Racine county in the world war, Part 15

Author: Haight, Walter L
Publication date: c1920]
Publisher: [Racine, Western Prtg. & Lithographing Co.
Number of Pages: 612

USA > Wisconsin > Racine County > Racine county in the world war > Part 15

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

France was nearly self-supporting as to food. Italy needed to import a great deal of wheat. England depended almost entirely upon the outside world for her sustenance, and the sub- marine campaign had cut off her maritime connections with her colonies. The vast wheat fields of Russia were of no use to the rest of the world with Turkey holding the Dardanelles. An unexpectedly large proportion of the world's tonnage was being used for naval and transport purposes, and to carry munitions of war. In addition to the needs of the Allied peoples, America was sending hundreds of thousands of men overseas who must depend upon their own country for their food. To make conditions more serious, the United States and Canada both suffered from very short crops in 1917.

To meet this situation, the co-operation of every man, woman and child was asked, and government representatives were appointed in every county to advise them what was expected of them. Few laws were passed, and the arbitrary powers given the Food Administra- tors of nation, state and county were seldom needed. As in other matters affecting the war, public sentiment proved more efficient in ob- taining results than all the laws that could have been placed upon the statute books.

William T. Harvey was County Food Ad- ministrator for Racine county. He gave his services voluntarily and for more than a year devoted practically all of his time, without re- muneration, to the task. He was ably as- sisted by his wife, Mrs. Jane B. Harvey, who transacted most of the correspondence and de- voted many hours each day to planning organ- ization and detail work.

When the drastic regulations were first published, there was more or less good-na- tured grumbling. It took some time to get used to such things as coming into a town af- ter a long auto ride and stepping into a restaurant with the intention of devouring a huge steak and a generous dessert, only to be informed that it was a meatless day, and that desserts were taboo, and each customer could have but one spoonful of sugar. But like everything else, it soon became a matter of course and "food slackers" who sought to evade the government rules were scorned by their more patriotic neighbors.

One of the problems arising was that of the right of a farmer to use all the white flour he wanted, inasmuch as he himself had raised wheat. The Food Administration ruled that the person producing food should not be ex- empted from the rules which others were ex- pected to obey. One of the farmers protested to Mr. Harvey one day, and said that inas- much as he had raised a large crop of wheat he should not be required to sell any more of it than he wished, and he should be allowed to have it made into any kind of flour he wanted for himself and family.

"See here," answered Mr. Harvey, "your next door neighbor raised a boy, and the gov- ernment took him into the army. Isn't it fair that the government should also take as much of your wheat as it deems necessary in order to feed that boy? Especially when you are being paid a good price and are not asked to starve yourself ?"

The agriculturist saw the point, and grinned.

134

RACINE COUNTY IN THE

WORLD WAR

"You are right," he said. "I never thought of it that way before. You will never hear another kick from me on any rule the govern- ment makes." And he became one of the ac- tive workers in spreading the "Save Food" propaganda.

A Racine physician was inclined to assist people who asked permission to use more wheat flour than the government allowance, by de- claring that it was necessary for their health. Mr. Harvey obtained written opinions from half a dozen leading doctors to the effect that oat meal bread, corn meal and even the de- tested barley bread was more healthful than bread made of fine patent flour. This fact was published, and people were warned not to try to circumvent the law by such subter- fuges. The trick was never tried again and the abashed physician retired into his shell for the period of the war.

From the very start of hostilities, the serv- ing of a fourth meal in the afternoon or late at night was discontinued. If banquets were to be held, they were limited to plain food and were served at such a time as to replace a regular meal. Cakes and pastry became rare sights, and fancy frostings requiring consider- able sugar almost disappeared entirely for many months.

The Food Administration's work was notable because it proved so entirely successful; it was the first time that anything of a similar nature had been attempted in America, and because more than any other one thing it touched the lives of every individual in the United States.

Eligible young men might escape army serv- ice; women might neglect to do their part for the Red Cross or other organizations; wealthy people could "get by" without buying Liberty bonds, under certain condi- tions, but there was no one who could fail to feel the strong hand of a free and democratic government upon them when every meal con- tained some reminder of the work of the Food Administration, and when gold itself could not give them any advantage over their neigh- bors when they tried to obtain a better quality or a greater quantity of certain staple food products.

There was never any attempt to get the American people to cut down their food to the point where there was any real discom- fort. It was felt that the greater part of the people actually were in the habit of over-eat- ing and serving food wastefully. All that was asked was that waste be eliminated, that meals be prepared in a simple and inexpensive man- ner and that substitutes be used for those

forms of food products which could most easily be transported to Europe or used in the army camps at home.

