The Sentinel=record., 1918-02-01
HERE IS PICTURE OF REAL SACRIFICE
SOLDIER BOY TELLS OF FOOD CONDITION HE HAS SEEN IN
 FRANCE.
Nephew of Hamp Williams Writes One of the Most Interesting Letters of Many From Over There

Another vivid reminder of food
 shortage in France is contained in a
 letter received by Hamp Williams, federal food administrator for Ar kansas. from his nephew, Herbert
 William Kelley, aged 19 years, of
 Kansas City, Mo, in the bugle corps
 of railway engineers O the American
 expodit:onary forces. The young man
 enlisted shortly after the war with Germany was announced and has been !u FraaCe for several months He passed is nineteenth o'rthday in that lcUantry
 Shortly after his appointment as food administrator for this state MT Williams wrote his nephew, asking | him to make careful observation of l food conditions in that country and to send him a communication along those lines. In his letter the young
 man paints picture that brings home
 to all who read it the necessity for
 every man, woman and child consery-
 ing all the food they possibly can and
 co operating to the fullest extent with
 the government fin winning this war The young mans letter follows: France, Dec. 9, 1917 1 Dear Uncle:---
 | Those of my comrades who have
 read your letter of November 24, join
 with me in saying that 1t is as in spring as any letter we have received
 in France.
 | IL will be a great pleasure to me
 to give you what meagre information
 have acquired concerning the food | situation in France. You must un
 derstand that if is very difficult to
 grasp the food situation while one | is at the front. We do not suffer, 1 for every scrap of food available is given to those on the firing line, The
 place to study the effect of the pres ent economic situation is back beyond | the range of guns-out of the battle area-Sack to the cities and villages
 and farms
 1 To begin with q may as well put | this on the cause and effect basis l reduction h the devastated north is ] practically blghted The fields are furrowed with trenches and plowed
 with shells; the homes of farmers
 are leveled, the agricultural imple
 ments stand idle and rusting in the 1 summer rains
 1 This part of France was devoted
 almost entirely to the sugar industry The fields were used for the cuti-
 vation of the beet, the towns were
 built around and supported by sugar
 factories Today the fields are bar | ren, and the factories lie in ruins. Consequently sugar can scarcely be 1 obtained by civilians, much less by
 men in uniform Pastries and con fections containing sugar are rare, since the French government has re- stricted the consumption of sugar
 In bakeries and confection factories
 the use of sugar in large quantities
 is forbidden. Sweet chocolate is not
 sold in large cities on Tuesdays and
 Thursdays. The soldiers tea goes
 sugarless as a rule. Children are for
 bidden sweet meats oft times, and
 when candy is sold, the price defies purchase. The German airmen have
 taken advantage of this condition ao- cording to reports, and have dropped pieces of poisoned candy in some of the cities that the next generation in Franco r1fphf ta cblftarntad
 In southern France, though l have not yet been there, the industries are practically demoralized One may well assume that industries operated by women. children. and those physic- ally unfit are subnormal As I have said. northern France is blighted; all of Frances native produce must come from central and southern France and industry there is crippled by scarcity of men and the character of the pres ent labor,
 What is the result of these serious conditions? We at the front who have not yet felt the weakness of hunger for any length of time, who iAoft ptlhOAAA oAbOA III tllb bndAiVh Oi want, cannot speak On the appealing language Of personal experience We can only make deductions from our observation. For a short time we stayed in a rest camp on the coast | where food was somewhat scarce. The | grimy faced street gamin (who would | have been sweet little French chill dren had they been fed and washed | properly) would come to the wire fence around our encampment to beg for crusts of bread Had we given them a tin of preserved meat for their pains they would have felt all of the thrills that hungry tramp might experience If he were suddenly in- vted to sumptuous feast at the Waldorf Austoria' One must hard on his heart and turn his head as he walks down the street of a French l city. if he wishes to keep franc to himself The miserable little wretehes. more through hunger than prayer imnudence, pull at ones coat