"We hear on every hand of the necessity of mobilizing our industries, 
but we hear nothing of the mobilizing of our forces of food production. 
The European war is teaching us that in modern warfare mobiliza- 
tion of food supplies is the indispensable condition of success. 
"It is safe to say that our food supplies could be doubled with ade- 
quate labor. Means must be devised promptly to insure the largest 
possible production and it must be recognized that the boy or man 
who puts all his energies to the increased supply of food is as truly a 
soldier of the republic as he who fights in the ranks. 
"We must, if need be, draw upon the youth of the cities who are 
under military age to keep the farms running to their fullest capacity. 
It may be reserved for the Mississippi Valley to make the decisive 
stand against the dangers rushing upon us from the blackness all 
around. I suggest that the governors of the food-producing states 
of the Mississippi Valley confer for the consideration of this great 
question." 
Governor Lowden of Illinois. 
"If immediate and radical steps are not taken to increase and con- 
serve the food supply of the United States, this country will find itself 
next fall and winter in as bad a state, so far as food is concerned, as 
any of the warring nations of Europe. 
"Now we have entered the war. Our first duty, as I see it, is to 
make certain that both our own people and our allies have an abundant 
food supply. 
"With full recognition of the fact that we are facing the most critical 
days in our national history, I say that the question of food supply is 
the most pressing and important before us. From a purely war stand- 
point, even, food preparedness seems to me quite as important and 
more pressing than military preparedness. 
"If we start at once — this week — we still have time to vastly 
increase our food production not only for the coming fall and winter 
but for the years which come after, and which may be even more 
critical." 
Mr. J. Ogden Armour, 
President of Armour & Co. 
The plan to gain an hour of daylight by setting forward the clocks, 
has received excellent support from the Boston Chamber of Commerce. 
In an interesting report the chamber calls attention to the fact that 
since May i, 1916, England, Germany, France, Austria, Italy, 
Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Portugal have adopted the 
scheme. 
