The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-01-03
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

they have on hand.
 This year there will be many to take stock who have never done so be-
 fore, for it is fact that many of the smaller businesses are run in a very
 haphazard way, and they never know
 how they stand until the sheriff comes along and closes them up or they are
 forced into bankruptcy.
 But this year the edict went forth
 to the retail grocers and many others
 from government headquarters to take
 an accurate schedule of all groceries
 and foodstuffs on hand on the first of
 January. That the order was being
 obeyed was brought home to many who waited until the last minute to get
 ready the New Year dinner
 | It seemed bit strange to find all
 the doors closed, and the clerks on the inside indifferent to would-be custom
 CTS. It was the first sign from Uncle
 Sam to the general public that he was | really taking a hand in the food game. ! The wholesalers knew it, but the re- tailers had not realized it, and their customers had not been inconvenienced !
 | The stock-taking on the first served | two purposes. 1t put the government in possession of the real status of stocks and then it advertised to the man in the street that Uncle Sam meant business when he turned over the food question | to a young man named Hoover. It Hoover wasn't a boguey man whose business it was to scare people into be- ] ing economical, but that he was sure enough flesh and blood creature who was dressed in authority and wasn't afraid to use it.
 "A number of my farmer friends have asked me different questions re- | lating to the food survey now being 1 made by the United States govern
 ment," said Judge Henry D. Clayton | of the United States district court, my | friend, in whose office I read law. ''Mr. Richard M. Robbie, the very able, &C.,
 
 ! for Alabama, aided by his assistants, l is doing all he can to give the infor nation desired by the farmers on this subject Howeevr, the newspapers can, and I hope will, continue to dissemi- nate and give wider publicity to this information.
 "The war emergency food survey, which is under the supervision of the bureau of markets and in which work the bureau Is assisted by the bureau of crop estimates and states relation ser vice. Is made for the purpose of as- certaining the amount of food and food materials in any form which are in the entire United States.
 "Over three quarters of a million schedules have been sent by mail to wholesale grocers, retail grocers, pack ing houses meat stores, bottling works, farmers and any concerns which handle fo9d materials in any way. "The farmers of the state will be especially interested to know the man. | among their own class. This work with the farmers is under the super vision of the bureau of crop estimates. This bureau has practically 10000 cor respondents located in all parts of the United States Each correspondent has been sent 10 schedules to be distributed among his fellow farmers.
 ''These schedules are to be filled out by the farmers as soon as possible and they are expected to be completed by January 10, and penalty of 5000 or a years Imprisonment is attached to the noncompliance or disregard of the instructions sent with the sched- ules.
 Any farmer, however, who has not received a schedule through the corre- spondent of the bureau of crop esti- mates need not worry about suffering any punishment under this law. The government, however, would be glad to receive as many of the completed schedules as possible and any farmer desiring to assist in this work can send his name and address to the rep resentative of the bureau of crop esti- mates in his neighborhood, or if he does not know who the correspondent is, he should send his name direct to the bureau of crop estimates, Wash ington, D. C., marking the envelope War Emergency Food Survey
 "The purpose of this survey is. as has been stated before. to determine as accurately as possible the total amount of all food and food materials in the entire United States so that plans may be based upon these figures for the conserving and distributing of food to the best interests of the United States and it's allies in the prosecution of the war.
 "These figures will also be used to base plans and methods for the pro- duction of food and food materials for next season..
 We are at war and we ought to be patient with those who are trying to find a way to conserve food, and see that while it bears legitimate profit, 1 that a combination of buyers cannot have the consuming public at it's | mercy. This is why Uncle Sam is talk 1 ing stock of the groceries and food stuffs throughout the land It's his | business to see to it that abnormal | conditions shall not be artificially ere | ated to give market gambling a chance | to squeeze the people and extract in-