504 SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD PROBLEMS 



whatsoever are bound to affect some citizen's profits. The most 

 fervid oration I have heard since the war began was a cattle dealer 

 decrying meatless days, and so far as I know Uncle Sam has done 

 nothing to shift the emphasis of meat production except to exhort, 

 and some of his exhortations have been strictly pro-German. Many 

 efforts, unofficial and perhaps even official, have been directed toward 

 the positively inefficient line of trying to increase beef cattle instead 

 of urging that the male calf should be hustled off to the shambles as 

 quickly as possible to make room for his betters. 



Specifically the food tasks of the government, aside from ration- 

 ing, have been and will be chiefly three: (i) to increase production 

 of meats and fats and to reduce their consumption; (2) to conserve 

 the supplies on hand, particularly bread stuffs; (3) to increase pro- 

 duction of bread stuff's and substitutes. In this work the administra- 

 tion during the first year has had to face very great difficulties — for 

 the first months an entire lack of formal organization and the ab- 

 sence of adequate legislation. In Congress and out, the friends of 

 Germany, the friends of the profiteer, the foes of change, and those 

 still asleep have fought the rationalizing of our food administration 

 and have tried to baffle and hamstring it with meager powers. 

 Throughout its career the Food Administration has had to combat 

 pro-Germanism of some people, a lack of patriotism of others, an 

 universal love of what we are used to eating, our ignorance of the 

 real situation and our continued action under the feeling that the 

 war was still 3,000 miles away, and finally the difficulties of trade 

 readjustment and industrial readjustment where changes have been 

 attempted. 



There is every reason to believe that in the future the govern- 

 ment will have a different intellectual background because of a stir- 

 ring, a conviction that is resulting from the terrible battles now in 

 progress, and from the fact that we are actually at least participating 

 in the war itself, though even yet to a very small extent. 



What changes in food matters do we need as we become increas- 

 ingly resolved to apply ourselves and our resources to the war? 



I. Increasing the Supply and Reducing the Consumption of 

 Meats and Fats. — ^The government's general policy of letting meat 

 prices alone is excellent. Excellent also is its policy of standardizing 



