266 THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE 



voluntary or controlled modification of food habits and re- 

 pression of food use by whole peoples beyond anything ever 

 before attempted. 



Dr. H. P. Armsby has recently most truthfully declared 

 ("Yale Review," January, 1920): "The experiences of the 

 great war have forced us to realize as never before that the 

 maintenance of the food supply is the basal problem of civili- 

 zation. Before commerce or manufacturing or mining can be 

 carried on before science or art or religion can flourish 

 man must be fed. A starving world cannot be made safe 

 for democracy. Any rational program of national or inter- 

 national preparedness, not only for possible future war but 

 especially for the hoped for victories of peace, must have as 

 its prime element the maintenance of an abundant food sup- 

 ply at prices which shall adequately reward the producer and 

 not unduly tax the consumer." 



/ There is then an ever-existent great national and interna- 

 ' tional food problem: a problem that demands consideration 

 ^ in peace-time as well as war-time, although its insistence in 

 war-time is enormously enhanced and made visible to every 

 one. ) In peace-time not many of us notice it, except in so far 

 as if reveals itself by certain indications to our purses. Just 

 now it is particularly a problem of the household budget : suf- 

 ficient food exists, which may not be the case in war-time, 

 but it costs so much that most of us are constantly worried by 

 the effort to obtain it. So we appeal to economists for a so- 

 lution of the problem. And these men in turn appeal to 

 science to see if this all-resourceful last resort can do anything 

 to help in the emergency. It therefore devolves on scientific 

 food and nutrition experts, on men versed in scientific methods 

 of food production and scientific guidance to wise and 

 economical food use, to tell what they already know, and to 

 try to know more, for the sake of the national well-being and 

 the national strength. For national well-being depends largely 

 on a sufficient and available food supply, and national strength 

 depends largely on national well-being. 



