The official bulletin [Vol. 1, no. 11, 15 November 1918]

              U. S. Food Administration
THE OFFICIAL BULLETIN
Vol. I
RALEIGH, N. C, NOVEMBER 15, 1918
No. 11
Mr. P/°.rbert Hoover Outlines Future Policy
And Tasks of U. S. Food Administration
Federal Food Administrator, in Conference with State Food Administrators Upon Eve of Departure
for Important Post in Europe, Gives Clean-cut Summary of World-wide Food Situation, the Condition of Prostrate Europe, and the Task of the Food Administration Organization in Relieving
Suffering and Restoring Stable Government.
Following is the address by Mr.
Hoover to the special conference of
Federal Food Administrators held in
the Assembly Hall of the D. A. R. Continental Hall:
We have now to consider a new
world situation in food. We have to
frankly survey Europe;—a Europe of
which a large part is either in ruins or
in social conflagration—a Europe with
degenerated soils and depleted herds;
a Europe with the whole of its popula-
m rations or varying degrees of
. etually
starving. The group of gamblers in
human life who have done this thing
are now in cowardly flight, leaving
anarchy and famine to millions of helpless people. We have also to survey
the situation In the exporting nations
of the world, to see what can be done
to redeem this mass of humanity back
to health and to social order.
Up to the collapse of the Germans,
the world that is allied against Germany has depended upon the North
American continent for the margins of
food that maintain their strength
against the common enemy. The loss
of shipping and the increased demands
for transportation of our ever-growing
army had Isolated the stores of food in
the Southern Hemisphere and the Far
East. Within thirty or sixty days the
world should begin to release cargo
ships from military duty and to send
them further afield for food, and before the next harvest arrives the entire
world's food supply should be accessible. On the other hand, the cessation
of hostilities will create an enormously
increased demand for food, and we
must be deeply concerned that the
starving millions who have been liberated from the German yoke shall have
such supplies as will enable them to
return to health and prosperity.    The
war has been brought to an end in no
small measure by starvation itself, and
it cannot be our business to maintain
starvation after peace.
All these considerations must change
our domestic food policies, and this
opens to us as a nation an obligation
and an opportunity of service.
We must now take an account of the
whole food resources of the world, and
we must take an account of the total
demands. We must consider carefully
how this situation reacts upon our people.    We
such change    ..i
ting to the new situation.    We have
thus a new orientation of the whole
food problem, and It is an orientation
that   affects  every one  of  the  great
groups of commodities in a different
manner.
It has been part of the duty of the
Food Administration to keep informed
as to the situation in world supplies.
I will not trouble you with the details,
country by country, nor commodity by
commodity. The matter of prime interest to us is, how much of each commodity the exporting countries can furnish between now and next harvest,
and how much is necessary to the importing countries in which we have a
vital interest, in order to maintain
health and public order In the world.
We have computed the export countries' supplies on the basis of the avoidance of waste, and we have assumed
for the importing countries stringent
war consumptions with conditions such
as we consider will preserve health and
order. In these circumstances we make
the world's balance-sheet In the different great groups of commodities approximately as follows until next harvest:
Wheat and Rye—Sufficient supplies,
with economy in consumption.
High Protein Feeds  (for dairy ani
mals)—A shortage of about 3,000,000
tons.
Other Feeds—Sufficient supplies, with
economy in consumption.
Beans, Peas and Rice—Sufficient supplies, with economy in consumption.
Pork Products, Dairy Products, Vegetable Oils—A shortage of about three
billion pounds.
Beef—Sufficient supplies to load all
erating ships' capacity.
Sufficient   supplies   for   our
normal  consumption  if other  n.*<
:ons.
Of all these foods, except possibly
protein feeds, we have a sufficiency for
our own people, and in many of them
large surpluses. Of the world total to
produce the above results, we are estimating North America will furnish
rather more than 60 per cent, and that
the United States, including the West
Indies, will be in position to furnish a
total of about 20,000,000 tons of food
of all kinds for export, against our pre-
European war exports of say 6,000,000
tons.
Calculations of this order are vitally
necessary if we are to intelligently
guide the policies of the United States.
On the other hand, all such calculations are based upon assumptions as
to transportation, production, and consumption, which may be subject to
great disturbance and distortion during
the reconstruction period. For the
present we can accept and rightly guide
ourselves by these conclusions, and we
may examine in more detail the position of each group.
In the matter of wheat and rye, the
large supplies that have accumulated
in the Argentine, Australia, and other
inaccessible markets appear to us to
supplement the stores of clear wheat
(Continued on page 2)