Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-02-23
MOST PRECIOUS THING in
n THE WORLD

A'A complacency Of this Commonwealth
4 Yesterday. "All our efforts must be dou-
, bled," he said, ito meet the absolute food
nee essities Of our associates. Unless we do
I meet them, the war cannot go on"
Let every citizen drill that thought into
: his storach nerves. II the food is not
sent it means but one thing, and Hoover
has said it-catastrophe.
We are not alarmists. We are so con-
fdent that we shall whip the Hun and
drive back the assault on human law and
order that we believe the menace of an
/. early peace to be the gravest of all dam
, gers now threatening us, But certain as
. It is that we can win. it is just as certain
that we cannot win unless we put behind
our effort everything we have and are
Because the task is worthy of us VIC must
meet it worthily.
An army marches on its belly and an
army holds trench on its belly. There
are tens of thousands of Americans, we
. DeUeNe, WHO Will last OllS udS VI t"N NNs -
or a whole week. if so only proper sup
plies for the armies of defense can be got
The American people, we believe. would
accept an arbitrary order forbidding the
use of any wheat whatever for sixty days.
il SO only the strength of the forces we
nourish could be kept up.
Seventy.five million bushels of wheat
and rye must be got across the ocean in
the immediate future There are no Ifs"
to It. The necessity is absolute. We have
that supply and We can send it unless
hundreds of thousands of American citi-
.xens willfully and deliberately put into
their own bellies the sustenance needed
over there.
The food campaign has been SO simple
movement. engendering 50 little sacrl'
fice that it is doubtless alarming to the
public to have the situation stated so
bluntly. But why trifle with truth? To
do something we have TO know what it is
we want to do. We cannot solve this ter.
rife problem. by approaching it as If It
were o. only casual Importance. 1t has
got to be solved. Otherwise the life Of
EVERY man we have sent to France is in
danger and all our expenditure Of blood
and money will have been in vain.
We might, in these circumstances. well
be alarmed and even driven into panic
were it not so plain that 1t is easily within
our power to eliminate the threatening
factor and meet the demand of the sit
uation fully and quickly. We have but
to make 1t a personal matter. 1t is for
each individual to make it a personal duty
him eat less wheat. Is that not simple?
It occasions no suffering, for there is a
wealth Of substitutes and the markets are
flied with edibles.
We said Thursday that the mouth is a
tempter to treason, that every person who
eats food which he does not need and
which the armies do need is a traitor. Mr..
Hoover's drastic utterance confirms and
sanctions that opinion. 1t puts the issue
squarely up to every person in the State
and in the nation. And who SO weak that
he cannot voluntarily discipline himself
In eating when thousands and tens of thou.
sands of other Americans are subjecting
themselves to rigorous military discipline
IN all matters for the good Of civilization?
/. 81 The situation. We are convinced has
\ merely to be stated and its solution is
-<assured. 1t is only because citizens have
not Appreciated the immediate and vita
requirements Of food conservation that
tfhey have been lax in doing their duty
s>We appeal TO them now. with oil the EN-
*Dhasis OF which we are capable, to saw,
3rf,eat as they have never saved it before
ovcn to do without it entirely for linn
"a Ned period. where possible.
~ We will not let our bellies consecrat'
Z fhemseves to the service Of the Hun. They
e 10. with our blood and treasure. mus
erk for his defeat.
save wheat