The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1918-01-11
FOOD SITUATION
GRAVE IN EUROPE

/
Washington, December, 1917.
To Members of the United States
Food Administration:
The food situation in Europe is
far graver than when the prelimin-
airy survey of the food supply Of the
world for this year was made. We
have an abundance for ourselves, and
it is the firm policy of the Food
Administration, by the prevention
of exports, to retain for our people
an ample supply Of every essential
food-stuff. The harvests of our
Allies have proved less than we had
contemplated, and the great cur
tailment of shipping by the subma
rines during the last few months
has further prevented them from ac
cess to more remote markets. Be-
yond the demands of the Allies,
there is a call upon us by the
friendly neutrals for food supplies,
and if we can not at least in part
respond to these neutral calls, star
walton on an unparalleled scale will
ensue.
Food has now taken a dominant
position in the war, and we must
ask the American people to sacri
flee far more than was at first
thought necessary. We have eX
ported the whole of the surplus of
the wheat from this harvest after
reserving to ourselves an amount
sufficient for our normal consump-
ton of seed and flour until the next
harvest, an dtherefore the amount of
wheat flour that the United States
can contribute to mix with the war
bread of our Allies during this Win
ter will be simply the amount that
our people reduce their consumption
month by month. In other words,
every grain of wheat or its pro-
ducts that the Allies receive from
the United States from now on will
be exactly the amount which our
people have saved each month on
their behalf.
The Allies today ask for 25 per
cent more meat and fats (pork,
dairy products and vegetable oils)
than we consider our monthly pro
duction permits us to send them
without trenching on our own sup
plies, or, on the other hand, unless
we can consume less. Due to the
shortage in shipping, our available
sugar supplies must be less than
normal from the present time for
ward
Thus every particle of diminished
consumption by the American peo-
pie is one particle more for the
soldiers, men, women and children
of our Allies and for the starving
people in other countries. This is
personal obligation upon every
one of US toward some individual
abroad who will suffer privation to.
the extent of our own individual
negligence.
If we are to reduce the consump-
tion of the few products which we
should export abroad, we will need
to eat larger proportion of many
different foodstuffs which we can
not export and which we have at
home. For this reason we MUST
NOT waste ANY foodstuffs. A great
many individuals in our population
eat far more food than is neces-
sary to maintain their health and
strength. In this emergency only
the simplest of living is patriotic. We
want no person in the United States
to eat less than is required for good
health and full strength, for in this
emergency America requires every
atom of the productive power of our
people While many can eat less,
all of our population can substitute
other foodstuffs for the few that
are vitality needed for export.
We must not overlook the fact
that Russia collapsed not because
of the Germans on her borders but
largely because of the failure to
organize and feed her own citizens,
and, if we are to emerge victorious
from this war, we can not risk the
collapse of another of our Allies
from this same cause. There is no
waste of food among any of our
Allies-there is the most drastic re-
duction in their consumption; there
is actual privation among their wo-
men and children; there is starva-
tion in Belgium.
We have already issued a series
of suggestions in the Home Card
a card that is now hanging in over
ten millions of homes. These sug-
| raStiopS have alraady shown imDOr-