124 THE WAR GARDEN VICTORIOUS 
industrial plants, large and small, provide land for 
their men, prepare it for cultivation and divide it into 
small individual plots, but they also made arrange- 
ments for the wives of their workers to can their sur- 
plus products in kitchens set apart for the purpose and 
with capable instructors placed in charge to show the 
women how to obtain the best results. 
The appeal to the women of the United States to 
“Back Up the Cannon with the Canner” met with 
loyal response. Testimony has been given by promi- 
nent officials, governmental, military, and civil that the 
war could not have been won without the aid of the 
women. They took places left vacant by men in mu- 
nition factories, on the farms, and in a hundred other 
activities. It will never be possible to estimate accu- 
rately the extent to which they made victory a cer- 
tainty. But to no class of women is there due a greater 
meed of praise than to the silent millions all over the 
country who helped to save food. While their sisters 
were working in munition factories, these women in 
countless numbers were packing away “ammunition” 
in jars so that the boys in France might always have 
a supply. Soon after he landed in France, General 
Pershing sent a message to America. It said: “Keep 
the Food Coming. ” The women of the country obeyed 
the order. With ladles and spoons instead of bayonets, 
with wash-boilers in place of tanks, and with cans and 
jars as their weapons instead of hand-grenades and 
bombs, they performed valiant service. 
They made a fine start in 1917 when, from the 