Oatmeal, potatoes, cabbage and hash became a symbol of American patriotism.

Congress passed the Food Act on August 10, 1917. In this law, the President was given autocratic power over the food supply of the whole country. Herbert Hoover was made Federal Food Administrator on August 17. His experience in Belgium made him the log- ical man for this great responsibility. It was evident that the available food resources of the world were going to be less than the re- quirement : that America must provide not only for her own people, but also for much of Europe.

Further, it was foreseen that as the demand became greater than the supply, prices would advance to a point where the laboring people would be unable to obtain sufficient food with- out tremendous advance in wages. Prior to the passage of the food act, flour was selling at $18.00 to $20.00 per barrel retail. Congress fixed the price of the 1918 wheat crop at $2.20 per bushel and limited the profit of the millers, wholesalers and retailers of flour. Under this arrangement, flour sold at $12.00 to $14.00 a barrel. This plan was later extended to the 1919 wheat crop and the price of flour was in this way stabilized for the period of the war and a year or more thereafter.

The Food Act contained three major pro- visions.

1. To encourage production.

2. To control distribution.

3. To conserve supply.

To encourage production, the farmers were urged to do everything possible to produce more wheat and corn, oats, sugar beets, beef, pork, poultry, eggs and dairy products.

The city and village inhabitants with back lots, were urged to plant war gardens.

The response to these appeals was so great that 1918 crops were record breakers. The wheat crop of the United States for 1918 was 918,000,000 bushels, or nearly fifty per cent greater than 1917.

Racine County had raised very little wheat for many years, but the spring of 1918 saw at least a few acres of wheat on every farm. Many fields averaged over 40 bushels per acre and the total production for the country was estimated at forty thousand bushels. Back yards and vacant lots were converted into vegetable gardens which furnished a large amount of food and enabled every family to save on the wheat, meat, fats and sugar which were needed for the armies in the field.

135

RACINE COUNTY IN THE

CITY

--.

- -

. .

QUOTA STARTED FOR CAMP CUSTER NOVEMBER 11, 1918, WHICH WAS TURNED BACK WHEN THE ARMISTICE WAS SIGNED. BOARD NO. 1

There were listed for entrainment the following :- Walter J. Kluge, Fred E. Fagerstrom, Herman Nerenberg, C. M. Daniels, Frank Fehlherg, Munroe Greider, Arthur Menden, William A, Schmitt, Alvin Rubjarg, Reinhold Liedick, Harold A, Frandsen, Alex J. Schaff, Roy Velky, August Hegard, Lyman B. Nelson, Otto G. Anclam, Mike Poritz, Ray- mond M. Zirbes, Arthur A, Schmoll, Otto H. Huhn, Roy H. Buenting, August E. Groenke, Charles J. Jaeger, Ernest J. Powers, Edward Joy, Francis Mura, John Bennett, Chas. A. Berg, Reginald Quadraci, Harry Gordon, Roy O. Seegert, Max Stoll, Victor C. Nelsun, George G. Krug, Charles Krupstadt, Louis H. Johnson, Charles Leutner, Edgar E. Hoppe, Nels P. Sorenson, Jacob Post, Cariel P. Peterson, Otto A, Dewitz, Fritz V. Clausen, Andrew P. Jacobsen, Earl S. Halberstadt, William F. Murphy, Walter W, Gatzke, Russel Jensen, Carl F. Larsen, George P. Pederson, Einore T. Kurkowski, Roy J. Johnson, Stefano Cappadona, Leonard N. Pier, Jas. E. Dunlaevy, Wm. C. Kister, Allen F, Christensen, Herbert C. Madsen, George Wilsey, William Max Moritz, John P. Soens, Williom Corbett, Wm, P. Stoffel, Sophus Henningsen, Tony H, Persak, Hepein Hagerian, Carl L. Risberg, Dennis Donovan, Peter Johnson, Harry H. Phillip, Fred F, Creutzberg, Martin O, Jensen, Louis J. Lattisch, Elmer E. Schoening, Irving Hansen, L. C. Andersen, Leo S. Williams, Adam Helman, Clarence E. Lemke, Ernest William Elliott, William P. Behrman, Harry A. Thorson,

WAR

WORLD

136

RACINE COUNTY IN THE WORLD WAR

While the people of the country at large are entitled to great credit for the unanimous re- sponse to the appeal of the food administra- tion for the large production of food, we must also give credit to Providence for favorable weather conditions throughout the season.

