Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-04-02
HOTELKEEPERS TO
CONSERVE WHEAT:
PLEDGE IS GIVEN
Nor Will the Restaurants Serve
That Cereal Until the Next
Crop is Harvested.
RESULT OF A CONFERENCE

Ernest ). TAFT, manager of the Hotel
du Pont and State chairman of the con-
servation OF food in hotels and restaur-
ants, has returned from Washington,
ID. c., where he attended a conference
OF hotel and restaurant proprietors and
managers. The conference, called by
Herbert Hoover, United States food
administrator, was held in the New vii
lard Hotel. Five hundred hotel and
restaurant proprietors and managers
were present, and everysection of the
United States was represented.
The hotel and restaurant proprietorS
and managers pledged themselves not To
serve wheat IN any form from April II
until the next crop of wheat is harvested
Impressive addresses were made by
Food Administrator Hoover and DIR.
Alonzo +. Taylor of the United States
Food Administration.
MIR. HoovERS ADDRESS
Food Administrator Hoovcr's address
follows:
Ladies and gentlemen: We have
asked YOU to come, many OF YOU on a
long journey, with great sacrifice to your
selves. We have not asked Won to come
for any idle purpose. Unfortunately, YOU
meet us at probably the most serious day
IN our national history since the Battle
OF Gettysburg. The seriousness of the
situation can only emphasize the prob
lem which we wish to put before You.
The Food Administration has not
taken the attitude of the general in COM
mand giving orders Our attitude Ia the
American public has been consistent.
that we should ask for service, that we
should ask for sell-sacrIiicc. that We should
tell in clear and direct way the why and
wherefore of every request 1t Is due
TO YOU to say that | should tell YOU hrst
the why and wherefore Of your COM
ing, because of the request that 1 am
going to make of YOU.
Our wheat situation is today the most
serious situation in the food supply of
the whole Allied world, We have had
stock taking in the early days OF March
and we find that our harvest Was less
than IL was estimated. There i also
another and more bitter difficulty in the
DELAYS OF shipping, IN the growing scarcity
OF ships that has thrown larger burden
upon the American people in feeding the
Allies than we had anticipated We had
all expected that the Argentine supply
would be available In Europe before this
time Those supplies Will not arrive
for another two months in quantity. and
even then will be less than we had eX-
pected. The consequence Is that the
supply Of breadstuffs in Europe Is nj its
lowest ebb. There Is but one source of
supply and that Is the United States
To-day our investigation shows that
II we are 10 ship 10 the Allies the amount
that Is necessary to carry over. even the
minimum of the bread supply. to their
people, we must cut our own consumption
BY one-haf. The limit that we propose
on Allied shipment Is simply the limit
OF our exporting power II may eventu-
ate thst we must reduce the bread con
sumption of the nited States more than
one-hah We intend to ship the bread
supply from here. willy nillv, but II i
not a simple problem Of taking bread
stufTs from the people.
Every shipment u gram, every shin
ment OF wheat. that we can send from
our ports, Is a shipment saved from the
Argentine Every ship can do double
the duty from our ports that II can do
from the Argentine Every time that
we send a shipment. We save two ships
from the Argentine Every time We
save a ship VIE save building a ship
Every time we save a ship We save the
transport and the supply Of one regiment
Of American soldiers. The Allies, within
the last few days, have asked Us 10 send
reinforcements, larger and faster than
We had anticipated. | assure you that il
we are to give them that we must draw
these ships from the Argentine and put
them into American ports.
We are asked why We do not ship
corn, why We wish to ship wheat 10
corn can be shipped across the Atlantic
for two months after the first OF April, /
because that Is the terminating season |
for corn and 1t will not stand shipment
Wheat is durable gram From the |
point of view Of interalhed feeding, wheat |
Is absolutely vital. II Is the one grain that |
we have that will stand shipment Il j.
the one grain that Will serve Up to this |
time the Allies have used some thirty /
to forty per cent OF corn in their bread i
Their bread has been as nothing compared /
to the bread that We have had in this I
country. neither IN palatabilltv nor iuX- /
iIriousness. After tins, If they arc 10 bc /
fed they must be fed on wheat bread. or |
none at all.
Now. in this period Of extreme diff |
hculty in Europe, the time when the |
morale Of the civil populations Of our |
Allies is at its lowest ebb, il does not |
stand for US to say, You can wait two |
months and then you can eat corn
1t is for us to say, "You shall receive |
every solitary grain Of wheat that our |
ports can handle.
"Our population has lived before this |
on corn. For three years the southern |
States lived and put up a good fight with /
no wheat. For periods of four and i've /
years at stretch no wheat was known 10 !
the people Of New England There Is no |
reason why We should insist Oh having
the most luxurious grain AT this imc, I
when II i our only transportabIe gram
Nov We have found the Food Adj /
mlmstratlon on voluntary effort We
have no desire to depart from this idea.
but Il We are TO accomplish this problem /
1t must be accomplished bv the voluntary
effort Of the intelligent people. the IN |
tiuentlal people OF tho community II !
thus democracy has not reached such
stage Of development that it has IN jts
people the selt-demal, voluntary self
denial, Willingness to sacrifice 10 rrofert
its own institutions and those Of furone
from which our own were bred then II
deserves to go down under the German
hand.
Il, therefore, cannot give YOU orders
| am going to make All appeal. ,Ebat
appeal Is this, you should abolish |
the use of wheat and wheat products
IN every flrst-claos hotel and restaurant
until the next harvest
Mr.. Hoover WAS here Interrupted bv
applause, his auditors rising Tor Il pro |
lOnged demonstration
Il had felt that | should receive that
FeSDonsp from y0It