2 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Jan., 1919. 



Organization is not a very dramatic thing, but it usually precedes 

 any successful drama in the conduct of a war, and its absence almost 

 always involves tragedy. 



On 6th April, 1917, Congress declared war. On the 9th April an 

 Inter-State Agricultural Conference met under the presidency of the 

 Secretary for Agriculture to consider problems in the production and 

 conservation of food. A State Food Production and Conservation 

 Board was formed in each of the 48 States of the Union. At the head 

 of this movement was Hoover, the man whom the nation trusted, and 

 who wielded power without force, for everything that was done in food 

 conservation was purely voluntary effort on the part of the nation. 



There are only two ways of increasing food supplies — consuming less 

 and producing more. The consumption of food was enormously reduced 

 by voluntary rationing and the prevention of waste. The production 

 of food was stimulated by organizing food production campaigns 

 in every State guaranteeing the farmer favorable prices for his produce, 

 and by planting hundreds of thousands of vegetable gardens on un- 

 occupied lands near the cities. The growing of these vegetable gardens 

 relieved the railways of the necessity of carrying thousands of tons of 

 bulky freight, thus releasing engines and cars for the haulage of men 

 and munitions. 



As the combined result of these activities, America was able to send 

 to Europe, at a most critical time, no less than 90,000,000' bushels of 

 wheat over and above the exportable surplus which had already been 

 shipped. 



During the last two years the United States has become a great 

 ship-building nation. The present output approximates 450,000 tons 

 per month — a 5,000-ton ship every eight hours. Enormous dockyards 

 have been built on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and on the Great 

 Lakes. One dockyard has accommodation for building 50 vessels 

 simultaneously. 



" Independence Day " was celebrated by the launching of 88 vessels, 

 and the slogan used to speed up construction was to make a splash that 

 would reach the ears of the Kaiser. 



The achievements of the nation were made possible by organization 

 — selecting great captains of industry, and putting them in charge of 

 the big national departments, and giving them a free hand. Goethals, 

 the builder of the Panama Canal, was made Quartermaster-General of 

 the Army. Hoover, who saved Belgium from starvation in 1916, was 

 appointed Food Administrator, and Schwab, the head of the Steel Cor- 

 poration, and who built up a munitions works larger than Krupps at 

 Essen, Avas placed in charge of the ship-building campaign. 



The Growth of Nations in Power and Wealth. 



The advance of nations in prosperity and power depends on the 

 natural resources which they possess, and the ability of the people to 

 exploit those resources. 



The natural resources of the United States are undoubtedly great. 

 They have magnificent agricultural and timber resources, enormous 

 deposits of coal, iron, and minerals necessary for industrial purposes, 



