The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-02-19
NATION MUST CIT
FOOD CoNSUMP
MORE, SAYS HOOVER
First of Administration S Food
Bills, kepor ed Favorably,
Gives Wider Powers in Regu-
lating Handling Of Neces-
sarias.

saries.
Washington, Feb Is,--The first of
Food Administrator Hoover's twin
food bills. proposing to put the nation
on rations, was reported tayorabiy to-
day by Chairman Lever OF the house
agricultural commit ee.
= With it was made public the testi-
mony by Hoover In the committee
hearings In which he declared the
nation must cut down 25 per cent on
oreAdstuffs. 10 per cent on beef. IL
TO Is per cent on pork and fat. 10
per cent on sugar. and per cent on
dairy products.
Almost carte-Sianche power Is given
The food administrator to regulate
food from the time II leaves the farm
untl II appears on the restaurant ia
bic or the bakers ioaf. Com mittee~
men were assured that the sizes OF
pieces OF meat. bread and other foods
in public places win be enforced at
once under the bill
For instance. II Is proposed that
steak shall weigh 40 moro than ak
ounces per person.
Home consumption ia not TO be
rightly regulated. but II Is affected by
restrictions hich are placed on manu-
facturers and distributors who ssu to
the housewife
Hoover declared himself empllatical~
", In the hearings, for seed su bsi-
dies of various sorts TO farmers to
increase production. He told the COM
mittee that last years corn crop. FAR
from being the heralded record maker.
was 200, 900. 600 bushels short Of nor
NAL, when its poor quality was con-
sidered.
Opposition in the house. Judging
from the committee vote, will be scat
tertng. Several Republicans Joined
the Democrats in making the favor
able report Opposition OF others was
based on individual paragraphs.
Hoover told the committee one chief
reason for pressing the bill was that
certain hotels were using their pres
ent patriotic pledge of economy as q
means Of imposing on the public.
The other OF the twin Hoover bills
proposing to regulate prices--will be
taken up at once by the committee
Its paragra phs to ut cotton and corn
prices have aroused bitter opposition
all under surface. because the bills
text has been kept supposedly secret
They may have 10 be stricken out.
The rattoning bill probably VIII fol-
low the administration bill on the
house floor.
our food%consumption per capita, !"
said Hoover in the hearings. "has in
creased about 10 per cent since 1914.
That I think. can only be attributed
D the increased prosperity OF the
country. The higher wage scale, and
the necessary rise In the standard OF
living.
when one com es TO reduce ratfons,
the result falls very differently on
various classes of the community.
Tt is necessary to take great deal
Of care that they do not fall on those
classes IN the community what are
already on the minimum basts of nu-
triton we can estimate that 20 and
possibly 80 per cent of the population
Of the United States are not overfed
even under present conditions.
We cannot rightly exert any en-
forced reduction against that section
OF the community"
Hoover swung into a discussion OF
President Wilson's embargo order on
food. He concluded that there were
certain neutral nations to which the
embargo must be relaxed. not naming
them,
control Of public eating places comes
from homes We are flooded for de-
mands, that we are not making the
public eating places cut down. That
condition encourages the housekeeper
II am not In favor of any direct
compulsion on the housekeeper. Such
measures as applied TO the homes are
OF the most Objectionable type In
any event they are almost impossible
of enforcement and we feel We can
get much better results than with a
background of a law.
Many large hotels make very earn
est efforts 10 carry out the measures
suggested by us Others use 1t as
'camounage' and others reject 1t alb
solutely,"
Hoover endorsed the proposal Of
furIoughing farm laborer@ from the
draft army environments.
When members attempted TO get
from Hoover an admiss on OF waste
IN brewing of barley. rice and corn,
he parried that much - this grain
was useful in mash tor cattle grow
ting.
Altogether he said. The brewing
question is a tangled skein which is
difficult TO solve "a conservation
measure"
ofls1s crop prospects. Hoover said:
winter wheat looked very bad at
The end OF November The heavy
snow over the country has improved
the condition and l. believe the de-
pertinent of agriculture has hopes now
of Il more nearly normal yield on the
present outlook. The acreage il the
largest In history