In assuming control of the distribution of food, the Food Administration issued licenses to all manufacturers of food and to all whole- sale dealers in food. No manufacturer or dealer was permitted to charge more than a reasonable profit over the cost price of food products. This was done to prevent them from taking advantage of the food shortage and did much to steady the market.

These concerns were required to make monthly reports showing the cost of their goods and also their selling prices. In addi- tion to this, inspectors were sent out by the Food Administration to check them up.

The retail dealers were not licensed but in cases where they did not comply with the rules of the Food Administration, the wholesalers were notified to sell them no more goods and in this way it was possible to control them.

Racine County food dealers, with few excep- tions, showed a fine spirit all through the war period. In only two cases were dealers asked to contribute $25.00 to the Red Cross, as a penalty for overcharging for flour in one case and for selling canning sugar without a permit in another case.

In order to control prices of all food stuffs. dealers both wholesale and retail, were per- mitted to charge only a reasonable percentage of profit over their cost prices. The profits on such staples as flour, sugar and coffee are al- ways much less than on luxuries. The pre- war basis of profit on any item of food was acceptable to the Food Administration. If a grocer had a big stock of canned salmon bought at a low price he had to give his cus- tomers the benefit of his purchase. Racine County, like all other counties, had a "Fair Price Committee," composed of the following: W. T. Harvey, Chairman, John Wiechers, Fred Radewan, Jens Jensen, Clarence R. Nevin, Chas. Christensen, Chris Sorenson, Frank Luxem, Jos, Otradovec, Lester Bowman, George Black, Sidney Mikulecky, J. K. Evans, Stewart Chamberlain, Wm. Eric and Percy Conroe. These men met faithfully once or twice a week for the entire year of 1918 and adopted a price list for the more staple lines of food. These prices were published in the local papers and served as a guide to prevent profiteering.

In the great work of conservation of food, Mr. Hoover had to make the choice between

voluntary conservation or rationing the people He saw that rationing would be a tremendous task, requiring a large force of inspectors and decided that he would appeal to the patriotism of the people to conserve the essential foods.

To accomplish this, a great publicity cam- paign was necessary and the first great effort was the distribution of twenty million home pledge cards.

These cards appealed to the housewives of the country to conserve food in every pos- sible way. They provided for wheatless and meatless days in each week and also one wheatless and meatless meal each day. Ev- ery housewife, boarding house, restaurant and hotel proprietor was asked to sign a pledge card to help save the food that was necessary to win the war.

The co-operation of the people of the country was so hearty that in a few months it was possible to release some of the meat restric- tions, as the farmers and packers complained that meat was not being consumed as fast as it was being produced and transportation fa- cilities were not adequate to carry the surplus to Europe.

Our wheat crop of 1917 was only 625,000,000 bushels: barely enough for our own require- ments and for seed. In spite of this fact we sent large quantities to Europe and our people used the wheat substitutes, viz :- corn, barley, rice, oats, etc., during the first half of 1918.

In December, 1917, the Food Administration decided upon what was known as the "substi- tute rule" requiring that, for every pound of wheat flour purchased, the dealer murt sell and the buyer must take one round of sub- stitute consisting of corn meal, corn flour, harley flour, oatmeal, rice, etc. This was done to compel everyone to share alike, in the use of wheat and of the substitutes. This rule was kept in force until the 1918 wheat crop was ready for the market. Had it not been for the wide use of these substitutes, the wheat supply of the country would have been entirely exhausted early in 1918.

This substitute rule probably aroused more complaint on the part of the selfish and un- patriotic than any other restriction. They complained that their stomachs were weak and that white bread was the only bread they could cat. Nothing short of a doctor's certificate was sufficient to enable them to get wheat flour without a substitute. One woman living in a fine home just outside the city was re- ported to have a considerable amount of white flour stored away. When ask to report, she admitted that she had about 100 lbs., while

RACINE COUNTY IN THE WORLD WAR

137

t hotos by Malme-Pavek-Grant

Top Row-Edward A. Christensen, Herman Kugel, Edward Bohlman, Frank Luedke, Albert G. Gerber, August Luedhe. Second-Micheal Howoicik, R. C. Evans, Theodore Meyer, Perry Ostergaard, Orville C. Anderson, Einer Christensen. Third-David Jacobson, Caprial Keshishian, John Iverson, William Dymacek, Stephen Tieser, Joseph Mazurkievicz. Fourth-Miram Chordig, Theo. W. Held, Herbert H. Held, Edward Dudek, LeRoy Butler, August Rudat. Bottom-Lawrence Markisen, Allie Markisen, John Stallman, John P. Greene, Hans Nygaard, Stanley W. Bergstrom.

