Herbert Hoover: The Man and His WorkKellogg, Vernon L. (Vernon Lyman)
History
Herbert Hoover: The Man and His Work
Kellogg, Vernon L. (Vernon Lyman)
Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; World War, 1914-1918 -- Food supply
In a formal report by letter to the President on July 18, 1918, Hoover
showed that the exports of meats, fats and dairy products in the past
twelve months had been about twice as much as the average for the years
just preceding the war, and fifty per cent more than in the year July,
1916--June, 1917. Of cereals and cereal products our shipments to the
Allies were a third more than in the year July, 1916--June, 1917.
"It is interesting to note," writes the Food Administrator, "that
since the urgent request of the Allied food controllers early in
the year for a further shipment of 75,000,000 bushels from our 1917
wheat than originally planned, we shall have shipped to Europe, or
have _en route_, nearly 85,000,000 bushels. At the time of this
request our surplus was more than exhausted. The accomplishment of
our people in this matter stands out even more clearly if we bear
in mind that we had available in the fiscal year 1916-17 from net
carry-over and as surplus over our normal consumption about
200,000,000 bushels of wheat which we were able to export that year
without trenching on our home loaf. This last year, however, owing
to the large failure of the 1917 wheat crop, we had available from
net carry-over and production and imports only just about our
normal consumption. Therefore our wheat shipments to allied
destinations represent approximately savings from our own wheat
bread.
"These figures, however, do not fully convey the volume of the
effort and sacrifice made during the past year by the whole
American people. Despite the magnificent effort of our agricultural
population in planting a much increased acreage in 1917, not only
was there a very large failure in wheat but also, the corn failed
to mature properly and our corn is our dominant crop. We calculate
that the total nutritional production of the country for the fiscal
year just closed was between seven per cent and nine per cent below
the average of the three previous years, our nutritional surplus
for export in those years being about the same amount as the
shrinkage last year. Therefore the consumption and waste of food
have been greatly reduced in every direction during the war.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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