Page 38 - 1918 VES Meteor

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country can not spare food with which to feed open-mouthed, idle hands. This brings us to the question of food suppl)·, a question about which you ha,·o seen mnch and heard still more. We do not wish to supplant these, but are writing in order that their appeal may not end in words aud exhorta- tions, but find themselves written in visible achie,·ement upon bits of land in our state and in our country.
The problem of food supply is rapidly passing into a state of alarming crisis. }!ore than a half a million of farmet·s arc in military uniform. Nearly as many The Facts. hm·e left the farms for a change of ex- perience and higher pay in our many kinds of war industries. Thet·e is danger that, instead of record crops, we ma;v actually find a shortage, or at least come sh01t of the enormous European demands upon our supply. Tf the fighting in France this summer is inconclu- sive, we must continue to feed our allies. .\nd do not forget that the demand will be greater in the coming year than in the past; we will have more troops in France, and the once productiYe fields of Europe are becoming impoYerished. The oft-quoted phrase, "Food will win the war," may have ghastly demonstration, for Victory will come, not only to the side that has resetTes left, but, to the side that has ratious left. And remember- Ge1·many has conquered the vast
Ukraine grain fields.
Tho authorities in Washington realize tho impending danger, and c\·ery effort is being made to pro,·ide in some way for the care of the crops; for example, Some Tentative tho Chamberlain Bill, which proYides for Solutions. the relC'ase of farmers in the sel'\·ice dming the summer. This would bring relief, though at the e:<.:pcnse of onr military preparation. Even the drafting of boys from fifteen to twenty-one to work on farms has been suggested, highly impractical as this seems. Boy labor was used to some extent last year, and with great