THE FOOD ARMIES OF LIBERTY 



189 



kets should be wholly or partially aban- 

 doned. The great markets of Australia 

 and the Indias are now only partially ac- 

 cessible, and gradually the more remote 

 markets will be more and more restricted 

 until a year from now, when our own 

 new ships will be in numbers to help. 



The last harvest in Argentina was a 

 failure, and until the next harvest, even 

 that contribution to their supplies is cut 

 off. Beyond this again, much food is lost 

 at sea ; perhaps ten per cent of the actual 

 shipments are sunk en route. 



Therefore, the load of even normal im- 

 ports is thrown upon North America — 

 the nearest and safest route. 



Of no less concern than the dislocation 

 of markets and the losses at sea is the de- 

 crease in production among the Allies. If 

 forty million men are taken out of pro- 

 ductive labor and put into war and war 

 work, there can be only one result, and 

 that is diminution in production of food. 



Further contributing causes to this 

 diminution are the lessening in the 

 amount of fertilizer which is available, 

 through shortage of shipping and losses 

 at sea, and the consequent reduction in 

 the productivity of the soil itself. This 

 year the decrease in production stands out 

 in more vivid silhouette than ever before. 



We have had a stock-taking by the va- 

 rious food administrators and depart- 

 ments of agriculture in Europe, and they 

 find that the production of cereals this 

 year has diminished about 525,000.000 

 bushels of grain below normal. This 

 shortage in production, added to normal 

 imports, gives 1,250,000,000 bushels of 

 grain that must be imported by the Allies 

 during the next twelve months, if con- 

 sumption is kept normal. 



Their cattle, sheep, and hogs have di- 

 minished by over 30,000,000 animals, and 

 these reductions are bound to go on with 

 increasing velocity, because short supplies 

 have necessitated eating into the herd. 



A BURDEN WE MUST CARRY 



How great the burden upon the United 

 States is may be made clear by a few 

 figures : During the three-year pre-war 

 period we averaged an annual export of 

 120,000,000 bushels of grain and 500 ; - 

 000,000 pounds of animal products and 



fats. During the last fiscal year we ex- 

 ported over 400,000,000 bushels of gram 

 and 1,500,000,000 pounds of animal prod- 

 ucts and fats. (See also page 197.; 



During this period we really over-ex- 

 ported — we, ourselves, are selling our 

 animals faster than we grow them, and 

 our stock of foodstuffs just prior to har- 

 vest was relatively the lowest in our his- 

 tory. 



As the causes of Europe's shortage 

 grow in intensity, our load this next year 

 must be of much greater weight. 



As our harvests and those of our Al- 

 lies are now measurable, we now know 

 the size of the world's larder for the 

 coming winter, and it will measure in- 

 sufficient unless we can reduce our con- 

 sumption and waste. 



Our Allies are making every possible 

 effort to reduce consumption and elimi- 

 nate waste. Most of the principal staples 

 are dealt out to the public under one kind 

 or another of a restriction. Fines up to 

 $500 are levied on persons zvho throw 

 away stale bread. But despite all these 

 efforts, there is not such a reduction in 

 national consumption as one might ex- 

 pect. 



Besides the men in the trenches and the 

 men working ten to eleven hours daily in 

 the shops, millions of women have been 

 drawn into physical labor, and all of these 

 require more food than they required un- 

 der normal conditions in pre-war times. 



The result is that while the saving in 

 food is appreciable, it is not as much as 

 one would expect. 



There is one feature of all these efforts 

 toward conservation in Europe that 

 stands out vividly — the non-working pop- 

 ulation is in large part composed of the 

 old, the women, and the children ; they 

 are the class upon which the incidence of 

 reduction largely falls. The people in war 

 work are in national defense, and they 

 must have the first call on all supplies. 

 Therefore, any failure on our part in sup- 

 plying food will fall upon the class to 

 whom our natural sympathies must be the 

 greatest. But there is a point below 

 which it cannot fall and tranquillity be 

 maintained. 



We have a general limitation on our 

 food supplies to the Allies, and that is 