138

RACINE COUNTY IN THE WORLD WAR

25 lbs. was the maximum any one could have at that time. As an excuse she claimed that her hired man didn't eat anything but white bread. She had 10 lbs. of cornmeal and was asked to donate all but 10 lbs. of her white flour to the hospitals and then get herself and servants on the half wheat, half substitute ra- tion.

All the best hotels and dining cars pledged themselves voluntarily, to use no wheat dur- ing the period of the shortage. Rye bread, corn muffins and Johnny cakes were used in place of wheat bread.

Flour was milled in one grade and the mills had to make 74 lbs. of flour for every 100 lbs. of wheat-the other 26 lbs. being middlings and bran for cattle.

Fine patent white flour of which only 49 lbs. could be made from 100 lbs. of wheat was not permitted during the war.

The bakers were required to make bread out of 75 per cent wheat flour and 25 per cent sub- stitutes. In order to compel a uniform observ- ance of this rule the bakers organized in every county and elected one of their number "cap- tain." O. B. Schulz was captain of the Racine County bakers. Monthly meetings were held and methods of making good bread with the required amount of substitutes were developed. The most palatable substitutes were corn starch, corn tlour, rice flour and oat meal. Barley flour was the most unpopular.

In the spring of 1918 we were almost at the bottom of the wheat bins. Farmers were noti- fied to bring in all wheat left after seeding, and no one was allowed to feed wheat to stock or poultry. Fortunately the 1918 crop ripened early and an abundant supply was available from the Southern harvest fields by mid-sur- mer.

In the early part of 1918 the supply of sugar was short of the requirements. Prior to this time, the Food Administration had urged con- stant conservation of sugar and had made very strong rules regarding the hoarding of sugar. The people were requested to buy not more than five pounds at one time in the city and ten pounds in the country. This method of voluntary conservation would doubtless have proved sufficient had it not been for the sudden appearance of German submarine boats on the west side of the Atlantic and the sinking of a considerable number of ships carrying sugar from the West Indies.

The canning season was at hand, calling for large quantities of sugar for preserves and iams.

The Food Administration immediately issued

orders to all dealers that they must sell only three pounds of sugar for each person per month. Later this was reduced to 2 lbs. per month. The retail merchants were compelled to file statements of the amount of sugar bought the previous year and were allowed only fifty per cent of this amount. In addition to this, they were required to keep "a sugar book" and make a record of every sale of sugar. The merchants were further required to sell only to their regular customers and inasmuch as they had a limited supply it was necessary for them to comply with this rule.

The candy factories, pop and soft drink fac- tories were allowed only fifty per cent of their former sugar supply. Factories pre- serving food for future use were allowed their full requirements.

Housewives requiring sugar for canning had to obtain permits from the County Food Ad- ministrator or his deputy and they had to pledge themselves to use the sugar, so ob- tained, for canning or preserving purposes. At the beginning, the limit was placed at twenty-five pounds which a housewife could purchase at one time for canning purposes. This was later reduced to ten pounds, but ad- ditional ten pound lots could be obtained pro- vided the applicant produced satisfactory evi- dence that she had no sugar on hand and need- ed more sugar for canning purposes.

In order to carry out this work, fifty women deputies were appointed throughout the County who were authorized to issue permits to buy canning sugar. The work of these sugar depu- ties was one of the outstanding features of the food administration work of this county.

It was a serious problem to distribute the short supply of sugar so that every family could get a reasonable supply for canning. The grocers were permitted to sell each family on their regular list of customers one-half pound for each person per week for table use and cooking. To get sugar for canning the purchaser had to obtain a signed permit from one of the sugar deputies. These permits were all returned each week to the County Food Administrator's office by the grocers. Here they were filed and anyone who tried to get more than a fair amount was notified to report and explain.

The County Food Administration had auto- cratic power in such cases and where it was evident that anyone had misrepresented the facts to get sugar he or she was requested to make a donation of $10 or $25 to the Red Cross.

