The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-01-30
Success in War ImperiIed If
American Homes Do Not
Come to Rescue.
HUN PROPAGANDA AT WORK
Stories Alleging PIentItude of Food
In Allied Countries Jeopardize
Cause of Allies-correspon
dent Tells of Conditions
In France.

Washington. - irresponsible state
ments from unknown sources, purport-
| ing to show that there is no food short
! age in France and other allied Euro
| pean countries, are creating a wrong
! impression in the public mind and Sc
riously hampering the governments
| food conservation program, declares
the United States food administration.
The administration can only repeat
what it has said all along on the basis
of official government statistics:
There is a serious food shortage in
| France, and in other allied European
| lands, which, If not made
| up by conservation In American homes
and shipments from American ports,
| will imperil allied success in the war.
Any statement, innocent or mali
! ciOus, which alleges plentitude of
| food over there is German propaganda,
pure and simple.
Get Wrong Impression.
! Persons returning from Paris have
| unintentiOnally jeopardized the cause
of the allies by giving American news
papers their flash impressions of food
! conditions in France. Explaining how
this happens, Fred p. Pitney, Ameri-
can correspondent, recently returned
from France, said:
II have kept house in Paris during
the war and I can speak from expert
ence. One learns a great deal when
keeping house of which one gets no
| inkling when living ini hotel and eat
| ing in restaurants. One can always go
to a restaurant and get a meal.
81 have heard many visiting Ameri
cans, who lived In France In that way,
pooh-poOh the idea that there was a
food shortage in the country. If those
same persons had had to search the
market before they had their meals,
they would have gained n very differ
ent idea of the food situation.
"We paid last winter in Paris IL
cents apiece for eggs and 50 a pound
for butter and there was frequently
neither butter, nor eggs nor milk to
be had. Private families were allow
ed TO buy one-eighth Of a pound of
flour at a time. The grocers could not
sell -four, only the bakers"
The Meat Situation.
Scoffing at the idea that there is a
! shortage in France one article re-
Gently published In the United States
declared that a certain Paris meat
market advertised "beef la mode"
and other real meat items as "meat-
less day specials"
This, according to Pitney may cas-
lily have occurred without at all indi-
eating that there was no meat shortage
in France, With regard to the meat
situation Pitney said:
"The French government is very bu-
reaucratic, but the French people do
not like to be overgoverned. They OBJ
ject seriously to anything that savors
of meddling in mans private affairs.
"Saying how much or what q man
shall eat is getting pretty close to prl-
vate affairs and therefore the French
government knowing intimately the
people It has to deal with, Is slow
s-l-O-w-in coming to such measures
even in face Of the only too evident
food shortage in the country.
$50 far, meat has withstood all eff
forts to control its consumption-there
has been no attempt to control It's
price, and yet 1t is vitally necessary to
control the consumption Of meat in
France or to increase the supply"
Herds Are Disappearing.
With regard to the published state
ment in this country that Frances
herds are sleek, fat and plentiful, Pit
ney said:
Frances herds are disappearing
rapidly. They are today far below the
danger point. Soon they will have to
be reconstructed entirely. To what ex-
tent the herds have disappeared is
shown by the cutting of the meat ra-
ton of the soldiers at the front. At
the beginning Of the war they were
allowed one pound of meat a day.
Twenty per cent has now been cut
from that ration. Only dire necessity
will countenance reducing the food
allowance of soldiers at the front.
"At the beginning of 1914 Frances
cattle herds comprised IA 1911 head !;
sheep 16,131 800 and hogs 7,O35,S5O.
BY the end of 1914, after five months
of war, her cattle were reduced to
1266S, Dab, her sheep to 14,03S,361 and
hogs to 5.925,291. Today her cattle
herds are down more than 20 per cent,
while her sheep number no more than
100000 and her hogs 4,0OOOO0.
"Cattle feed II short In France and