NOVEMBER, 1917 The Commoner Mr. Bryan on Food Conservation Abstract of Speech delivered by William Jennings Bryan, on Food Conservation at Houston, Texas, Oct. 29, 1917, at the request of Food Commissioner Hoover. SITUATION. Our nation is engaged in the biggest war the world has ever known biggest in number of men engaged, biggest in killed and wounded, biggest in daily expenditure and in its drain upon the resources of the nations engaged. Our nation was taken into the war by act of congress, the only body vested with authority to decide such questions. It is, therefore, our war, and the President, acting within his con stitutional authority, is now directing the armed forces of the government on. land and sea. It is the' duty of every citizen to support his gov ernment by word and act in every possible way; it is his duty to stand back of the President and congress in whatever they see fit to undertake. We must win the war. The war calls for men, for money and for food. The men thus far required have been supplied in the way the government prescribed. The money necessary is being furnished, part by taxation and part from loans, the subscrip tions being in excess of the amount called for. Food is the factor which we are assembled to consider tonight. In every war food is a matter of vital importance; in this war it is of more importance than usual because of special conditions that have to be met. SCARCITY OF FOOD. Food shortacev is due. First, to a short crop in 1916. The world's production of foodstuffs was below normal last year and, therefore, there .was less to carry over, less surplus with which to begin the new year. v Second, there are about forty-million men in arms, a large percentage of them drawn from the food producers in the countries at war. Third, food carrying ships, to the extent of a million tons In tonnage, have been sunk by submarines since the first day of last February. Fourth, soldiers drawn from lighter employ ment to the hardships of war require more food than they did in time of peace; and wo men workers who are now taking the place of men drawn from Industry into the army, need more food than when employed at their usual work. Just when the world needs more food and better food than ever before it finds it difficult to produce as much as formerly, and the burden falls most heavily upon the poor and the weak. The rich can purchase food even at high prices, and the government can supply the army at any cost. Food shortage, therefore, will be felt most severely by those least able to buy, es pecially by the infirm and the young. We are impelled, therefore, by sympathy as well as by a spnse of duty, to make the best of the situation and to protect our own people and those who are making this fight with us, by in creasing as far as we can the supply of food in this country and by conserving the supply by "wise use of-that which is produced. Secretary Houston of the agricultural department has from the time of bur entrance into the war, em phasized the importance of bringing production to the miximum and of reducing waste to a min imum. The principal remedies are: First lincreased efficiency, to be secured by better organization and co-operation among producers. Second An increase in the number of labor ers, the child group being the largest from which recruits can bo drawn. Several hundred thousand boys and girls have been brought to gether into corn clubs, poultry clubs, calf clubs, pig clubs, canning clubs, etc., and encouraged by rivalry. This is not only valuahle because of its addition to the total food product but to the children it is "a lesson In practical patriot ism. Third Legislation has been resorted to for the restraint of those who attempt to take ad vantage of the nation's necessities and for the. encouragement of those engaged in productive work. Further legislation is possible, such , as inPn0frarffLSUSPrsl0? ot lawa WiMt the rals ng of pigs and poultry in cities, so that those vlion a? mav H Carr,Cd n ' ch aucr of8public hTafth11! neCe88ary r th Pr0tcctl0n tiJn0fnr,thrTleABavIng of tho od wasted, es timated at $700,000,000 a year, is being urged yFh0na aPPea-!8 t0 thG homes of th? land lirth--It is estimated that foodstuffs to tho ve ?oflOfn?.145,'?',(!()0,PGr year h Km Con verted into alcoholic liquors during tho recent past One-third of this Is to bo saved by pro hibiting the manufacture of whlBkey during tho war. The remaining two-thirds can bo saved for food by similar legislation prohibiting tho conversion of foodstuffs Into beer. Grapes here tofore used in the making of wine can bo util ized for tho making of sugar. The food propaganda must bo carried on by a patriotic appeal to the entlro public and Its success will be measured by the voluntary re sponse to this appeal. At this crisis the President has been fortun ate in finding a "man of the hour" in Mr. Her bert Hoover, who has shown himself possessed of rare executive ability and who has been pre pared for his present work by the experlonoo which he had in Great Britain during tho early years of the war. . His plan, though comprehensive, is eas!ly un derstood, his arguments are unanswerable, and his unselfish devotion to the work awakens tho zeal of those to whom ho Is addressing himself. He is a master of organization and the apos tle of co-operation. He understands how to wold individual units Into a mighty army and how to impress them with tho importance of tho indi vidual's part by dividing the work to be done. The success of tho Liberty Bond loans has shown the. advantage of assigning to each com munity its proportion of the work. Mr. Hoover carries the plan a step farther and assigns to each family a task. One illustration will show how co-operation multiplies results. If all the people living on the globe had walked single file across the Isth mus of Panama it would never have occurred to any one of them to attempt tho building of tho canal alone, but forty-thousand men organized and acting together, placed to the credit of tho United States this greatest engineering feat in history. So the citizens of the United States, acting together and under wise guidance will be able .to accomplish what tho units, acting