Rice, British Ambassador to the United States, present-as he had been at Toronto and Ottawa-with Sir Lomer Gouin, Lord Shaughnessy and other leaders of Provincial and City life. Afterwards he accepted an LL.D. degree from McGill University and in speaking referred to the great services of Rear-Admiral Sir Dudley de Chair, who was also to receive honour, and who had commanded the blockade operations against Germany in the early part of the War. He spoke of the Army, the Navy, Diplomacy and the great functions in peace and war of Universities as moulders of character and national manhood. As to Canadians he was clear: "You have every element which can go to make a great future. You have the conscious conviction that your community strikes its roots far back into the noblest history in the world, the history of England and of Great Britain. The moment when Canada threw its efforts into this war stamped Canada as having all the attributes of a great nation, for no nation can be great if it is not able, on some overmastering occasion, when duty clearly points in one direction, to make every self-sacrifice." In Montreal the day was a public holiday; the welcome generous to a degree.

World-Short

age in Food:
Policy of
W. J. Hanna

in Canada.

Amongst the many problems of the war this became, in time, the most absorbing because it directly and personally affected the greatest number of people; indirectly, of course, it affected, or might affect, the vitality and operations of all the Armies. Official figures at the close of 1917 indicated a depletion in the herds of European food animals totalling 115,000,000 head-a shortage in hogs alone of 32,425,000. The wheat crops of Canada and the United States were below the normal, while those of Australia and India were greatly restricted in shipment, if not prohibited, by a Submarine warfare which, also, was sinking large supplies of food and other material. In France, Italy and Belgium the estimated production of wheat for 1917 had showed a reduction of 198,000,000 bushels over a five-year average preceding the War. The general demand was officially described as calling for 971,000,000 bushels of wheat to supply Great Britain and her European Allies until the harvests of 1918.* Great Britain and her Allies could produce but 394,000,000 bushels, leaving 577,000,000 bushels to be supplied by import. The normal consumption of Canada and the United States, the only countries readily available for supply would allow the export of about 207,000,000 bushels, which meant a shortage of 370,000,000 bushels for Great Britain and the Allies, unless production was increased and other foods substituted in America for wheat. Dr. J. W. Robertson, C.M.G., of the Ottawa Agricultural Department, put the situation as follows in Victoria on June 5:

Do you know that in 1916 the countries of the Western Hemisphere produced very much less grain than in the previous year? There are not less than 40,000,000 men engaged in the War. Over 60 per cent. of that number came from the farms and were food producers before called to serve their countries on the battlefield. There are 20,000,000 engaged in making munitions. They are getting higher wages than ever before and are spending lavishly; the majority of them don't * Official statement in Agricultural Gazette, Ottawa, September, 1917.

know the meaning of economy. In addition, millions of tons of ships are being sunk by the enemy submarines, and most of the ships are carrying foodstuffs. The situation is terribly grave. Our duty is simply this-to produce more and to waste nothing. Every country in Europe was on rations and the supply of all necessities was limited-luxuries practically prohibited. The United States was put under many regulations during this year by the Food administration of H. C. Hoover; Canada, in the latter part of 1917, accepted a mild form of regulation and control under the Hon. W. J. Hanna. This food control was not anywhere thorough or complete-not even in Germany where years of pre-War preparation and organization had existed. In the United States and Canada, as in Britain, something was done in conserving food by voluntary methods before compulsion was used; when the latter came, even partially, into operation it was accompanied by a whole host of problems-high or increasing prices and the need of greater production with less man-power; profiteering in production, sale and distribution; speculation, hoarding and unfair application of a fair policy; evasion of regulations and difficulties as between urban and rural areas; the replacing of loose, long-practiced habits of extravagance by self-denial, economy and thrift. In England Lord Devonport, and then Lord Rhondda, were dictators with almost supreme power in their food policies which included, when thought necessary, the enforced allotment of land, the extension of credit to farmers, the utilization of labour and the establishment of food-producing industries, the rehabilitation of the fisheries industries, the control of all foreign purchases, the importation and distribution of foodstuffs, the fixing of maximum prices and sales regulation of all food grains and their products, the close control of sugar, the regulation of eating-houses, the reduction in the use of wines and spirits, and campaigns of food economy aud production. In the United States, also, Mr. Hoover had great powers and used some of them in sweeping fashion.

