The American Museum Journal 



Volume XVlli 



DECEMBER, I'JIS 



Number 8 



The Food Supply of Our Allies 



STORY OF HOW KNOWLEDGE OF THE AMOUNTS OF IMPORTED 



I\IEAT. FATS. SUGAR. AND CEREALS NEEDED DURING 



1919 BY BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND ITALY, 



WAS SUPPLIED TO mi. HOOVER 



By G R A H A M L IT S K i 



Professor of Physiology, Cornell Medical College, and Scientific Director 

 of Russell Sage Institute of Pathology 



AI50UT 1750, Bcujamin Franklin 

 / \ observed in Poor Richard's Al- 

 1 V manac that wherever there was 

 famine there was disorder, and wher- 

 ever there was disorder famine followed 

 in its train. This has been the keynote 

 of the present world situation. Lack of 

 hygiene and sanitation does not cause 

 disorder. Soldiers have lived in- 

 crusted in the mud of Flanders but 

 have maintained their morale when 

 well nourished. The Russian peasant 

 is firmly convinced that the louse is 

 necessary for health because this ver- 

 min leaves his body only in the event 

 of his death. If cleanliness were as 

 much desired by the people as food, 

 then the streets of our cities would be 

 kept in perfect order, and no dirt would 

 be allowed to accumulate upon them. 

 Indeed, Tolstoy teaches that the desire 

 for cleanliness is a cultivated extrava- 

 gance and not an instinctive impulse. 

 The call for food is, however, insistent 

 and instinctive and must be satisfied 

 or social discontent arises. 



The food situation of the Central 

 Powers a year ago, so far as can be 

 ascertained, was that because of the 

 supplies they had obtained in Russia 

 thev were somewhat better off than thev 



had been a year before. There are 

 some indications that Germany be- 

 lieved that after the treaty with Russia 

 there would be plenty of food for Ger- 

 many. The supplies, however, proved 

 disappointing because the vicious circle 

 of disorder and famine had had its 

 evil effect upon the Russian crop pro- 

 duction. If time is spent in pillage and 

 cheering the red flag, there is no labor 

 to produce a crop, and if the farmer's 

 crop is stolen from him, there is no in- 

 centive for him to raise one. Not only 

 this, but the German conquerors had 

 a first right to such crops as might be 

 raised. 



On account of the free access to the 

 sea, the position of the Allied Powers, 

 as regards the food factor, was supe- 

 rior to that of Germany, and yet here, 

 too, were difficulties. The submarines 

 in March, 1918, were sinking vessels 

 faster than they could be built. Eng- 

 lishmen looking out to sea on the coast 

 of Cornwall in southern England could 

 frequently see ships go down with their 

 precious cargoes of food on board. 

 Furthermore, ships were needed for 

 the transport of American troops and 

 munitions to Europe. Everything was 

 done to roora'anize the situation. The 



* Member of the Interallied Scientific Food Commission and American delegate, with Professor R. H. 

 Chittenden, to the meetings of the Commission held in Paris, Rome, and London, in 1918, for the pur- 

 pose of examining scientifically the interallied program for food supplies. 



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