The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1918-11-15
SOLDIERS give
WRONG INF RESSI0N!
FOOD CONDITIONS IN MILITARY
ZONE NOT A FAIR SAMPLE
OF FRANCE AT LARGE.
Food Administration Representative
Writes Of Food Supplies Out
side Fighting Area.

~
women who have. at the request OF
the Food Administration. expended
much energy and ingenuity in their
efforts 10 save food for the Allies,
have had a rude shock when their
sons or husbands have written them
from France that there was no such
thing as a food shortage over there;
that they could get all the food they
wanted; and that this idea of saving
food for starving France was non
sense.
These letters are written in good
faith, we are sure, and what they say
Is true-of the small kart of France
which the average American sees.
And as few Americans ever go out
side of the military zone they imagine
that what they say is true of France
as a whole, and never know what a
great wrong they are doing the rest
of the country.
The military zone, fairly wide belt
extending the length Of the battle
line, is plentifully supplied with food.
It is true. II you are willing to pay
a sufficiently high price you can get
about anything you want. The pres
ence of millions and millions Of sol
diers in this zone, and their willing
ness to pay the most exorbitant prices
for food-especially is this true of the
American soldier-has caused phe-
nominal flow Of foodstuffs to this
part Of France, which has left the
rest of the country drained dry.
Conditions outside the area under
military control, which after all is a
very small part Of France, are very
bad The civilian population must pay
the same prices for food as the sol
diers, or they must go without. In
the industrial centers almost every
one is engaged on war work, and, re-
ceiving high wages, can keep up with
the high cost of living But in the
smaller towns and all through the
country districts the people fare very
badly indeed.
They can no longer afford butter or
cheese; and meat is now beyond their
aspirations Even potatoes, upon
which they could depend in the past,
are so high in price, owning to the
bad crop this year, that many people
cannot buy them at all.
Practically the only food which ev-
erybody can afford is bread, for the
price OF bread has been kept low by a
Government subsidy. Bread, however,
is rationed, and the ration is far from
sufficient to make up for the lack Of
other foods. Moreover, the fact that
bread is rationed, and that each per-
son has a card emitting him to 10
ounces day, does not mean that
when he presents his ticket at the
door of the bakery, he is sure to re-
ceive 10 ounces. In many places last
summer, the ticket brought in ex-
change only half the promised guam
tity-and in other places none at all.
representative Of the u. S. Food
Administration who has recently ia
ken a trip through the more remote
districts of France writes, II have
just visited several villages in Auv.
ergne, a mountainous district where
transport is difficult. In one village
there had been no bread for three
weeks people were eating out their
meager diet from fast failing supplies
of potatoes. In another Of these viii
lagos we found bread, but it, was very
black had a distinct odor, and was al.
most impossible to swallow.
"They told me it was made Of
chestnut -four with some oats and bar.
ley and little buckwheat added That
was what they had been living on for
FIVE weeks. talked to some women
who were standing in a queue outside
the bakers shop, waiting for their
daily ration Of this bad bread. Some
OF them were complaining bitterly,
but when | suggested to one of them
that If France made peace with Ger.
many they would have plenty to eat,
I almost had a fight on my hands"