Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1917-05-25
AN APPEAL TO WOMEN

Washington, ID. C.-The Secre-
tary of Agriculture, in response to
requests from many editors for a
statement as to service women can
render the nation in the direction of
producing and conserving agricul-
tural products, has issued the fol-
lowing:
"To the Women of the United
States:
"Eevery woman can render i'm
portant service to the nation in its
present emergency. She need not
leave her home or abandon her home
duties to help the armed forces. She
can help to feed and clothe our
armies and help to supply food to
those beyond the seas by practicing
effective thrift in her own household.
Every ounce of food the house
wife saves from being wasted in her
home-all food which she or her
children produce in the garden and
can or preserve-every garment
which care and skilfull repair make
it unnecessary to replace-all lessen
that households draft on the already
insufficient world supplies.
ITO save food the housewife must
learn to plan economical and prop
erly balanced meals which. while
nourshing each member of the fam
lily properly, do not encourage over
eating or offer excessive and waste
full variety. 1t is her duty to use
all effective methods to protect food
from spoilage by heat, dirt. mice, or
insects She must acquire the cul-
mary ability to utilize every bit of
edible food that comes into her
home She must learn to use such
foods as vegetables, beans peas, and
milk products as partial substitutes
for meat. She must make it her
business TO see that nothing nutri-
tious is thrown away or allowed to be
wasted
Waste in any individual house
hold may seem to be insignificant
but if only a single ounce of edible
food, on the average, is allowed to
spoil or be thrown away in each of
our 20,000,000 homes, over 1.300,-
900 pounds of material would be
wasted each day. 1t takes the fruit
of many acres and the work of many
people to raise, prepare, and distrib-
ute AGA 100000 pounds of food a
year. Every ounce of food thrown
away therefore, tends also to waste
the labor of an army of busy
citizens.
Clothing is largely an agricul-
tural product and represents the re-
suits of labor on the sheep ranges, in
cotton fields, and in mills and fac
tories. Whenever useful garment
is needlessly discarded material need
ed to keep someone warm or dry may
be consumed merely to crafty
passing fancy. Women would do
well to look upon clothing at this
time more particularly from the
Unitarian point of view.
Leather, too, is scarce and the
proper shoeing of armies calls for
great supplies of this material. There
are only so many pairs of shoes in
each hide, and there is a shortage of
animals for leather as well as for
meat. Anything that can be done to
encourage adults or children to take
care of their shoes and make them
last longer means that so m UGH more
leather is made available for other
purposes.
Employed women, especially
those engaged in the manufacture OF
food or clothing, also directly serve
their country and should put into
their tasks the enthusiasm and en-
ergy the Importance of their product
While all honor is due to the
women who leave their homes to
nurse and care for those wounded
in battle, no woman should feel that,
because she does not wear a nurses
she is absolved from patri-
otto service. The home women of
the country, If they will give their
minds fully to this vital subject of
food conservation and train them
selves in household thrift. can make
of the housewives apron a uniform
of national significance.
Demonstrate thrift in your homes
and encourage thrift among your
N al Obb npo