4 THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 



lessened by millions and millions of bushels. Since food 

 production is not, like Aladdin's palace, the creation of 

 a night, this inevitably meant a shortage in the world's 

 food supply. Before the European deficit could be made 

 good by increased production elsewhere, months and 

 perhaps years must elapse. 



Then came the submarine, further to complicate 

 matters. By hundreds of thousands of tons the world's 

 shipping was sent to the bottom of the sea, so that in a 

 short time the food situation wore an entirely new 

 aspect. No matter what mountainous piles of proven- 

 der might accumulate in the distant parts of the earth, 

 it was not available for the nations at war. Ships 

 could not be spared for long and distant voyages. If 

 the 120,000,000 people of the Entente nations were to 

 have food, if they were to procure enough to keep them 

 from actual starvation, that food must come from the 

 nearest markets. Only by sending their ships back and 

 forth from these markets, back and forth like shuttles 

 in a loom, could food be transported rapidly enough 

 to keep this great population from starvation. Prior 

 to the war England had produced but one-fifth of her 

 own food supply, France one-half of hers, and Italy 

 two-thirds of what she consumed, and now their home 

 production was fearfully decreased. The nearest possible 

 markets where food could be produced were in North 

 America, and principally in our own country. Thus the 

 burden of feeding the Entente fell very largely upon the 

 United States. Whether we wished to undertake the 

 task or not, Fate had saddled the burden upon our backs. 



