equaled the normal consumption of the United States. The shipments to allied destinations, therefore, represent approximately savings from our own wheat bread. It was a year of universal shortage in the northern hemisphere, yet both the Allies and United States came in sight of a new harvest with health and strength fully maintained. Said Mr. Hoover: "Our contributions to this end could not have been accomplished without effort and sacrifice, and it is a matter for further satisfaction that it has been accomplished voluntarily and individually. It is difficult to distinguish between various sections of our people-the homes, public eating places, food trades, urban or agricultural population-in assessing credit for these great results. But no one will deny the dominant part of the American women." But there were other phases of the food problem beside that of food conservation. It was necessary to stimulate production. Long before the war the nation possessed officially organized agencies which had been for many years studying agricultural problems. Among these were the Federal Department of Agriculture, the State Departments of Agriculture and the State Agricultural Colleges. There were also many important farmers' organizations. Early in April, 1917, the Secretary of Agriculture called agricultural conferences which considered the question of food supply, and elaborate plans were made to stimulate food production. Women were especially appealed to not only to prevent waste, but to conserve food by home canning and drying, and millions of bulletins were distributed, dealing with questions of this character. HOME GARDENS Special efforts were made to stimulate the planting of home gardens, and efforts were made to supply the labor where needed for the farms of the country. Many volunteer organizations co-operated in this effort, including the Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls and Boys' Working Reserve. The National War Garden Commission was organized in March, some weeks before the United States entered the war, by Mr. Charles Lathrop Pack. The commission included such names as Luther Burbank of California, Dr. Charles W. Elliott, John Hays Hammond, John Grier Hibben and other men of equal note. The aim of this commission was to arouse the patriots of America to the importance of putting all idle hands to work, and to teach them how to do it. Near every city were vacant lots which were potential sources of food supply. The object of the commission was to turn these vacant lots into food gardens. An extensive propaganda was instituted, with elaborate posters and wide distribution of carefully prepared pamphlets. Newspapers were furnished with articles and feature stories dealing with various phases of war gardens, and representatives of the commission visited cities and towns stirring up local Chambers of Commerce and other similar organizations. As a result of this propaganda the war gardens sprang up as though by magic. Gardening came to be the thing. Many of the posters were by artists of national reputation and popularized slogans which helped to stimulate enthusiasm. One of these was the famous "Can the Kaiser" poster, which appropriately was the work of a Belgian, J. Paul Verries, a soldier artist who had been wounded in one of the early battles of the war, and was incapacitated for further military service. Another poster was by James Montgomery Flagg with the slogans "Sow Seeds of Victory" and "Every Garden a Munition Plant." This movement spread with great rapidity, not only in America but in foreign countries. In the first season it resulted in the planting of approximately 3,500,000 home food producing lots. These increased in 1918 to 5,285,000 war gardens. The food value of the 1917 food products was estimated at something like $350,000,000. In 1918 the value was $525,000,000. It was estimated that in 1917 there were put up and stored on the pantry shelves more than 500,000,000 quarts of canned vegetables and fruits. And this number increased in 1918 to 1,450,000,000 cans. The increased production and the bountiful harvest of 1918 made the problem for the winter of 1918-19 a somewhat simpler one. The ending of the war took away much of the strain, yet it was just as necessary to supply food for the allied peoples during the period of the armistice as during war time. On February 24, 1919, the United States Congress appropriated one hundred millions of dollars for the relief of the ever-increasing famine in Europe, and the American Relief Administration was created by President Wilson with Mr. Hoover as director-general. Supplies and foodstuffs were sent to the people of Belgium and northern France. This food was carried in army and navy transports. It was estimated that the number of destitute people in Belgium was 2,200,000. These supplies were sent to Antwerp and to Rotterdam, from which points the feeding of northern Europe was carried on. From Rotterdam supplies were sent also to Finland in Finnish boats carried by the Finns themselves. American steamers with cargoes of grain were sent to Italy, and great quantities of supplies from United States were delivered to Switzerland, Czecho-Slovakia, Poland, the Balkan States, Serbia, Montenegro and the near East. Great Britain was assisting us in this work, especially in Assyria, Mesopotamia and other eastern countries controlled by their armies. The shipment of food to Germany was in exchange for the surrender of the German merchant marine. The German ships were used in transporting home American and Australian soldiers, on their return voyage carrying food to Germany. The total shipping capacity thus made available was estimated at 350,000 tons, and Germany was allowed to pay for these supplies out of her credits in neutral countries. The desperate food conditions, therefore, did not end with the armistice. In fact, in some respects the situation has been more serious than ever, owing to a natural lessening of patriotic endeavors to conserve after the war was over. The result is seen in the steadily increasing prices, with their natural sequence of hardship, starvation and public disturbance. If it was true that "Food Will Win the War" it may also be just as true that food may save society. The Bolshevist movement and the general strikes are very largely brought about because of the high price of food. People who are starving are ready to try anything that promises relief. T CHAPTER XXV SUPPLIES FOR OVERSEAS HE raising of a great American Army and the training of it was a huge problem, but one equally difficult soon presented itself. This was the transportation of that army, its munitions and other supplies, overseas. The problem manifested itself with increasing insistence during the latter part of 1917 and January, 1918. So slow was the movement of men and material that it was realized the transportation of both must be speeded up if disaster to the Allies was to be prevented when Germany's great drive would be launched in the spring of 1918. President Wilson and Secretary of War Baker decided that a great executive was needed to organize and speed up the transportation of America's fighting forces and their equipment. In this emergency they turned to General Peyton Conway March. The announcement was made on February 6, 1918, that General March, then a major-general, chief of the staff on artillery with the American forces in France, had been appointed as Chief-of-Staff of the United States Army with headquarters in Washington. His success in organizing the artillery service in France had made him noted by both the French and British. At the time of his appointment as chief-of-staff, he was fifty-three years old and the youngest of the majorgenerals who had gone to France. He had seen service in the artillery branch of the army continuously since his graduation from West Point with the exception of duty as major and later as lieutenant-colonel of volunteer infantry in 1899 and 1901 in the Philippines. He commanded the Astor Battery in the Spanish-American War and during the Russo-Japanese War he was military observer for the United States Army with the Japanese Army. Under his vigorous direction the transportation of fighting Americans overseas increased until it averaged more than |