REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Washington, D. C, November 15^ 1919. 



Sir: America during the war helped to save Europe and to pre- 

 serve civilization by making available to the Allies, through in- 

 creased production and conservation, large supplies of foodstuffs. 

 But for this contribution, it is difficult to see how the Allies could 

 have waged the war to a victorious conclusion. Lacking such sup- 

 port and with their own producing capacity seriously crippled, the 

 German people experienced partial famine conditions; their health 

 and vitality were greatly impaire<J ; and the collapse of their mili- 

 tary power was due in no small measure to the shortage of food. 



The cessation of hostilities brought no immediate improvement in 

 Europe. On the contrary, in some respects more adverse conditions 

 developed. Revolution became the order of the day; the directing 

 hand of government was removed ; discipline was relaxed ; the morale, 

 particularly of the people of the Central Powers, was broken ; idle- 

 ness and unemployment prevailed; and in some sections anarchy 

 reigned. It was obvious that Europe could not produce sufficient 

 foods for herself. Her crops had been short for several years and 

 it was scarcely probable that those for 1919 would l)e greater than 

 the crops of the last year of the war. Quite as unsatisfactory was 

 the live-stock situation. In nine of the western nations the number 

 of cattle had declined more than 7,000,000, sheep 7,500,000, swine 

 24,500,000, and dairy cows several millions, with a greater propor- 

 tionate reduction in the volume of products. 



Food relief after the armistice was imperative not only for 

 the peoples of the new small friendly nations but also of the enemy 

 countries. It became the key to the whole situation and to the 

 establishment of a real peace. Europe had to be fed if order was 



