viii INTRODUCTION 



Europe needs our food, needs it in larger quan- 

 tities than under present conditions we are able to 

 provide. This assertion, literally true at this hour, 

 shall remain true only in so far as we ignore the 

 undeveloped resources that lie at hand. It will re- 

 main true only in so far as it rests upon our wasteful 

 standards of the past, our pinched capacities of the 

 present and our failure to heed the unpromising 

 prospects of the future. 



Certain changes in our old standards and certain 

 extensions in our present capacities have been urged 

 by earnest and patriotic men. But, at their best, they 

 fall far short of the service which the President 

 expects us to render, which he promised we would 

 render, and which every one of us in abundant and 

 heroic measure is eager to render. 



Our lofty expectations cannot be realized. Our 

 earnest promise cannot be fulfilled. Our high duties 

 cannot be discharged unless we go much farther than 

 any of the suggestions heretofore offered or any of 

 the plans now contemplated. 



Austria and Germany acted at the very beginning 

 of the war. War bread, grain regulations, meatless 

 days, fruit and vegetable dehydration were intro- 

 duced at once. Notwithstanding these prompt pre- 

 cautions the pinch of want has made itself felt in the 

 trenches and in the homes of the Central Powers. 



England projected no serious food regulations for 

 nearly two and one-half years after war had been 

 declared. France delayed radical action until alarm- 

 ing shortages compelled the belated regulations that 

 went into effect March 12, 1917, 



The United States fully understands that she must 

 supply, in addition to her own food, vast quantities 



