INTRODUCTION 



At the first day's session of the Sixty-Fifth Con- 

 gress of the United States, Monday, April 2, 19; 7, 

 when President Wilson read to the members of both 

 houses, assembled in joint session, the most momen- 

 tous message which any President of the United 

 States has ever been called upon to make, he said, "It 

 is a fearful thing to lead this great, peaceful people 

 into war — into the most terrible and disastrous of all 

 wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. 



"It will involve the utmost practicable co-operation 

 in counsel and action. ... It will involve the organ- 

 ization and mobilization of all the material resources 

 of the country to supply the materials of war and 

 serve the incidental needs of the nation in the most 

 abundant and yet the most economical and efficient 

 way possible. 



"In carrying out the measures by which these 

 things are to be accomplished ... it will be our 

 very practical duty to supply the nations already at 

 war with Germany with the materials which they 

 can obtain only from us or by our assistance. They 

 are in the field and we should help them in every 

 way to be effective there." 



These passages, as inspiring as any passages of 

 that wholly inspiring and never-to-be-forgotten doc- 

 ument, apply first of all to foods which, no longer 

 belonging to us exclusively, we are under obligation 

 to divide with allies who face want, if not starvation. 



