THE IMPACT OF WAR 9 



war, when it came, was by no means unanticipated. A few middle western 

 farmers raised their voices in protest, but for the most part, like the editor 

 of Wallaces' Farmer, they went along with the administration's policy. 

 No doubt they believed at the beginning, as many others did also, that the 

 United States could take the war comfortably, contributing only such 

 naval activity as might be necessary to keep the sea lanes open. But even- 

 tually they left their pacificism and isolationism far behind. 5 



The role of producing whatever extra foodstuffs were needed by the 

 fighting powers was accepted by American farmers without hesitation. 

 The United States, wrote the editor of Wallaces' Farmer, must accept the 

 "moral responsibility to feed the hungry people of the world." 6 Producers 

 soon learned, however, that in time of war staple commodities such as 

 wheat, livestock, and livestock products were in greatest demand, while 

 such semiluxury foods as fresh fruits and vegetables tended to be for- 

 gotten. Furthermore, Great Britain needed American aid to overcome 

 shortages arising from the wartime curtailment of her purchases from 

 continental Europe. The British, for example, had depended a great deal 

 on Denmark and the Netherlands for fats, but lack of feed for livestock 

 in those countries, together with the grave hazards of overseas trade, kept 

 shipments across the North Sea at a minimum. Likewise, the closing of 

 the Dardanelles left the British short of Russian wheat. American farmers 

 cheerfully did their best to make up all such deficits. 



Probably the coming of the war had an even greater effect upon Amer- 

 ican agriculture than was generally recognized. In the three or four years 

 immediately preceding 1914, food production had begun to catch up with 

 the abnormal demands of urbanization. As a result, farm prices were 

 leveling off, and, had there been no war, the price curve would probably 

 have soon turned sharply downward. But the tremendous demands of war 

 changed the situation completely. While the total volume of production 

 soared sharply upward, achieving within a few years levels that might 

 not have been reached for a generation in time of peace, prices not only 

 tended to keep pace with production but in some cases to run far ahead. 

 Also, drastic changes occurred in the American economy as the demands 

 of war diverted farmers from their normal habits into new and more or 



5. Ibid., XLII (February 9, 1917), p. 236; (March 30, 1917), p. 564. 



6. Ibid. (April 6, 1917), p. 604. 



