Balfour's voyage had been so wrapt in secrecy, as far as the public were concerned, that when he arrived home few in England had been aware that he was due. His safety brought much satisfaction to officials in Washington who had surrounded his visit and that of M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre with greater precautions and secrecy than probably ever were undertaken before in this country. He spoke in terms of warmest appreciation of his visit. Said he, "I have been more kindly treated than any man ever was before."? 7 Abridged from a larger compilation on the same subject, published in a volume of 370 pages, by the Funk & Wagnalls Company, in the summer of 1917, under the title "Balfour, Viviani and Joffre." Compiled by Francis w. Halsey.

V

A GREATER FOOD SUPPLY, THE SELECTIVE
DRAFT, RED CROSS AND OTHER WAR
WORKERS, THE FIRST LIBERTY

PERS

LOAN

April 6, 1917-October 27, 1917

ERSONAL responsibility for the outcome of the war was soon brought home to every man and woman in the United States by President Wilson's appeal stirring every one to enlist somehow in the great civilian army without whose whole-hearted services "mere fighting would be useless." While he asked the merchant and middlemen to "forego unusual profits," the railroad-man to see that the "arteries of the nation's life suffer no obstruction," the miner to remember that "if he slackens or fails, armies and statesmen are useless," the manufacturer to "speed and perfect every process, and called upon all to correct the national fault of "wastefulness and extravagance," he emphasized most the imperative need of a greater food-supply. This part of his appeal evoked an immediate and dramatic response, but Germany, deceiving herself as she was constantly doing, hailed with delight his declaration that "the supreme need of our own nation, and of the nations with which we are cooperating, is an abundance of supplies, and especially of foodstuffs," and his urgent call to "young men and old alike," to "turn in hosts to the farms. Professor Wygodzinski, an agricultural expert of Bonn University, became so convinced from the President's appeal that "Nemesis was knocking at America's door and famine staring her in the face," that he announced confidently that "on the American wheatfield the war will be decided-in our favor." The Kölnische Zeitung, which characterized the President's appeal as "nothing but a cry of distress," argued that the war against Germany could not be won

unless America was able "amply to provide herself and her Allies with food," and that this was impossible, because America was "facing a crop failure which can not be averted by President Wilson's little remedies."

In America the response to the President's call was one of deeds rather than words. From all sections came reports of organized movements to increase the crop-acreage, to enlist men and boys in "the army of the plow," and to

MODEL VEGETABLE GARDENS IN UNION SQUARE, NEW YORK CITY These gardens were laid out and vegetables actually grown in them for purposes of giving instructions to dwellers in the city unfamiliar with gardening methods

supply the farmer with capital for intensive cultivation. In Philadelphia, a "recruiting station for farmers' helpers" welcomed all who wished to enroll in the President's "service-army," and sent them to big grain sections of the Northwest to assist in planting spring wheat and rye. The appeal stated that "25,000,000 acres of spring wheat and rye must be planted in the great grain belt of the Northwest within the next twenty-five days," and explained that "this

represents an increase of more than 7,000,000 acres over last year." A Chicago dispatch told of six thousand boys above the age of sixteen who had been released from the high-schools of that city with full credit for school-work for the remainder of the school-year, on condition that they pledged themselves to work on farms, or enter some employment that would increase the food-supply of the nation. President Bisby, of the Chicago surface street-railway lines,

announced that schoolboys who were to work in truckgardens on the outskirts of the city could ride to and from their work free. In North Dakota children were released from school to work on the farms, and in Wisconsin, Louisiana, and many other States proclamations were issued calling upon all citizens to plant every available square foot of ground.

Hundreds of thousands of backyards were converted into vegetable-gardens. Owners of big ornamental estates

in the neighborhood of New York dedicated their lawns and parks to raising potatoes, beans, and corn. Vacant land in New York, including some of the city's small parks, was placed under intensive cultivation by a city-gardening commission. In Union Square, New York City, a model vegetable garden was laid out and planted. The Federal Farm Loan Board perfected plans for lending $200,000,000 to farmers to stimulate food-production. In New York a Patriotic Farmers' Fund prepared to finance the planting of at least one acre more on every one of the 250,000 farms in this State. Manufacturers in some sections agreed to release workers from their factories for work on the farms during the planting and harvesting seasons, these workers to receive from the manufacturers the difference between the farm and the factory wage. Under this arrangement the Lackawanna Railroad alone released between 800 and 900 section-hands for work in the southern agricultural section of New York. Because manufacture of alcoholic liquors consumed millions of bushels of grain annually, a new organization called the Grain Savers' League was formed, the only condition of membership being a pledge not to "drink, buy, sell, or give away any intoxicating liquor" while the war lasted.

As the autumn came on it was found that, while our wheat crop was below expectations, three other important crops had broken records, and three among the lesser crops had also. Corn, oats, potatoes, rye, sugar-beet, and beans carried off the honors. In 1917 we had grown 767,000,000 bushels of the four food cereals-wheat, rye, buckwheat, and rice-compared with 740,000,000 bushels in 1916, which assured us food in plenty. In food for both man and beast there had been great increase. Reports showed 5,092,000,000 bushels of corn, oats, and barley, where in 1916 the total was 4,067,000,000 bushels. These grains meant meat, milk, butter, and eggs, food for draft animals, and substitutes for wheat in domestic use. We had the largest crop of potatoes ever raised-540,000,000 bushels of both kinds, against 356,000,000 in 1916, so that a more extensive use of potatoes in the place of wheat and meat could help to feed fighting men. At the same time there were 11,300,000