Research and War 



BROADLY SPEAKING, there are at least three kinds of research re- 

 lated to war. One has to do with "secret weapons" and the improving 

 and perfecting of the machines already in use for direct utilization in agres- 

 sively hunting out and devastating the enemy. These are usually thought 

 of as "instruments of war." Not only better guns and ammunition, im- 

 proved warships, and landing craft are examples. The need of this re- 

 search is obvious. 



Then there is the type that concerns itself with the immediate after- 

 math of an engagement — better hospitals for housing, stretchers, and 

 trucks for transporting, and medicines for treating the wounded. All this is 

 scarcely less obvious and certainly necessary and effective. 



A third kind for improvement and perfecting concerns those of us who 

 remain at home. Fortunately the destruction of homes, the murder of 

 women and children, and even the din of battle have not yet been visited 

 on America. We almost seem then to "stand and wait." But it is scarcely 

 less necessary, if possibly less obvious, to supply the daily bread for our 

 boys at the front than to have weapons and hospitals there. Plenty of good 

 food, well prepared, even under the most adverse conditions must be gen- 

 erously and regularly supplied wherever a single boy patrols his lonely 

 post. That nothing can be more significant in the maintenance of morale 

 is no new concept ; but the production of more and better vegetal)le and ani- 

 mal products on our farms at home, the delivery of such products, often 

 bulky and perishable, across the seven seas to millions of young men in the 

 far corners of the eartlj, and to offer them, finally, in a most palatable and 

 nutritious condition commensurate with the strenuous job in prospect, are 

 largelv new ideas. 



There is a problem in production. Yes, in recognition of this need, 

 some of the boys quite capable of bearing arms are asked to remain on the 

 farm to help insure a continuous and adequate supply at the source. But 

 beyond that is the greater problem of transportation involving the proces- 

 sing and packaging of foodstuffs for preservation through changing cli- 

 mates enroute. and for the endurance of the heat of a final destination in 

 the southern Pacific or the cold of a climate like that of Greenland. 



Thus, our Station, one of many research organizations studying agri- 

 cultural and related prblems, seeks diligently to perform some parts of these 

 various food problems which may contribute to the winning of the war and 

 the hastening of an early peace. For example, in our animal nutrition stu- 

 dies, with some control of vitamins, we have been able to make satisfactory 

 progress in growing cattle on rations entirely lacking in animal sources of 

 protein. This was aimed at averting a disaster threatened by a protein 

 shortage for livestock feeding. Even after the war, indicated results may 

 be revolutionary and significant in the economics of feeding. 



Likewise, in human nutrition we have contributed to a nation-wide 

 project by using our native fruits and vegetables in a study of the relation- 

 ship of various processes of preservation to the resulting vitamin content. 

 These are fundamental problems for the future but results are avidly 

 sought, currently, by the commissary personnel of the Army. 



