594 



AMERICAN FOR i:sr in- 



Through its aggressive and forceful canipaij^u of slimu- action is sliown by the [ilaintive cry of the garbage col- 

 lation America has been thoroughly roused to the need lectors throughout the United States. The men who 

 for increasing the food supply as a measure of wartime make a business of converting waste into tangible assets 

 preparedness. In the same way and by the same meth- are agreed that the new cult of Food Thrift is ])laying 

 ods the people have been inspired to food conservation havoc with their profits. 1 know of one collector who 

 on a scale never before approached. As a direct result complains that although he covers twice as much terri- 

 there was never a season that brought to the tables of tory as he covered a year ago his collections are actualK 

 America such a wealth of health-giving vegetation F. O. smaller. As a tribute to the American spirit of h^ond 

 R. the kitchen door and never a winter which faced such Thrift nothing could be more eloquent. 

 abundant stores of home-grown and honie-prc])ared food Of similar importance is the thrift shown by the peo- 



sup])lies F. O. B. the pantry shelf. pie of .America in achieving winter preparedness. Can- 



The first duty of this enormous yield of garden stuff, ning, drying and storage o])erations have filled cellars. 

 already accomplished, was 

 its tremendous value in 

 keeping down the cost of 

 summer living for the peo- 

 ple of America. That 

 household exjjenses h a \' e 

 been bad enough is pain- 

 fully obvious. That they 

 would have been far worse 

 without this garden crop is 

 ecjually apparent. Students 

 of economics agree that if 

 the war gardens had not 

 created this increased su])- 

 ply, prices for vegetable 

 ])roducts would have been 

 a great deal higher. The 

 average increase in prices 

 for garden stufif has been 

 little more than 20 per 

 cent while the increase in 

 the cost of grain ])roducts 

 has been several times as 

 great. This may well Ik- 

 taken as direct evidence of 

 the worth of the home gar- 

 den movement to the peo- 

 ]ile of the United States. 



The significance of this 

 newly discovered planting 

 area does not end with the 

 sunnner season. The war 

 gardens will exert their in- 

 fluence on the Cost of liv- 

 ing during the winter 



months just ahead. Their value is a thing of the future 

 as well as the past. Conservation has been practiced on 

 a national scale. In the homes of .America there has 

 been definite recognition of the ini|)ortance of looking 

 ahead. The individual citizen has realized that the ovcr- 

 su])|)ly of the growing season must be translated into 



C'opyii^'lit 11117 l»y ll.irris & Ewing. 



WINNER OF CANNING PRIZE NO. 1 



.\s a stimulus to Iiomc canning the National Emergency Food Garden 



Commission offered one thousand prizes of $5 each for home canned 



vegetables from war-gardens. Miss Helen Tew. of Washington, U. C, was 

 the tirst winner, receiving check No. 1 and a certificate of merit. 



storerooms and pantr\ 

 shelves with a tremendous 

 supi)ly of foodstuffs for 

 winter use. It is a coiiser- 

 vative estimate that close 

 to half a billion jars of 

 vegetables and fruits have 

 been stowed away as a re- 

 sult of the season's can- 

 ning o|)erations. To this 

 must be added the stufT 

 prepared by drying, pick- 

 ling, fermentation a n d 

 other forms of conserva- 

 tion, and millions of bush- 

 els of vegetables stored in 

 their natural state. The 

 whole forms a national as- 

 set (jf tremendous volume. 

 In l)ringing about this 

 great movement for pro- 

 duction and conservation 

 the National Emergency 

 Food Garden Commis- 

 sion's offices in Washing- 

 ton have been a center of 

 activity second to none of 

 the wartime agencies at the 

 seat of government. The 

 commission's staff of ex- 

 perts and large office force 

 have worked under emer- 

 gency pressure during the 

 entire season. The man- 

 uals prepared and issued 

 by the organization have been accepted as a notable con- 

 tril)ution to the literature of food production and food 

 conservation. Free distribution of the books on home 

 gardening, home canning, Imnu- drying, honu' pickling 

 and home storage has been made to the extent of mil- 

 lions of copies. The aim of the Commission was to ])lace 



terius of abundance for the winter. Food saving and this literature in every hoine in .America. That tins aim 



food conserving have been ])racticed on a national scale, has been apjiroximated by results is apparent to those 



From a wasteful nation .America has been remade into in touch with the situation. No channel of distribution 



a nation alert to the needs of the future. The keynote has been overlooked. The manuals have been sent 



of this new national spirit has been that nothing should through agencies of federal, state, county and city gov- 



be allowed to go to waste — that nothing useful should be ernments, through school officials, through libraries, 



thrown away. How well this spirit has crystallized into through councils of defense, through women's clubs and 



