Part 11 (2/2)
TEAM WORK THROUGH THE FOOD ADMINISTRATION
The United States Food Administration was created by the President to carry out the provisions of a law pa.s.sed by Congress”, to provide further for the national security and defense by encouraging the production, conserving the supply, and controlling the distribution of food products and fuel.” The President placed at its head a man in whom the people of the country had great confidence, because of his experience and success in organizing and managing the Belgian relief work, Mr. Herbert Hoover. He gathered around him men familiar with the problems relating to the food supply of the nation, and then proceeded to enlighten the country in regard to the nature of these problems and to seek for the cooperation of the people in solving them.
As soon as he was appointed, the food administrator issued a statement containing the following facts:
Whereas we exported before the war but 80,000,000 bushels of wheat per annum, this year we must find for all our allies 225,000,000 bushels, and this in the face of a short crop. ... France and Italy formerly produced their own sugar, while England and Ireland imported largely from Germany. Owing to the inability of the first-named to produce more than one third of their needs, and the necessity for the others to import from other markets, they must all come to the West Indies for their very large supplies, and therefore deplete our resources.
If we can reduce our consumption of wheat flour by 1 pound, our meat by 7 ounces, our sugar by 7 ounces, our fat by 7 ounces PER PERSON PER WEEK, these quant.i.ties, multiplied by 100,000,000 (the population of the United States) will immeasurably aid and encourage our allies, help our own growing armies, and so effectively serve the great and n.o.ble cause of humanity in which our nation has embarked.
DEMOCRACY A PARTNERs.h.i.+P
This ill.u.s.trates how the Food Administration sought cooperation.
It ”made partners” of the people, explained to them the situation, and asked them to help as individuals. It showed the nation what it must do if it were to be successful in its undertaking. It is true that the President had large powers to enforce observance of the rules outlined by the Food Administration, but it was only in the exceptional case of the individual consumer and producer who refused to cooperate for the common good that it became necessary to use the power. The method of democracy is to point out clearly how the desired result may be obtained and to depend upon the people to govern themselves accordingly.
After a year of the war a member of the Food Administration is quoted as saying, [Footnote: In an article on ”Your Wheatless Days,” by W. A. Wolff, in Collier's Weekly, Aug. 17, 1918.]
”There's never been anything like it in history. ... We asked the American people to do voluntarily more than any other people has ever been asked to do under compulsion. And the American people made good!”
What was true in the unusual time of war is true to even a greater extent in the ordinary time of peace. We have little to fear from our national government as long as we and those to whom we entrust its management, always keep in mind its real purpose, which is to show us how to work together effectively as a nation and to help us do it.
EVERY MAN COUNTS
All through this study we are going to observe how in the ordinary affairs of life our national government serves us in this respect.
One thing that we need especially to learn is that we have a great national purpose ALL THE TIME, in peace as well as in war. In fact, PEACE IS A PART OF THAT PURPOSE. We went to war because without it there could be no a.s.surance of a lasting peace. While we fought to defend our national purpose and our national ideals against a powerful foe from without, this purpose and these ideals cannot be fully achieved by the war alone. They can be finally achieved only by ourselves as we develop, day by day, our national community life. To do this we must always keep in mind our great national purpose, we must realize our dependence upon one another in achieving this purpose, and we must make our national team work as perfect as it can be made. Above all, we must realize that, in peace as in war, EVERY MAN COUNTS in our national community life.
As President Wilson said:
”THE NATION NEEDS ALL MEN, BUT IT NEEDS EACH MAN. ...” ”THE WHOLE NATION MUST BE A TEAM, IN WHICH EACH MAN SHALL PLAY THE PART FOR WHICH HE IS BEST FITTED.”
Read and discuss President Wilson's ”Message to the American People,” of April 15, 1917.
What organizations existed in your community to secure teamwork for war purposes?
Show how boys' and girls' clubs, or the School Garden Army, made cooperation possible on a national scale. Is this true in peace times as well as in war time?
Is there greater or less need of national teamwork today than during the war? Explain your answer.
What evidences are there that the teamwork of our nation has not been as good since the war as during the war? Why is this?
Show how universal military training might increase the national spirit What arguments can you give against it?
Should or should not the food administration of wartime be continued in peace time? Why?
What does it mean to you to be an American?
READINGS
In Long's American Patriotic Prose:
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