Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1918-04-10
LET Us FACE The FACTS
Our Allies Must Have Food as Well
as Soldiers to Help Them Fight
and America Must Furnish 1t.

and America Must Furnish 1t.
One year ago April 9Th the United
States ceased to be neutral nation.
By entering the war we tacitly pledg-
ed the Allies our fullest measure OF
support. They needed men, hundreds
of thousands of them, and we are
sending them. They had to have food,
hundreds Of thousands Of tons, and we
have been sending it. But their need
is greater today than it has been at
any time since the war cloud first
broke. They still need men, but they
| must have food We can send millions
o. mcn, inexhaustible supplies Of am
n,nition-but they will be of no avail
if we fail to support the troops over
there ard the people behind them. If
the food fails them, they will fail.
We know now that never have the
Allied nations faced a grimmer strug-
gle for existence than confronts them
today. We know that only to Ameri-
ca may they turn for assistance. So
great has been the toll of the U-boat
that every ship must be made to work
at full capacity. Every vessel must
take the greatest possible number of
trips, travelling to the nearest source
of supply-America. IF the source Of
supply fails them, it means that their
ships must go farther from the scene
of conflict. It means dimunton Of
FOOD. And that means an approach TO
tarvation-failure, defeat.
The strength of those people over
there depends solely upon US. Starv-
ing people cannot uphold their armies.
And the armies, even if they are fed,
cannot be kept in the field if the men
know that privation and want are ad-
ded to the suffering back home. The
knowledge that their women and chill
dren were starving would rob them
Of the spirit which has maintained
their determination to stand unyleld-
ing before the onslaughts Of Prussia.
We must face the fact that there is
not in this country enough food to
meet the actual necessities of Europe
if we maintain our normal consump-
tion. We must iced them, out we
have left in America only the amount
which would normally be consumed be-
fore another harvest. We can export
cnly what we save. If our savings are
small. Europe will be underfed-the
war will be lost.
The greatest need in Europe today
is for wheat. They must have, mil !
lions of bushels Seventy-five million
bushels, on the first day of this year,
was needed to tide them over till July
1st. Lord Rhondda, British Food
Controller, cahled the United States
Food Administration that unless
America could supply it, he could not
take responsibility for assuring the
English that they would be fed.
AS long as the first of last Decem-
ber, we had exported our entire wheat
surplus. Since then we have been
able to ship only what our people have
saved-and we are falling behind on
the program.
So grave has become the SITUATION,
that today it is no exaggeration to-
declare that he who wastes a slice OF
wheat bread is actually hindering the
prosecution of war and .endangering
our chances for victory. Our wheat
consumption must be cut t" l IL
pounds per week--a reduction Of 50
per cent. This is military necessity,
and should be viewed in no other light.
There are ways most IF US can help
There is one way every one OF us can,
help-by standing gaurd over our ma
tons larder. All Of US cannot save,
hut all of us can do something 10 CO.
ordinate the nations savings and to
police the distribution of our tood
supplies. Across the sea they neea
badly the four principal staples we
are being asked to save, meats,
wheats, fats and. sugar. But most. OF
all they need wheat. Waste it ana
we are wasting lives.
On the curb we place upon our ap-
petites depends the success of our men
and the Allies in Europe.
Negotiations With Norway