The Leader, enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1915-1921, 1917-05-25
An Appeal to Women

The Secretary of Agriculture, in re-
spouse to requests from many editors
tor statement as to service women
can render the Nation in the direction
OF producing and conserving agricul-
utral products, has issued the follow
ing:
To the Women of the United States:
Every woman can render impor-
tant service to the Nation in its pres
ent 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 practising effective thrift
in her own household.
Every ounce of food the house
wife saves from being wasted in her
home-a1l food which she or her
children produce in the garden and
can or preserve-every garment which
care and skillful repair make it I'M
necessary to replace-all lessen that
households draft on the already in
sufficient world supplies
ITO save food the housewife must
learn to plan econmical and properly
balanced meals, which; while nour-
ishing each member of the family
properly, do not encourage overeating
or offer excessive and wasteful va
riety. 1t is her duty to use all effect
i've methods to protect food from
spoilage by heat, dirt, mice, or in
sects. She must acquire the culinary
ability to utilize every bit of edible
food that comes into her home She
must learn to use such foods as vege-
tables, beans, peas, and milk products
as partial substitutes for meat. She
must make it her business to see that
nothing nutritious is thrown away or
allowed to be wasted
Waste in any individual household
| 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 100000
homes, over 100000 pounds of ma
terial would be wasted each day. 1t
takes the fruit of many acres and the
work of many people to raise, prepare.
and distribute 46400000O 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 agricultural
product and represents the results of
| labor on the sheep ranges, in cotton
fields, and in mills and factories.
Whenever a useful garment is need
lessly discarded material needed to
keep some one warm or dry may be
/, consumed merely to crafty passing
fancy. Women would do we'll to look
upon clothing at this time more par
ticularly 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 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 much more lea
Their is made available for other pur-
poses.
while all honor is due to the wo-
men who leave their homes to nurse
and care for those wounded in battle.
no woman should feel that, because
she doesn't wear a nurses's uniform.
she is absolvcd from patriotic service.
The home women of the country. if
they will give their minds fully to this
vital subject of food concentration and
train themselves in household thrift, |
can make of the housewives apron a
uniform of national significance.
Demonstrate thrift in your homes
and encourage thrift among your
neighbors.
Make saving rather than spending
your social standard
Make economy fashionable lest it
become obligatory"