The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-02-25
A Letter To The
President About Food

Milford, Pa, Feb. 20.
! The President,
/ The White House.
! My dear Mr.. President: In this
i critical time, when it is the duty of
every American to support the Gov
| ernment in winning the war, l ven
I ture most respectfully to lay before
! you certain facts with relation to
| the food supply of our people and
our Allies whose Importance would
appear to justify my doing so. The
study OF conservation has required
me to become familiar with agricul
| tural problems, and l have been in
| close touch with organized farmers.
In order to guard against making
any statement which might be mis-
! taken, either in letter or in spirit, the
| substance of this open communica
| tion has been submitted to the lead
| ers and representatives of farm or
| CARNATIONS numbering many hun
! dred thousand members, and has re-
ceived their assent.
The war has now entered a stage
! in which the Steadfastness of civil
populations ranks in Importance
with the fighting spirit of armies.
| Abundant supplies of food become a
! factor of the first Importance in
maintaining tine morale of a people
| under heavy stress.
Great Britain, as we know, still
relies on the United States and Can
ada for 65 per cent. of its essential
| food stuffs. The Canadians are most
seriously handicapped in the effort
| to increase production by the lack of
man power because they have al
ready sent to Europe SO large pro-
| portion of their men of military age.
| It is well known that New Zealand,
| Australian, and Indian wheat is in
accessible for lack of ships. The re-
sponsibility, therefore, rests mainly
| upon the people of the United States.
| Without the food which we alone
can supply not only England. but
! France and Italy, must lose their
power to carry on the war.
| 1t is not famine we are facing in
| the United States, as some have SOU
| ght to show, but food shortage so
! serious that it threatens to become
| decisive. As a man of great authori-
| ty among American farmers has said,
This war cannot be won by the for
ces of civilization unless the farmers
| of the United States can substantial
! ly increase their production of food
stuffs to feed our Allies and the peo-
| pie of our own country" But We
are faced with the certainty of a re-
| duction instead of an increase unless
present conditions are promptly and
| radically changed.
| The farmers of the United States
are anxious to do tn ir full duty in
growing more food. Their leaders
have been active in this matter for
| months past. But they are hamper
! ed by conditions which they themsel-
| yes cannot control. Farmers gener
ally are now facing the most uafav-
| orable condition of farm labor they
have ever known, in part because
more than one-quarter of the men
who have been taken for the Ma
| tionaI Army are farmers. They are
short of seed, agricultural supplies,
land credit and they declare that a
csop smaller than last year S Is ssks
| tain unless these conditions are
| changed for the better.
Shortage in production at the COM
! ing harvest &2nnot be met from any
surplus held Id reserve. Only three
crops of our six principal grains
have ever been as large as the
| amount by which our Reserve of these
grains was reduced between March,
1f16, and March, 1917. Since then
our reserve has been still further
dinpR.shed, and it has been said that
we have now reached the bottom OF
the :granary
Business seonffaence plays as large
a part in the pIodFlction of food as
it does in the production OF any 9th
er commodity. Nothing is so fatal
to production as uncertainty. 1t is
a matter OF national Significance that
the great aaajority of farmers are to-
day uncertain as to their business
outlook.
A year ago ,snr farmers produced
abundSntly in pstriotic response to
the request of th, Government, but
at harvest labor was wanting. Many
fields of potatoes We're frozen in the
ground and much Germ remained un-
gathered. There are farmers three
quarters of whose corn crop was still
in the field in February fer want of
hands. To men of small resources
such blows are staggering. Tpe
prosecutions of milk producers, a
very numerous class of farmers, for
seeking prices high enough to meet
the rising cost of production, have
also had their share in robbing the
farmers of confidence in the future.
Food is the first condition of pros
perity at home and success in the
war abroad. The food problem is
first of all a question OF production.
The attention of the whole nation is
at this time directed to the question
of building ships, but food is prior to
and more essential than the ships to
carry it. So also food is more essen
tial than munitions, for without 1t
munitions can neither be manufac-
tured nor used in fighting.
What we need most is an increase
in wheat and pork. But the coming
crop of winter wheat is more than
five million acres below the area Of
icially recommended to produce the
crop desired, and its condition on
December 1st was the lowest ever
known. The British Food Admins
traitor has warned us officially that
sit now lies with America to decide
ybs.ther or not the Allies in Europe
shall have bread enough to hold out
until the United States is able to
throw it's forces into the field Yet
b ecause of its low price in relation
to corn. wheat so urgently needed
abroad is even now being fed to live
stock in America. AS to pork, the
outl ook for production is at best un-
cert ain because at the present time
and for some time past the price OF
hogs has not been high enough to
cover the price of the corn fed to
them.i
AS Nation We have directed our
atten lion mainly to saving food al
ready produced instead of mainly to
producing more food-which would
make rigid conservation unneces-
sary. Surely it is better to produce
in plenty than to consume our ener-
gy in the difficult task of stretching
a short supply. In Europe conserva-
tion measures have been difficult to