America s
wheat crop was far above normal,
and already the Allies have con-
tracted for virtually half of it
which America must supply.
A big factor is the German sub
marine campaign and the toll it
has taken and continues to take of
the worlds shipping. In the other
years part of the Allies food came
from East India, Argentine and
Australia. Now the shipping is
not available to make the long trips
to those lands for grain. 4.
Australia is 10000 miles from
Europe, and the Argentina is 5000
miles distant. America is only
1000 miles away; consequently with
the terrible shortage in boats, the
Allies must seek their supplies at
the nearest possible source: Amer
lea. 1t is not question of merely
getting supplies through the sub
marine blockade. 1t is not feasible
to transport Australia's and Argen-
tines and India's supplies to the
United States and thence across the
Atlantic. The ship shortage is not
only in the Atlantic, but in every
one of the seven seas, and the
dearth is Just as serious in the Paci-
fic as in the East.
The result is that Argentina's
and Australia's granaries may be
filled to bursting with wheat, yet
America must stint herself and
even endure hardship if necessary,
to meet the Allies great need from
her own short supply.
The normal wheat crop of the
United States is 704 million bushels
1t is expected to be much less than
this amount in 1917, yet the Allies
have contracted for 800 million
bushels of this crop. The 1916
crop also was less than normal, $40
million bushels to be exact, so that
now the surplus of the two earlier
crops has disappeared. The west