In Canada, always a self-contained country as to food and far from the sound of shells and roar of guns there was special difficulty in getting people to appreciate the need, which gradually became imperative, for conservation of food. With the beginning of the year had come appeals of varied and numerous character to the public to conserve, and the farmers to produce, and to everyone with a little land to grow vegetables, and thus save wheat for export. As Mr. Burrell, Minister of Agriculture, put it in a national Appeal on Feb. 12: "Individual efforts, even though small and unskilled, will, in the aggregate, mean much. By applying their labour to uncultivated land near their homes, or by assisting farmers, everybody having health can accomplish something. There is need, not only for an increased supply, but for wise economy of food." A multitude of suggestions were made-such as saving ocean tonnage for the essentials, the construction of more ships, improvement of land transportation facilities, a plain statement of what Britain chiefly needed from Canada besides wheat, the elimination of waste, the conservation of seeds, the greater care and home use of any Apple surplus not needed abroad.

Wide-spread details were issued by Dominion and Provincial Departments of Agriculture as to gardening methods and the best use of vegetables; the call was issued for High School boys to go to the farms and for girls and women to take to the gardens; implement makers used every effort to produce man-saving machinery for the farms and tractors came into special service; Boards of Trade, municipalities, voluntary organizations of every kind, the Ontario Organization of Resources Committee, were at work in a thousand forms of warning and advice; the decrease in Live-stock was dealt with in the press and by official circular, the free admission and sale of Oleomargarine was urged as a substitute for butter and this was eventually arranged; the fact of about 2,000,000 bushels of barley, 500,000 bushels of corn, etc., being yearly consumed in making liquor was pressed as a reason for Prohibition. On May 2 Kennedy Jones, British Director of Food Economy, declared in an interview that "every pound of food raised in the Dominion is another spike in the torpedo tubes of the German Submarines. Your effective organization of voluntary hand workers, the patriotic way in which university and high school students are responding to the call to spend their vacation in helping the farmers, and the promotion of vacant lot cultivation, are all characteristic."

At this time the demand for a Canadian Food Controller began to be heard. The Toronto Star (Apr. 28) wanted one who would control production, storage, distribution and consumption; E. C. Fox, General Manager of The Wm. Davies Co., Ltd., stated (May 1) that his firm was strongly in favour of such an appointment and of meatless days for the whole Dominion; W. E. Rundle, General Manager, National Trust Co., urged the appointment of such an official (May 6); the Trades and Labour Congress (May 17) asked for Food and Fuel Controllers and the nationalization of cold storage plants and the prohibition of wheat speculation; the Canada Bread and Cake Manufacturers, at Toronto (May 15), urged "the appointment of a Food Controller, with Cabinet rank, who should have full powers to deal with and regulate the manufacture, delivery, prices, and use of all foodstuffs throughout the Dominion." On the other hand Prof. James Mavor, an able economic student (Globe, May 17), described three things-which seemed impossible in Canadaas essential to thorough food control: (1) compulsory labour or else equal remuneration for farm and industrial work; (2) a system of rationing, and (3) arbitrary regulation of prices. By this time names were being suggested for such a position-C. A. Magrath and W. Sanford Evans amongst them; on June 20 the Hon. W. J. Hanna, M.L.A., and member without Portfolio of the Ontario Government, was appointed, under the War Measures Act, Food Controller for Canada. Mr. Hanna accepted on condition that no salary should attach to the office and left at once, after a conference with the Government, for Washington to confer there with Mr. Hoover. The Order-in-Council (June 16) defining the powers of the new position declared that they could be exercised independently of, or in co-operation with, any Department of the Dominion or Provincial Governments, or of any Department or Officer of British

or Allied Governments vested with similar authority, but should not contravene the powers or duties of the Board of Grain Supervisors. It would be within the power of, and the duty of the Food Controller:

To make such inquiry and investigation as he deems necessary into the quantities, location and ownership, and into the sources of supply of any article of food used by the people of Canada and into the prices at which same is sold or held for sale and the causes of such prices; to ascertain the food requirements of Canada and to facilitate the export of the surplus to Great Britain and her Allies; to make regulations where he deems it in the public interest and subject to the approval of the Governor-in-Council:

1. Governing the prices of any article of food and the storage, distribution, sale and delivery thereof.

2. Providing for the conservation of food and the prevention of waste thereof and governing the consumption of food in hotels, restaurants, cafés, private houses, clubs and other places.

3. Respecting the manufacture, preparation, storage and transport of food. 4. Authorizing the Food Controller to purchase, requisition, store, sell and deliver food.

