Evening star., 1942-12-06
Britain S Food Crisis Solution
Held Valuable Guide for u. S.
Sir John Orr Tells
How Shortages
Were Averted
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.
With the United States on the
threshold of general rationing the
visit to this country of Sir John
Orr, Great Britains famous nu-
tritionist, is of widespread interest.
He has co-operated in helping Great
Britain meet food shortages on a
rationed basis.
This rugged farmer -Scotchman,
who has been knighted for his out
standing contributions in the field
of human knowledge, is a blend of
idealism and practically. Recipient
of the Distinguished Service Order
during World War I; head of the
Observation-Disclosures Rowett Re-
search Institute of Aberdeen, Scot
land, as we'll as Of the Imperial
Bureau of Animal Nutrition, and a
member of Britain's Advisory Com
mittee on Nutrition in the Ministry
of Health, he is the author of such
scientific studies as Food. Health
and Income" and Energy Expendi-
ture of the Infantry Recruit in
Training"
"England's rationing scheme has
made for a more equal distribution
between the wealthiest and the poor
est," Sir John said. 1T is leveling
up Money no longer is the only
means of getting food. The coupon
decides how much of any rationed
food person can get and prac-
tically every one has sufficient
money to purchase rations.
Britons' Health Good.
Resulting from the joint pro-
grams of the Ministry of Food and
the Ministry of Agriculture in
conjunction with the Ministry of
Health, 1.-The general health in
Great Britain is as good today as it
was before the war and that of the
women and children actually far
better. This has been made pos
sible despite an almost complete
revolution in food habits on the
part of millions of our people, be-
cause rationing has been accepted
with minimum of grumbling and
d IHdAlIluIu Ol SOOQ Will.
In peacetime, he recalled, Eng
land imported two-thirds of its food.
Even during the first two months
of the war the food ships still came
But with the collapse of France the
ships were needed to carry men and
ammunition and the food situation
Immediately became acute.
England geared itself to the job
of increasing home production of
food with the result that more than
100000 hitherto untitled acres
came under the plow. Sir John
gratefully acknowledged the use OF
American-madef farm tractors in ac-
complishing this feat. Made avail
able under lease-lend, these tractors
were either aliocated according to
need or on communal basis, so
that every farmer with sufficient
acreage to warrant their use had the
benefit of them.
Volunteers Help Farmers.
Presently, there wasn't farm in
all England that wasn't producing
the maximum of what the farmer
was asked to raise by the govern
ment, chiefly crops of potatoes.
sugar beets and other vegetables. A
great asset In all of this, was a
voluntary committee of farmers
functioning for each county. This
committee not only gave careful and
specific consideration to what the
government wanted, but took the
necessary means, with government
help where 1t was necessary, to see
that the plan was stepped up with
out friction and with a genuine
spirit of democratic cooperation.
With the inevitable manpower
shortage on these farms necessitat-
ed by military service, the issue was
met by the recruiting of young
women and girls, and the use of
children for lighter tasks, such as
gathering potatoes and other vege-
tables. Many of the children were
quite frank about saying they liked
their jobs in the fields better than
they did their classroom lessons. ac-
cording to Sir John. ut seemed a
bit more like helping to win the war
for their country" he said
What was the result? With all of
this carefully organized planning,
during 1912 Britain had the largest
-per-acre production in all her
history.
An additional scheme helped out
rationing by enabling almost every
family to raise some food for itself
Those who had no gardens in which
they could grow vegetables were
urged to take public allotments of
garden plots. Even window boxes
did their share. This resulted in
100000 families, who had never
made a garden before. raising sub
stantial amounts of vegetables and
becoming enthusiastic over the ex-
perience. In addition to the con-
siderable contribution thus made to
the general food supply, there was
no transportation problem in the
majority of instances, because these
foodstuffs literally were grown on
Britain's doorsteps.
100 Per Cent Gain in Potatoes.
BY means of this combined and
accelerated farming and gardening
effort, enough sugar beets were
raised for domestic consumption,
while the production of potatoes was
increased 100 per cent and that of
all other vegetables 30 per cent.
According to- Sir John, "the once
lowly Irish potato has been un-
justiflably maligned as a builder of
extra poundage. Instead it should
be properly appreciated and evalu-
ated for its tremendous nutritional
value"
An equally great contribution to
Great Ra.itaiaa,c aalitritial s,,al.ls.>~.