Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-04-05
FRIDAY, APRIL s, 1918.
NEED FOR COMMON SENSE

IT. HERE is need for the exercise of more COM
mon sense in the formulation and application
of rules and regulations intended to promote the
conservation Of food stufs, and particularly wheat
which is needed to feed the army in France and
the armies and civilian population of our allies
The trouble is that the head Of the food admins
tration is too remote and the orders are too gen.
eral in character, which do not adjust themselves
to local conditions. In other words, the food adj
ministrator is trying to hit the conditions obtain
ing in widely separated and different localities with
blanket orders fired from powerful long range
gun, and in so doing he is doing more damage than
good, and is failing to hit the mark aimed at-the
conservation of fOodstuffs and the elements that
enter into the production as well as the elimina-
ton of waste, of energy as well as food
What is needed is food board committee
in each county, to occupy about the same relative
position IN the application Of the food regulations
as the local draft boards bear to the CONSUMPTION
law to secure local application and to cut out loss
and friction that is bound to result from the blank
ct regulations which it is sought to apply to the
country a whole.
BY the aid Of such local committee or board,
the regulations could be modified and adapted to
fit the varying conditions, with the result that far
more good could be accomplished and with much
less friction and loss of energy and money
The regulation requiring the of equal
quantity of wheat substitutes of designated kinds
for flour in this particular section are practically
impossible, and at best are extremely expensive
and difficult to obtain. Potatoes, which are virtu-
ally the only available substitute for wheat that
is produced locally in any quantity worthy of
ious consideration has now been stricken from the
list. This means that practically all substitutes
must be imported from distance, chiefly from
other states, and at cost which is practically pro-
hibitve. This is going to greatly increase the
cost of living and consume the money of the aver
age family which should be conserved and drawn
into the various war revenues 1t will also create
lot of useless railroad traffic and waste the vital
energies of the country.
Then the order which restricts the farmer from
obtaining more than a one-months supply of flour
from the mill at one time in exchange for his gris
seems to be foolish and unreasonable demand
How much less wheat will the farmer and his fam
lily consume by reason Of having to make half
dozen or a dozen trips to the mill during the sea-
son for his flour, when one trip would suffice? And
how is this useless waste of energy going to help
in the speeding up of production and the conserva-
ton of man-power.
1t looks as if the food administration felt that
it was necessary to make some difficult demands
upon the public that they will be aware that
there is food administrator, regardless of wheth-
er any good is to be accomplished or not.
If the matter was placed in the hands of To-
cal board or committee, the work could be handled
more in detail, and those things which are really
vital and necessary could be more rigidy enforced
while there would be an absence of unreasonable
and useless demands upon the people, the majority
of whom are ready and anxious to do everything
in their power to assist the Government in meeting
and solving the food problem and all others con
nected with the winning of the war