Mr. Hanna had always been looked upon as a politician of excellent capacity, a lawyer of ability, and a business man of standing-the latter vouched for by his close association with the Imperial Oil Co. It was taken for granted at once that he would regulate prices and much more was thought of that point by the public than of greater production or conservation. The Toronto Globe, for instance, said editorially (June 20): "There need be no arbitrary interference with natural prices, but it will be Mr. Hanna's duty to keep the channels between the producers and the consumers, so far as possible, clear of profiteering and extortion, and to see that the law of supply and demand has at least fair play." Mr. Hanna, himself, did not take this view of his duties and, after conferences at Washington and, at home, with representatives of many Canadian organizations, and the establishment of national headquarters at Ottawa, he issued, on June 29, an official statement in which he described the outstanding fact as danger of food shortage for Allied armies and peoples and the corresponding call upon the resources of Canada and the United States: "Every individual is under a direct obligation to assist in rationing the Allied forces. There must be national selfdenial and national co-operation to provide the necessary supplies.' Certain immediate measures should be taken, voluntarily, and at once. There should be 'maximum production; the largest possible consumption of perishable foodstuffs in order to liberate the storable foods for transportation; the adoption of war menus; the prevention of food waste; the utilization and creation of organized volunteer bodies to assist the Food Controller in increasing and conserving the food supplies." Wheat, meats, fish, cheese, beans, canned and evaporated foods, were specifically mentioned as essentials for conservation: "Fruits and vegetables in their seasons should be the country's foods to the greatest possible extent. Food is being wasted in the stores, hotels, restaurants, clubs, and homes of the Dominion. It is the duty of every citizen dealing in or preparing and serving food to adopt measures which will eliminate waste." On July 7 Mr. Hanna wired Mr. Hoover at Washington that:

66

Organizations are under way to reach every household in Canada, with the cooperation of Provincial Governments and working through farmers, all Women's Institutes, schools, Red Cross, Daughters of the Empire, National and Local Councils of Women, Y.M.C.A., Y.W.C.A., church societies, municipal bodies and newspapers. Will organize local units in every community, using these means and others. Will demonstrate through local units domestic economy, home canning and evaporating of perishable products in order to release the exportable. Organization work largely voluntary. Press is prepared to do its part. Have arranged Committee to proceed at once to devise regulations to lessen waste and direct food supplies in hotels, restaurants, etc.

To a Toronto meeting on July 6 Mr. Hanna stated that in wheat alone the total requirements for the Allies and neutrals of Europe for the year would be 1,105,000,000 bushels. The production of Europe for this period was estimated at 645,000,000 bushels. "We must export from Canada and the United States to meet this shortage 460,000,000 bushels"; under normal production only about 300,000,000 bushels could be thus supplied. In a statement issued on July 11 the Food Controller added that "the consumption of wheat, beef and bacon in the Dominion must be reduced by at least onethird to meet the needs of the Allied armies and people; every man, woman and child in Canada is under a direct war obligation to assist in that reduction." Meantime, he had appointed Mr. Justice Hugh Rose and George Wright, Toronto, Miss Mary W. Watson, Guelph, and W. A. Cooper, C.P.R., Montreal, as a Committee to oversee Food consumption, and another Special Committee, composed of G. Frank Beer and R. Y. Eaton, Toronto, and F. S. Wiley, Port Arthur, "to deal with the Canadian fish problem and to report on the feasibility of providing an ample supply of fresh-water fish at reasonable prices to the consumers of central Canada, while giving legitimate returns to the fishermen."

Mr. Hanna did not care much about fixing prices which, to so many, was fundamental to the whole problem though at Montreal on July 17 he said: "We will not hesitate to fix prices where necessary. But people must keep cool about it. For instance, in the substitution of brown bread for white, which was urged, he stated the equal price was the fault of the dealers: "These darker grades should be substantially cheaper than the other and will be. As to prices generally-while our primary duty is to save food for export, the prices must be right." In this bread matter Mr. Hanna had a conference with Dominion milling interests at Ottawa on July 30. "The price of bread has been too high," he said afterwards, "particularly in some sections. Whatever is necessary will be done -we hope agreeably to all concerned. But it must be done." On · Aug. 17 an Order-in-Council, at the instance of Mr. Hanna, was passed prohibiting the export of Canadian flour to the United States for the period for which the export of Canadian wheat to the United States was prohibited-subject to the issue of Food Control licenses. Later on to a Women's Institute Convention in Toronto on Nov. 21 Mr. Hanna explained his final course regarding bread, as to which it had been impossible to fix the price till the Government had in conjunction with the United States, fixed the price of wheat: