URBAN AND SUBURBAN FOOD PRODUCTION 



677 



individual at this time and the need will be greater next 

 year. The National Emergency Food Garden Commis- 

 sion urges every soldier of the soil to at once promote 

 himself to a Colonel of Conservation and to make plans 

 for gardening and for conserving garden food in 1918 as 

 never before. 



The glass jar manufacturers of this country have de- 

 livered during the season of 1917 about 119,000,000 glass 

 jars. A survey of the household supply of jars used for 

 canning and preserving in some twenty typical towns 

 throughout the country showed that the housewives of 

 America in 1917 used but one new jar to over three and 

 one-quarter old glass jars which were already on hand. 

 Thus you see that in conservative terms the home women 

 of our country put up nearly five hundred million quart 

 jars of vegetables and fruits, certainly three times what 

 had been accomplished in any season before. Next year, 

 profiting by their experience of this year, they will can, I 

 believe, millions more, and more will be needed. 



The Commission is, of course, gratified at the success 

 of its work in behalf of food thrift, and congratulates all 

 who have had a part in this patriotic effort. Great credit 

 is due to the newspapers of the country for their splendid 

 and liberal co-operation in aiding to arouse popular in- 

 terest in gardening, canning and drying, the interest 

 which is so significant of the American determination to 

 neglect no opportunity to strengthen the nation's war- 

 time position. 



Much has been learned this year by town and city peo- 

 ple about the cultivation of the soil in the interest of 

 thrift and health, and also about the conservation of its 

 products, so that we may look with faith and courage 

 to still greater results for 1918 when the need will be 

 more urgent. I wish to emphasize the fact that there will 

 be a greater demand for food for exportation next year 

 than there has ever been before, and we must fill the de- 

 mand. 



The necessity for this is well expressed by Lord 

 Rhondda, the British Food Administrator. He has said : 

 "I hope the exportable surplus of American primary 

 foodstuffs will be much larger than the present esti- 

 mates, as the result of food economies by which the 

 United States and Canadian homes are helping to win 

 the war, just as surely as is the production of munitions. 

 Every American woman is in a position to bring nearer 

 the inevitable atonement for the brutal outrages in Bel- 

 gium, Armenia and Serbia, the sinking of the Lusitania 

 and other horrors, by her day-by-day economies. There 

 need be no fear that the sacrifices will be wasted over 

 here. Unless the Entente Allies are able to import the 

 sui)plies necessary for the army and the population, vic- 

 tory may slip from our united grasp." 



If 25 per cent of the new war gardeners failed, owing 

 to inexperience, to get a good crop this year, not 10 per 

 cent will fail next year. People who did not plant this 

 year have been so enthused with this nation-wide suc- 

 cess of the home gardening and home canning movement 

 that they will not be doing their duty to themselves or 



to their country if they do not do their share in 1918. 

 That they will do their duty I am altogether confident." 



I want to praise the women of this country because it 

 is the women who in a peculiar sense understand what 

 the war means. It is my experience that the practical 

 women of America have been practicing thrift for many 

 years and that they know full well how to practice 

 economy without parsimony, and that this year in addi- 

 tion they have added to their duties the patriotic work of 

 extra food production and extra food conservation. 



This war will be won in large part by fighting with 

 food. We will do our duty in this hour of trial, and we 

 have no greater duty than the production and conserva- 

 tion of food. This war is as much our war as it is the 

 war of Europe, and unless we can keep the soldiers and 

 the women and children of our Allies fed, the western 

 line of defense may be thrown back toward the Atlantic 

 seaboard, and it is well within possibility that in that case 

 we would see the enemy's army on our shores. 



To prevent this disaster calls for the best effort of 

 every American household. You cannot starve Germany. 

 Ambassador Gerard has told us so, and from the avail- 

 able evidence I believe he is right ; but we will starve our 

 Allies if we are so short-sightecj, small and mean and un- 

 patriotic as not to deserve the name of Americans. This 

 must not be ! It will not be. 



You do not now have to be told again the need of food 

 F. O. B. the kitchen door. This truth has made itself felt 

 in millions of American homes this year. The town or 

 city farmer who can raise even half of his winter supply 

 of vegetables is able, as a result, to accomplish much as 

 a constructive citizen. In other words, we must make a 

 big drive to produce food in this country as near the 

 point of consumption as possible, rout the middleman and 

 the cold-storage man and help the railroads in the tre- 

 mendous transportation problem that confronts them 

 while the country is at war. 



Glass jars and all other containers must be conserved 

 this winter and the manufacturers must next year be pre- 

 pared to meet the largest demand for them the country 

 has ever seen. From every section of the United States 

 and Canada come reports that the production of vege- 

 tables and fruits suitable for canning will next year far 

 exceed the high water mark of this year. 



The food problem is one of the vital issues of today. It 

 is a problem from which none of us may escape. Each 

 of us has his individual responsibilities in the situation. 

 To win the final victory in the great war, America must 

 feed not only herself and her fighting forces, but she must 

 help to feed the people of England, France, Italy and 

 Russia. To do this with the highest measure of efficiency 

 is the real problem. There must be no lost motion. 

 Every move must be made to count. Every act must be 

 a blow for liberty in our work for Democracy to save 

 and redeem civilization. It is not enough that we should 

 all be alert to the food needs of America and her Allies : 

 we must back that alertness with constructive skill and 

 real industry. 



