The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-12-21
The Difference in Hardships.

ut seems to me-" said a Red Cross
woman who recently returned from
France, speaking at club meeting, 'that
American women cannot truthfully say
that the food regulations have made
housekeeping any harder for them, but
only that they are wiser and more eff.
cient as result of them.
Before | sailed last year / had some
difficulty getting my sugar, but it was
only matter of little annoyance, and
no real privation. Then when the food
administration allotted certain amount
to everybody managed beautifully, and
learned for the first time about the
syrups and how they could be used in
cooking and canning.
CAS- for the war breads that we had to
make in order TO save wheat, I'm sure
we all liked them; and less meat in our
diet was good for all Of us.
when arrived in France ard was up
near the front, and heard stories from
the women who had lived under the Ger
man military control in France and Bel
GUM, then | realized what food troubles
really were. Ii made we very thankful
that American women could help these
people after their liberation, and it was
wonderful to think that, by such small
individual savings and substitutions at
home we had saved the morale of the
civilians behind the armies, so that they
did not 'break," as the German civilians
did.
IF ever you should find yourselves
complaining about what you have had to
do in the past year, or about the con
seryation program that you have to keep
up until Europe is in order again and our
army comes home, think how you would
like to have been in situations like these;
Sixty per cent Of the wheat fields in
the parts of France and Belgium under
German control for so long were cult
waited by the German army itself, 20 per
cent by the army and the peasants to-
gether, and the remaining 20 per cent by
the peasants for themselves, under the
watchful eye of the German officials.
"All that the army grew it took for it.
self, and half of the crops which it had
cultivated with the peasants Then it
bought most Of the remaining crop,
and paid for it with promissory notes
redeemable and payable after the war
when Germany was TO have won
Every peasant--the old women, old
men, mothers of families, boys and girls
over l2-had to work certain number
of hours day for the German army
They worked at the crops, cut wood,
washed clothes, dug trenches or sewed
sand bags Each had book to keep a
record Of his weekly work, and if he or
she had not done enough, there was fog
ging Imprisonment or even deportation
in Germany to work in the munition fac
tories or the mines
"The Germans kept record Of all the
fruit trees, cows, hens and even eggs, and
the peasants had to suffer if they did not
have the expected number to SELF to the
army.
Now that the invaders have been driv-
en- out and beaten, these poor people are
even worse off for food because the crops
and orchards and animals were destroyed
by the retreating soldiers.
Can we say that we have suffered
here? Voluntary saving, few simple
regulations about using less sugar, less
meat, and wheat substitutes-that is all
we were asked to do The voluntary
saving which the food administration ex-
poets of us must continue. But that will
not be hard task for the people of the
! United States, who now know what &C.
accomplishment means"
Dorothy Dexter.