Very few such penalties were inflicted be-

RACINE COUNTY IN THE WORLD WAR

139

Photos by Pavek-Grant-Billings

Top Row-John Hansen, C. A. Hansen, C. H. Hauser, Arthur Johnson, P. J. Ebben, R. J. Gieseler, H. P. Saugman. Second-Peter Lange, Jens Christensen, Alex Lehti, C. J. Stork, O. A. Wespetal, Frank Bohn, F. P. Scharping. Third-Clar. Thompson, H. E. Hebblethwaite, C E. Godske, C. O. Matson, A. F. Brautigam, F. C. Spychalla, C. Morganson. Fourth-Oscar M. Jones, F. E. Welsh, Conrad Akvick, Alh. Ruchti, Vahan Kurigian, W. J. Iselin, Olle Nystrom. Fifth-Tinus Christensen, G. Nalbantian, H. Durgerian, M. Mangialardo, E. Zauierucha, A. W. Nickel, H. H. Reth. Bottom-Ray S. Kamper, 1. L. Driver, Carl Christensen, Chas. Krueger, John Mandro, R. L. Peterson, R. J. Goebel.

140

RACINE COUNTY IN

THE WORLD WAR

cause the people generally realized that we were in the midst of a terrible war, and that it was just as necessary for those at home to do their part as it was for the armies in the field to obey orders.

During all this time of sugar shortage, the price was maintained at 9 and 91% cents per pound. Had there been no restrictions sugar would have undoubtedly sold for twenty-five to thirty cents per pound, and those who needed it most would have been unable to secure suf- ficient supply. In fact, after the war the price rose to 20 cents a pound within a year.

The work of the United States Food Admin- istration was carried on entirely by voluntary service. There was a Federal Food Adminis- trator in each State and there was also a County Administrator in each County.

The County Administrator, Mr. Harvey, had jurisdiction over all grocery stores, bakeries, meat markets and public eating houses. It was necessary to hold frequent meetings of grocers, bakers and the proprietors of hotels, restaurants and boarding houses to keep them all informed of the ruling's of the Food Admin- istration. The co-operation of the people at large was hearty and it was rare that any- one resented any of the food rules. In case of objection, an explanation of what the Food Administration was doing, was usually suffi- cient to enlist the support of the objector.

In the spring of 1918 the National Food Administration organized a department cover- ing all threshermen.

It was necessary for every thresherman to procure a license to operate and sign a pledge to avoid all possible waste in threshing.

A county committee consisting of County Food Administrator W. T. Harvey, County Agent E. S. Polley of Rochester, and H. M. Thomas of the Case T. M. Co. held a meeting of the threshermen in June and instructed them fully on the rules of the Food Adminis- tration. Later this committee inspected as many of the machines in operation as possible.

It was estimated that this effort saved thou- sands of bushels of grain in every county.

Herbert Hoover's decision to appeal to the people of the United States to do their part in the production and conservation of food and their response to this appeal will always be one of the glories of the great war. The nation produced more, prices were maintained on staples such as flour and sugar at reason- able figures; food was distributed fairly, so that no one had to go without, and the people conserved so well that they were able to spare

large quantities of food for the people of Europe who were threatened with famine.

The various women's organizations gave hearty co-operation to Mr. Harvey throughout his administration. Housewives everywhere exercised the greatest ingenuity in planning meals so as to conserve food.

The Home Economics Department of the Woman's Committee of the Council of De- fense, for example, bought and canned 300 lbs. of beans when, through a shortage of labor, it was feared many beans would be wasted. The work was done by the girls and teachers of the Vocational school, supervised by Miss Elizabeth Fratt. This furnished a valuable canning lesson to over 500 girls. By the ef- forts of Miss Elizabeth Hood, her corps of teachers and the girls of the High School, 1000 quarts of fruit and vegetables were canned. Five hundred glasses of jelly and many bottles of fruit juices were made. The jelly was made with part syrup to save sugar.

The materials were furnished by the women of the community who were too busy with war work to do their own preserving. One quart from every twelve was kept by the de- partment for the work done.

A group of twenty volunteer workers trained under Miss Helen Henderson, Home Demon- stration Agent, demonstrated the use of sub- stitute flours-the making of sugarless cakes, etc., and canning by the "cold pack" method throughout the County. Also demonstrations were held in every school in Racine, once a week.

Demonstrations were held in each of the 10- cent stores with great success.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Racine county in the world war, Part 15

Author: Haight, Walter L Publication date: c1920] Publisher: [Racine, Western Prtg. & Lithographing Co. Number of Pages: 612

Author: Haight, Walter L
Publication date: c1920]
Publisher: [Racine, Western Prtg. & Lithographing Co.
Number of Pages: 612