E-text prepared by Audrey Longhurst, William Flis,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
Reproduced by courtesy of National Geographic Society FOOD GUIDE
FOR
WAR SERVICE AT HOME
PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
THE UNITED STATES FOOD ADMINISTRATION
IN CO-OPERATION WITH
THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
AND THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION
WITH A PREFACE BY HERBERT HOOVER
UNITED STATES FOOD ADMINISTRATOR
1918
ANNOUNCEMENT
In the spring of 1918 the Collegiate Section of the United States Food Administration was called upon to prepare a simple statement of the food situation as affected by the war, suitable for elementary and high school teachers, high-school pupils, and the general public. The demand arose because of the wide adoption of the three courses on this subject then being sent out weekly to universities, colleges, and normal schools throughout the country.
This little volume is the response to that request. It was written by Katharine Blunt, of the University of Chicago, Frances L. Swain, of the Chicago Normal School, and Florence Powdermaker, of the United States Department of Agriculture.
The records of the Food Administration have been open to the writers and they have had the advice and criticism of its officials and specialists. No effort has been spared to secure accuracy of statement in the text.
July 1, 1918.
PREFACE
The long war has brought hunger to Europe; some of her peoples stand constantly face to face with starvation.
All agriculture has been seriously interfered with. Food production has been lessened to the point of danger. Millions of men who had given all their time and energy to raising food have been killed; more millions are still fighting; other millions have gone from the farms into the great war-factories. Women, too, have been drafted from the fields and home gardens into the factories and to replace the absent men in a host of occupations. Great stretches of once fertile land have been temporarily ruined by the scourge of war; some are still under falling shot and shell. Belgium and France have lost millions of acres of productive land to the enemy. The fertilizers necessary for keeping up the production of the land still available are lacking.
All this means that the Allies have to rely on the outside for the maintenance of their food-supply. But because ships are fewer than they were, and because many of them must carry troops and munitions exclusively, these ships cannot be sent on voyages longer than absolutely necessary to find and bring back the needed food. They cannot afford to go the long time-consuming way to Australia and back; but few of them can be let go to India and the Argentine. They must carry food by the shortest routes. The shortest is from North America to England and France.
Therefore by far the greater part of the food provided for the Allies from the outside must come from u