alone,woiild never have thought of undertak ing. Mr. Hoover does not ask the American people to starve themselves, or to suffer privation; ho points out that there is food enough for all if It is used wisely and without waste. The follow ing are a few of the plain and simple rules which will solve the problem and enable us to do our share in the feeding of the army without bringing suffering upon those at home. First Substitute vegetables and fruits for meats as far as possible, and thus save the meats for those who need the stronger foods. Second Substitute perishable vegetables and fruits wherever it can be done, for the non-perishable forms of food, and thus take tho strain off the more permanent foods. Third Wherever it can be done, use food produced locally rather than food brought from a distance and thus take the strain off the rail roads. Fourth For wheat use corn, rice, rye, oats and barley and thus leave a larger surplus of wheat for export. A saving of one-fifth of tho wheat consumed In this country will enable us to Increase our export of wheat to tho amount de sired. We have corn In abundance and It Is better used here than exported because the peo ple of other countries are not so accustomed to It as a food and have not the machinery neces sary for converting it Into meal. Meal can not be shipped as safely as flour, it does not keep so well. Fifth For meat substitute fish and fowl the obligation to use fish is greater along the sea coast and by the rivers where fresh fish can bo had daily, while the obligation to use fowls Is the greater in the interior where poultry Is plen tiful. X.X gjxth For animal fats substitute as far as possible vegetable oils. The demand for dairy products has largely increased and we are In po sition to economize in this form of food. Seventh More sugar is needed by our allies, the source of their supply having been cut off. Sugar is a food which we can dispense with with less oucrlfico than wheat, mont or tho fats. Tho who served In tho arraloa of tho Civil war loarncd that when necessary It could bo dis poned with entirely in coffee ami In broad. To a moderate extent saccharlno may bo substituted for awootonlng. If tho twenty-two million famlllos in tho Unltod Status will make a ayatumntic offort to follow tho advico that cornea from Washington wo shall bo able to do our part. An avorago re duction of ono ounco of moat per person per day will onablo ua to make tho doalrod Increase in moat export. If part of our days aro whoatlono, part meatless and part sugarless wo ahall with out suffering ouraolvca, be able to contrlhulo to tho strength and efToctlveuoaH of thoao who bear for us tho burdena of tho war. Pledge cards will bo offend to ovcry household there should bo no failuro to enlist in thin mighty army which will help to win tho war. The house carda that will bo supplied will fur nish all tho information noccsaary to cnablo oach houaewlfo to understand what nho is naked to do for tho country, and why she la naked to do It. Food conservation Is tho lightest burden im posod by the war. As long aa it to nccrauary for one soldier boy to ofrcr hlx lifo upon hla coun try's altar, no amount of money collected on in comes, on property or through loans can cora paro with tho tax laid on blood. 8av:ng food by substitution Is stilt easier. It is inconceivable, therefore, that tho re sponse should bo less than unanimous. Patri otism Is a unlveraal and continuing vlrtuo. Though moro apparent In tlmo of war It is none tho loss proaent in tlmo of poaco. As Invisible ink can be niado vialblo, ho the word "Patriot," written upon every American heart, however In visible in ordinary times, In brought out by any emergency which, liko war, tOBta tho quality of our citizenship. The response to Mr. Hoover's appeal should como immediately and from every section. The President has described this war as a var "to raako democracy safe" throughout the world and it is our hope that tho treaty of peace, whon signed, will sound tho death knell of autocracy on God's footstool. But this is moro than an at tack upon autocracy In Germany it Js a teat of democracy In the United Stutoa. Autocracy claims that it can more completely than democ racy, consolidate and command tho forcea of tho country. It Is Its boast that It can not only hurl Its legions against tho foe but that It can also coerce its people at home into doing ovcry thing necessary for tho success of the military power. I have such faUh in democracy, In war as well as in peace, that I believe that our people will do, without compulsion, all that the subjects of a monarchy will do under compulsion. We ought to do more. As American citizenship carries with It moro of blessings than citizenship in any other land, our people should not only willingly, but even gladly, endure more than the citizens of any other nation to make aurc that the bless ings of our government may descend unimpaired to children and to children's children. A OlflilSTMAS PIIE3KNT The following notice appeared In the last is sue of the Amethyst; " 'Heart to Heart Appeals' is tho title of a volume of extracts from the speeches of Hon. W. J. Bryan covering a period of twonty-flvo years. "It Is characteristically rov(rent, beautiful, suggesting and inspiring. The selections cover such a wide range of subjects and aro made with such taste and discrimination that the book la an ideal gift for a pastor, college or high school student or for any one who Is capable of ap preciating the noble thoughts and high ideals. It Is published by F. II. Itevell, Chicago and New York, at $1.00." (An extended announcement of "Heart to Heart Appeals" may be found on another pago. Ed.) . Ono of the magazines prints a piece to prove that Colonel Edward M. House, the President' friend, Is not a mystery at all. Every now and then you find chaps who are just as big blunder ers as the lawyer's son who settled tho lawsuit between members of a family, a suit that had sent the young man through school. For three years now It has been a standing order in all newspaper and magazine offices, when things got dull and Ideas'ran short, to toss together another story about the "mysterious" Colonel House. s tl