BACK UP THE CANNON 
BY USE OF THE CANNER 
By CHARLES LATHROP PACK, President 
National War Garden Commission 
W E stand with our backs to the 
wall.” That call to the civ- 
ilized world, made by Gen- 
eral Haig in the spring of 1918, has 
brought and still must bring answer 
from the women. Only by their co- 
operation has it been possible for that 
call to be answered, for no nation can 
do a great work unless the women of 
that nation put their influence into 
the job. 
We were forced into a war which 
was something more than a war to 
decide policies or mark boundaries — 
a war involving the most sacred 
questions with which men and 
women have to deal — the sanctity of 
womanhood, the sacredness of child- 
hood and the right to live in free- 
dom. We could not yield these rights 
while we had the strength to defend 
them. 
In the emergency created by this 
war the question of food goes hand 
in hand with thrift. Our position 
has been no less closely involved in 
the conflict than that of Europe. In 
proof of this let me call attention 
to the plan the enemy had for us. I 
quote from a book called “War,” by 
Klaus Wagner, published in 1916 in 
Berlin. On page 165 the author says: 
“Not only North America, but the 
whole of America must become a bul- 
wark of German Kultur, perhaps the 
strongest fortress of the Germanic 
races. That is every one’s hope who 
frees himself from his own local Eu- 
ropean pride and who places race 
feeling above his love for home.” 
Mark that well — his race feeling 
above his love for home; and then let 
me quote one of the thousands of let- 
ters received by the National War 
Garden Commission. Here it is, from 
a boy: 
“I have decided to help win the 
war by having a war garden, and I 
have just read your notice that any 
one can have a free garden book. 
Please send it to me. My father 
joined the army in 1915 and was 
killed in 1916. — Harvey Cameron, 
New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.” 
That boy is typical of the boys and 
men of many nations who have been 
fighting against the common enemy. 
If they could look the job in the face 
that way, what can we do? Our boys 
have been giving their lives toward 
the achievement of victory. Every 
mile of reclaimed territory in devas- 
tated France and Belgium adds hun- 
dreds of hungry mouths to be fed. 
With France and Belgium liberated 
many more people have become de- 
pendent on this country’s food sup- 
ply. In victory we must feed not 
only more millions abroad but also 
care for our own people at home and 
our soldiers until they return. Peace 
cannot mean an increase of the 
world’s grain supply for another year 
at least, and it will take several years 
of bountiful crops to refill the empty 
bins and granaries of the world. 
Victory, therefore, must necessarily 
bring a large increase in our obliga- 
tion. We must not only produce 
food as close to the kitchen door as 
possible, but we must save a vast vol- 
ume of this food for winter use. To 
save it we must can it, dry it, or other- 
wise prepare to have it in readiness 
for the months of non-production. 
Canning and drying, therefore, are as 
imperative to-day as if the war were 
just beginning. 
