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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



October 



Women and the War 



By Man ' ' Phillips 



WI 1 EN the history of this evenl 

 fill year is written, there will 

 be many dramatic stones to 

 bi told, individual deeds of heroism 

 as well as < t i i- r 1 1 1 k events involving 

 whole nations, such as the recogni 

 tion ..i that strange people without a 

 home, the Czecko-Slavs. But among 

 all the thrilling incidents of the year 

 1918 there is none which stands out 

 mori strikingly as an example of the 

 patriotic spirit of sacrifice than the 

 story of how the American house- 

 wife saved the wheat situation — sav- 

 ing lives by her saving food. 



In a letter to the President, Mr. 

 Hoover says, concerning the amounts 

 of f 1 stuffs sent by us to our al- 

 lies : "I am sure that all the millions 

 of our people, agricultural as well as 

 urban, win. have contributed to these 

 results should feel a very definite 

 satisfaction that in a year of univer- 

 sal food shortages in the northern 

 hemisphere, all of those people joined 

 together against Germany have come 

 through into sight of the coming har- 

 vest not only with health and 

 strength fully maintained, but with 

 only temporary periods of hardship. 

 The European allies have been com- 

 pelled to sacrifice more than our own 

 people, hut we have not failed to load 

 every steamer since the delays of the 

 storm months last winter. Our contri- 

 butions to this end could not have 

 been accomplished without effort and 

 sacrifice, and it is a matter of further 

 satisfaction that it has been accom- 

 plished voluntarily and individually. 

 It is difficult to distinguish between 

 various sections of our people — the 

 homes, public eating places, food 

 trades, urban or agricultural popula- 

 tions — in assessing credit for these 

 results, but no one will deny the 

 dominant part of the American 

 ■women." 



There is a "very definiti satisfac- 

 tion" to lie felt, isn't there, if you are 



one of the American women who has 

 refrained from using that extra 

 Spoonful of sugar in your cooking, 

 who has struggled with bread-mak- 

 ing with no wheat, and who has 

 racked her brains for meat substi- 

 tutes The "temporary periods of 

 hard-hips" have not really spilled 

 hardship for most of us — inconven- 

 ience, perhaps, a little difficulty in 

 preparing meals, small sacrifices at 

 most compared with the sacrifices oi 

 .air allies, and yet these amazing re- 

 sults Lave been accomplished. 



The civilian populations of our al- 

 lies w.re long ago reduced almost to 

 the danger point of privation, and 

 a- the months have gone by it has 

 become increasingly evident that any 

 help in their extremity must come 

 from and through America, and so 

 we have been sending food in in- 

 creasingly large amounts across the 

 ocean t.. meet the shortage. The food 

 we have exported has gone to supply 

 our own and the allied armies, the 

 civilian population behind the lines, 

 the Belgian relief, and the Red Cross. 

 Last year, our first as a belligerent, it 

 seemed remarkable enough to be able 

 to export such suddenly increased 

 amounts of food as the following: 

 The export of corn was 2.5 times 

 greater than in pre-war years; oat- 

 meal, 22 time-- greater; rice. 170 time- 

 greater; wheat flour, 5 times greater; 

 condensed milk, 747 times greater; 

 refined sugar, 26 times greater. But 

 all these exports were last year, 

 when we had surplus above our 

 needs. This year has been a differ- 

 ent story. 



Last spring the wheat crop was 

 largely a failure, and the entire sur- 

 plus of the 1917 crop had already 

 I. ecu -cut across. At that critical mo- 

 ment the allied food controllers sent 

 an urgent appeal for 75,000,000 more 

 bushels of wheat — the allies could 

 not continnue the war without it. 

 Where was it to come from? It had 

 to come from the amount normally 

 consumed by the American people. 



from our own home loaves. On 

 March 29, 500 hotel men had gath- 

 ered in Washington to discuss the 

 food situation, and when they 

 learned of this need, they voluntarily 

 took the wheatless pledge. The din- 

 ing car services followed their ex- 

 ample, the propaganda spread, and 

 the country was aroused. Churches, 

 clubs, committees, began to pledge 

 "no wheat until harvest." and as a 

 result, instead ..f the extra shipment 

 of 75.0011.(100 bushels asked for. we 

 shipped 85,000,000 bushels of wheat! 

 That is this year's wheat story, and 

 it is regarded by the Food Adminis- 

 tration as one of the finest manifes- 

 tations of patriotic spirit since 

 America entered the war. 



What we have done with regard 

 to wheat, we can do with regard to 

 sugar. We are now asked to remem- 

 ber that sugar which is mainly a 

 luxury with us, has become an es- 

 sential element for the success of the 

 war, therefore we must see to it that 

 our armies have what they need and 

 the allied peoples must not be re- 

 stricted to the lowest ebb. The only 

 way to secure a fair distribution of 

 the sugar available is to restrict our- 

 selves in its use more than we have, 

 for the situation this year is serious. 

 Not only are the sugar bins in homes, 

 bakeries, factories and stores almost 

 empty, but the crops of sugar beets 

 and sugar cane in the United States 

 have been disappointing. The yield 

 from Porto Rico has likewise been 

 less than was hoped for, and it he- 

 comes increasingly difficult to obtain 

 sugar from distant sources, because 

 of the need for ships for other pur- 

 poses. Then as our army and navy 

 grow by leaps and hounds, they re- 

 quire greater amounts of sugar, and 

 we must also send larger amounts to 

 Italy and France to take the place of 

 all that was lost through the Ger- 

 man and Austrian invasions. The 

 Germans not only overran much land 

 .1. '\..ted t.. l.eet culture, hut they also 

 destroyed manj factories. Finally. 

 over 50,000,000 pounds were lost n - 

 cently through submarine sinkings 

 i .11 the Atlantic coast. 



The situation is so critical that ev- 

 ery possible means of conservation 

 should be observed. Again it is the 

 housewife who must take the re- 



spi .nsihility. 



Beekeepers' wives are especially 

 Fortunate if there is always honey 

 in the house, but it is their responsi- 

 bility then, too, not to buy the two 

 pounds of sugar allotted to each 

 inembet i if t he famil} . Wit h the su- 

 gar thai you do buy, it is a good plan 

 to portion it. putting the daily allow- 

 .i i. e I. u each one in an envelope 

 with his name on. This is a boarding 

 house method, and may be a little 

 trouble, but i. insures a fair division 

 There are 96 level teaspoonfuls of 

 sugar to a pound. 50 that three level 



tea i nfuls daily would make a 



monthlj ration of one pound, which 

 is the Italian allotment at present. 

 Think how much sugar it would 

 mean for export it every American 

 family would voluntarily adopt the 

 Italian ration until January 



If the children get candy hungry, 



