MAKE YOUR WAR GARDEN 
A GARDEN OF VICTORY 
By CHARLES LATHROP PACK, President 
National War Garden Commission 
A MERICA’S responsibility for 
the world’s food supply did 
L not stop with the ending 
of the war. In peace, as in conflict, 
this country must carry the burden 
of Europe’s food problems. With 
the advent of peace these problems 
have become intensified. America is 
now expected to furnish the solution 
and this can be done only through 
the continued application of high 
pressure food production and un- 
wavering food conservation. 
For two years of war the War 
Gardens of America produced food- 
stuffs which helped establish the 
balance of power between starvation 
and abundance. In the spring of 
1918, General Haig declared, “We 
stand with our backs to the wall.” 
Of that call to the civilized world no 
phase was more vital than its inter- 
pretation and answer in terms of 
food. During that year the answer 
was given by the American people 
with true American spirit. The war 
gardeners of the United States re- 
sponded with a vigor which carried 
the War Gardens over the top to 
victory. By the addition of more 
than five hundred million dollars of 
crop value to this country’s food 
production they made it easier for 
America to feed her own people and 
the people of France and Belgium. 
The Victory Garden is now as 
vital as the War Garden. Peace 
brings new food needs. In reclaim- 
ing territory from the enemy France 
and Belgium have greatly increased 
the number of their people who must 
be fed. By restoring these former 
expatriates to citizenship these coun- 
tries have also assumed the burden 
of feeding them. This will mean a 
vast increase in the demands on 
America as the source of Europe’s 
food supply in 1919. Europe can- 
not feed herself during the first year 
of reconstruction ; Russia faced famine 
conditions in the winter of 1918- 
1919, and Mr. Hoover says that the 
world’s food shortage will last for 
another seven years. 
The war gardener’s responsibility, 
therefore, did not end with the com- 
ing of peace. His War Garden must 
now be made a Victory Garden in 
the full sense of the words. It must 
help solve the problem of feeding 
people rendered helpless by years 
of ruthless and terrible war. 
The garden crop of 1919 must be 
even greater than that of 1918, and 
there must be more canning and dry- 
ing for winter use. The people of 
America have a real duty to perform 
in this respect and the nation counts 
confidently on full measure of in- 
dividual response. 
