In April, 1917, the long and bitter struggle had so drained the food supply of the Western Allies that they were dependent upon North America for the food that would enable their armies to continue the battle for civilization, prevent the starvation of their civilians and the wholesale death of their children. To this country the neutrals of Europe had also to look for sufficient food to save their people from suffering. There was much grain in Argentina and Australia, but ships could not be spared for the long and dangerous journeys to and from those countries. Submarine warfare had destroyed so much of the shipping, not only of the Allies but of the European neutrals as well, that every available ship was needed for use on the Northern Atlantic. Therefore, North America was the last reservoir of food, the last producer of food, to which the hungry populations of Western Europe could turn for the sustenance of their armies and civilians or the neutral nations and such of the subjugated peoples under the German yoke as could be reached look with hope for any help. All Europe was on the verge of starvation and only North America, which meant chiefly the United States, could give assistance. For this country to produce and conserve vast quantities of food and send them to Europe had become one of the fundamental necessities for the winning of the war. The United States Food Administration was created, under the Food Control Act passed by Congress in August, 1917, for the purpose of handling this situation in such a way as would give the nations with which we were associated the food they needed and would at the same time protect our own people against food scarcity and excessive prices. A Food Administrator, acting under the informal request of the President, had already been at work for three months, securing data and working out tentative plans, and had opened the way and accomplished much by appealing to the people for voluntary coöperation. The work of the Food Administration throughout the war was another example of the splendid team-work of the whole nation and of the highly efficient coöperation of all the agencies of the Government. In coöperation with it the Department of Agriculture bent its energies to the stimulation of food production, the War Trade Board controlled food movements between this and other countries, the War Industries Board saw to it that such manufacturers as produced goods needed in the production, storage, conservation and movement of food supplies received the necessary raw material. Leaders in the grain trade, familiar with all its phases, gave up their connection with enterprises of profit and at great personal sacrifice volunteered their services to act as managers of the corporation through which the Food Administration purchased its immense grain supplies and controlled the grain situation. Dealers in food stuffs of every sort, both wholesale and retail, willingly