Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-01-28

This call was answered speedily and album
dainty. But it could not have been answered,
either with promptness or in full measure,
without an agency like the Food Administro-
ton to take in hand the nations supply of
wheat and meat and other commodities
In order to send this great stream OF wheat
across the Atlantic, where it was vitality
needed to maintain the stamina of the armies
in the field and prevent near-famine among
the civil population, the American people, in
the language of DR.. SOule, took from their
mouths the white bread of freedom and ate
substitutes in its place, that civilization and
Christianity might not perish
Then came the calls both from the Allies
and from our own government, for enormous
quantities of beef, pork, sugar, innumerable
other commodities. BY a system based upon
the voluntary cooperation of a free and en-
lightened people, the Food Administration
able to deal out these acquisitions as fast
as they came, and at the same time to make
an allowance for the civil population that was
amply sufficient to keep them healthy and
strong and happy.
In spite of an extreme scarcity of sugar, as
Dr. Soule further points out, the Food Adj
ministration supplied the American army in
the field with abundant sweets, assisted in
supplying the armies of the Allies, assisted
i'll supplying the civil population of the AL
lies, and allowed the American people ra-
ton of two pounds month. Not only this,
but the Food Administration prevented prof
1L6er1nS. Inc mlluOud1r6 SOlQ COulu Uuy no
more sugar than the hard-earned money OF
a working woman. All Jared alike, all had
the same, all had enough to keep them 60
ing.
Looking back now, it is hard to under
stand why some men in Congress were so
shortsighted selfish, or both, as to OPP
pose the establishment of the Food Admin
istration. Imagine what would have hap
pened in this country ii the food supply had
been allowed to move as usual through the
channels of trade and transportation
Big spectators would have filled ware
houses with enormous boards Of staple COM
modities, thereby creating an artificial short
age and running up the price. None but the
rich, the very rich, would have been able
to buy the actual necessities of life, such as
bread and meat and sugar and lard. Some
essential lines of production would have
been suspended because producers saw bet
ter profits in other lines, and thus the short
age would have been accentuated. Hoard
ing on the one hand prlvatiOn and suffer-
ing on the other hand, coupled with waste
and extravaganza, would have prevailed
throughout the country.
Into this dangerous situation, which was
rapidly taking the usual course at the out
set of the war, came the Food Administra-
ton with strong and guiding hand, with
fine discernment of the spirit of the Amer
lean people, with shreWd insight into the
underlying complications of supply and de-
mand.
Administration IF the food rules and reg
u1ations in Georgia was placed in the hands
of capable men who served the government
with unstinted patriotism and enforced the
law without fear or favor. DR.. Soule de-
serves the congratulations of the State and
the Nation, and with him also the corps of
executive assistants headed by Major Dew
ereaux f. McClatchey.