THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 113 
tilities he marshalled the food forces of America and 
proceeded at once to Europe to join hands with the 
food forces of England and the Continent to the end 
that starvation might be prevented. As one of his 
initial steps, before sailing, he asked that the war gar- 
dens of America be maintained and expanded. To 
the Victory Gardeners, he gave the impetus of his 
urgent plea for continued effort in the cause of food 
production. 
The signing of the armistice caused complete and 
peremptory revision of the figures dealing with America’s 
obligations toward meeting the world’s demand for food. 
During the war we had to furnish food for France and 
Belgium, but they were a France and Belgium greatly 
reduced in area because of German invasion. Much 
of their territory and millions of their people were 
held by the enemy, shut off from their own countries 
and therefore compelled to depend in part on the in- 
vaders for subsistence. To-day these people are repat- 
riated. Their restoration to citizenship has brought 
the obligation to feed them. 
While the direct burden falls on France and Belgium, 
these countries must look to America for ways and 
means. By all the ties of international friendship, by 
a sense of gratitude for the part these countries played 
in winning the war, by geographical location and by 
inherent capacity to provide food, America is the one 
country able to meet the call. We must also provide 
for the smaller allied nations which have been under 
German oppression — Serbia, Rumania, Greece, the 
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