Mobilization for Food Production 
As Proposed by the University of Illinois 
Prepared by the Faculty of the A gricullural College and the 
Department of Economics — (Abridged.) 
This plan is based upon the following facts: 
i. The present production of food in the United States is not 
increasing in proportion to the increase in population. 
2. In going to war the production of food is our strongest asset. 
3. The experience of all time indicates that every nation in going 
to war puts men into active military service without regard to the 
disturbance of basic industrial conditions, even the production of the 
food of the people. 
4. Indiscriminate enlistment from the farms with no plan for 
labor replacement is certain to reduce food production below the level 
of positive need. 
5. If an adequate food supply is to be assured, the military plan 
must include an enlistment for food production as definite as for ser- 
vice at the front. From the first the department of war should as 
rigorously protect the food production as it does any other means 
of national defense. 
6. America has land enough, if it is properly handled, to feed 
both herself and western Europe. 
7. For years labor has been deserting the land and building up 
conditions of employment that the farmer cannot meet, for it is im- 
possible to conduct a farm upon the eight hour plan and according to 
union rules. 
Any plan to be safe, must not only make good the enlistment 
from the country, but must actually add to the present labor supply of 
the farmer. 
Method of Procedure 
Register every farm operator, whether owner, tenant, or manager, 
together with the number of acres of tillable land, pasture, and tim- 
ber; the number of men he usually employs, and the number of men 
he would need to employ in order to insure maximum crops. 
Enlist in the civil-military service and under military pay the 
following classes: 
1. Men of military age or older, of good health, but either per- 
manently or temporarily unfit for war service at the front. 
2. Boys from 14 to 18 years of age, whether from the country 
or from the city. 
Establish at convenient points on land rented by the government 
and suitable for intensive farming, military camps where the enlisted 
