Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-06-28
SWAPPING OUR LEG"
How America is Earning a Good
Conscience In the Matter
of Food.

A few weeks ago. when q Canadian
transport warped to her pier at Mon.
treal. a big r%oughneck artilleryman
swung himself down the gangway on
clutches. A sympathizing friend wal
waiting in the crowd. H.
We'll. Bill, old sport" he said. sc
you've lost your leg"
Lost my leg: Hell. moi" respond
ed Bill. and he beamed upon all con-
I've just been swappin' that gol.
dang leg for a good conscience"
And for the last year this country
has been swapping its leg for a good
conscience in the matter Of food.
In the summer Of 1917 the food sit
uation was a very simple one. More
food, much more, had to 90 to Eur
be lost. 1t couldn't go from the Ar
gentine or Australia Or the East.
where there was a surplus. The sub
marine had left little tonnage for
long hauls. And, apparently, It
couldn't go from America, for we had
no surplus. Wheat and sugar, beet
and bacon, had already fallen far be-
low normal stocks. and were at fam-
inc prices at home. What TO- do
to the President--send that food
short Of the ration staples" we
could eat less of them, or something
else, or II need be, nothing at all!
1t would be our first opportunity. and
a very small one, to swap our leg.
And with the allies fighting and
starving, too, he had a feeling that
we were the kind Of 100, 600, 900 peo-
en- the chance. In the food control
act Of August, 1917, and in the va
rtous rules and directions which fol-
lowed it, he told one Herbert Hoover
to go ahead and show us how.
How We Got Our Try Out.
The act contained all the usual
musts and must nots. We must pro-
duce more, and we must not hoard
or waste or destroy. We must exc
out our wheat with corn meal
and cats. barley, and potatoes. II we
were wholesalers we must take our
licenses and make regular reports.
II retailers, we must sell or buy GER
tain things-sugar and flour, for TX
ample-only in certain quantities and
within certain price margins. A So
called enforcement machinery was
likewise built up, food control boards
for state and county and town. But
from the beginning it was perfectly
plain to all who had given two
thoughts to it that the job to be done
wa one that could be done by the
ular feeling. and public conscience.
There were $4,000 wholesalers
alone - importers and commission
merchants, brokers. cold-storage men
packers. and millers. OF retailers
bakers and grocers and restaurant
men-there were more than 10000.
The local boards, that is, their fellow
-,.k A>~ -,Sth thANa A.
for going into the 100000 private
pantries of the country, which would
count most of all, 1t simply couldn't
be done. II we didn't want to swap
our leg, we needn't. Never were 1907
900. 900 people given a palmer try out.
Would we rise to It? 1t can be said
now that the allies, goaded by their
own want, expressed their doubt and
fears.
God Almight' and Pies.
From the first, too, there were
from pure inability to believe that the
government really e it: that is.
meant it literally. That's what we
paid hfty a Dozen" said q big New
York & man, when hailed before
his local food board. land a fierce old
price it was. But Of course we had
to MI our orders" Sure I'm q
COCOA American dHbWeIeo Al At9!"
Ian pie baker in Indianapolis.
"6ure-a! But maledetto!-you fell
,lah' want dat God Almight' learn how
I mex dem pie'!" But there were
others those Who didn't rise to 1t be-
cause they saw q chance to make
money, make 1t with both hands, by
being low down. And whether they
sinned by inadvertence or intention,
there was no time for distinctions.
BY the beginning Of the year the CEN
trail Aboard at Warrington was ready.
and 1t sent out the word to get them
all. "By-y gee" asped the Hoosier
as he got his second wind
on the way back from Bull Run.
them Rebs, they shoot right st yeh!"
The general order was S'6noot right
|at them. and the more prominent the
better" The same papers that told
OF the troubles Of 81 little lunch.room
mon tntsNew York. told how Norris
- Co. were In bad. in New Orleans.
The same day that witnessed the
sorrows OF Z little group Of mAcAYoni
makers, NV Swift q CO., BY way. OF
punishment Contributing heavily 70
the Rad sCross.
an1ne WHO Learned.
Not that there weren't many dif-
fstent yar5stle1 of ofs0nses. Z. Han
q Gon, 81 New York, lost their iioeneo
Tor The duration o. ths wy for aod.