CONSERVING OUR FOOD SUPPLY 



BY CHARLES LATHROP PACK 



PRESIDENT, NATIONAL WAR GARDEN COMMISSION 



JUST the other day Mr. Hoover, the United States 

 food administrator, warned the American people 

 that in spite of a promised bumper wheat crop 

 there would be no relaxation in the regulations affect- 

 ing the use of this cereal. 



What does this mean? It means that conservation of 

 food must continue. There must be no let up in the 

 fight to keep ahead of the threatened famine which is 

 ever stalking close in the rear. If there is to be a con- 

 stant and steady supply of food for shipment to Europe 

 to take care of the Allies and the American army, there 

 must be saving here. 



How near famine comes to the peoples of Europe is 

 pointed out in an editorial in a recent number of the 

 continental edition of the American Daily Mail, pub- 



lished in Paris, which declared that England must be 

 "prepared not for the best but for the worst," and then 

 added : "When we are told by those who are best 

 qualified to judge that we may be compelled during the 

 next twelve months to eat potatoes instead of bread, we 

 have got to make sure of the potatoes. In the days to 

 come they may stand between us and starvation." 



It is only by conserving during the summer that a 

 sufficient supply can be laid aside for winter use. If 

 there were no looking ahead, if all the crops were con- 

 sumed as fast as they ripen or allowed to go to waste, 

 grim famine would soon have the entire world in his 

 grasp. Even after the war's end the food situation will 

 be critical for a long time, for it will be many months, 

 years in hundreds of thousands of cases, before the men 



IN THE SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE 

 In thousand, of home, all over the United States strong, true, loyal-hearted women are . h d '. ""^^B'"^ J2 J**. ^% ZbzndJ^l doing 



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the Pantry Shelf. 401 



