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The Exeter Advocate, 1918-3-28, Page 4Lack of Food reatens the attle Line .ONTARIO 'The food wanted by mankind does not exist. The word `shortage' is not strong enough. The whole world is up against a nasty thing, familiar to the people o f India, called `faw- ine." -Lord Rhondda, Britain's Food Controllez.' Oneyear ago, only the enemy was on rations. To -day, Great Britain, France and Italy are on rations: To -day, Germany : controls the wheat lands of Roumania,' Russia, Poland and Ukrania. To -day, the shadows of hunger, famine, disease and death hang over - the Allies. Upon the 1918 crop from Canada and the United States depends the fate of the democratic peoples of the world.' If that crop is sufficient the AIlies can be fed. If that -crop is not sufficient the Allies may have to accept a German peace. %1:3L Battle -Line in France and F1cmde7s Must Not Want Do you realize what a German peace would mean to Canada? Germany covets our natural re- sources—our agricultural and min- eral wealth, our forests, our fisheries, everything that is Canada's. Germany won't be satisfied with European territory, with teeming masses, wrangling factions and de pletecI natural resources. She wants colonies—big, thinly -populated coun- tries in temperate zones for her sons and daughters to go to propagate their kind. The Kaiser would sacrifice millions of Germans' to -morrow if he thought that by so doing he could set foot on Canada's shores as Conqueror. And what's more, the Germans would offer themselves for the sacri- fice, so great is their subjection to the military ideal. The only thing that balks German aml-tion is that battle line from the North Sea: to Switzerland—and the British Navy. The Only Thing That Sus - tarns Our Men' on Land and Sea—is Food What are we, each one of us, pre- pared to do to insure that Food' supply? Germany, by her submarine cam- paign, has seen that_great Armada, the British Mercantile Marine, shrink in volume. Germany has seen South America, Australia, New Zealand, India and far away outposts of the Empire practically cut off from supplying food to the Motherland because of the lack of ships. Forty million:' Allied men , and women having been put on warwork, 'food production has dangerously de- creased in Europe. "'hese forty million consume more food than when they were in ordi- irsaiy occupations, and there are 'fewer lien for farming. Hence an increased demand and decreased -sup plies. The harvest of France was one- third less in 1917 than 1916, and this year must be smaller still, owing to " lack of fertilizers, which cannot be supplied through shortage of ship- ping. , The world's decrease in live stock, as compared to 1913, is approximate- ly 115,000,000, head. , rHerbert Hoover Says: "Our European Allies are dependent upon us for greater quantities of food than we have ever before exported. They are the first line of our defence. - Our money, our ships, our life blood, and not least of all, OUR FOOD supply, must be of a common stock. "In pre-war times, Britain, France, Italy and Belgium yearly imported more than 750,000,000 bushels of grain, plus vast quantities of meats and fats. "The submarine destruction of shipping has made it necessary to abandon the hope of bringing food from South Amer- ica, Australasia and India. "Food must, there- fore, be shipped from Canada and the United States — the nearest and. safest. - route. "Canadian and United States sup- plies are normally 350,000,000 bushels short of the ' Allied needs. By greater production and con- servation Canada and the United States must combine -- to increase the ex- port of grain by, 150,000,000 bushels. " The remaining shortage of 200,000,- 000 bushels must be overcome by greater reduction in con- sumption in the al- lied countries. And this is being done by Britain, France and Italy rationing her people. "From two and -a half years of contact'' with the German Army I have come out of the horror with the complete conviction that auto- cracy is a political. faith and a . system that " directly endan- gers and jeopardizes the future of our race -that threatens our very independence. It has, however; been able to com- mand complete in- spiration of devotion a n d self - sacrifice in its people to the interest of their na- tion. The German farmer, in the name of the Fatherland, supports a nation two- thirds as large as the United States and threatens to subject the world from an area one-half the. size of Ontario. "My vision of War is not of an aca- demic'problem to be solved by discussion. To me it isa vision of brave, dying men and suffering women and children, for service on whose behalf the greater exer- tion of the Allies'- farmers comes in a direct necessity and a direct plea, The Canadian and the United States citizen who sees war as I see' it needs no in- ducement and , no inspiration but the thought that every spade full of earth turned and every animal reared is les- sening human suffering and guaranteeing the liberty of the world." bone, are proudly paying the price and sharing with France and Italy their lim- ited stock of food. For in this there is mighty pride, a conscious measuring of their glory with the best traditions of ancient Sparta, and of Imperial Rome, for Britons know that upon thein rests the burden, of saving humanity. The story of their service shall ring and echo for- ever along the hilltops of history. To Send More Food to Our Allies is Not Charity It is war. The Allies have a right to demand it. They have a right to resent the offer of only what is "left over." Those who are fighting the common battle for civilization and for, our protec- tion have a higher claim than had Laz- arus, to only the "crumbs that fall from the rich man's table." The Canadian people' must recognize that our Allies have the first claim on our food supplies. As the ..shipping situation makes the Allies dependent upon the North Ameri- can continent for food, it is vitally neces- sary that Canada should increase her pro- duction of food in order to take a larger part in providing for the Allies' require- ments. This is es- pecially urgent as the maintenance of a large United States Army in the Euro- pean -field will cause a very heavy drain on that country's re - The he this pry laill's i r art Edeyis Without ;,ore • farm labors r more food cal not be -- produced. •' If you really want to serve your Country in a big, practical - way, register now for farm -labour, or urge and assist your male employees to . do so. Lloyd George's Warning "I fear the disciplined people behind the German Army, the rationed family and the determination of wife and sister and daughter and mother to stand and starve—so that their fighting inen may be fed•—I fear it more than- the Imperial German Army itself:" Britain is now on L+'ood Rations. France is ,now on Food Rations. Italy is on the verge of starvation. Only continuous support from us'can enable us to 'Bald out. Only with a disciplined people behind canwe hope to win. The rationed British 'Nation, blood of bur blood, bone Of our While with despoils, wit parleys. sources. Ther': must /be no peace without vic- tory. For nearly four years Germany has been struggling against the powers of law and order. She has failed so far ' to make good her es- cape with her booty by superior strength and skill. And now she is attempting by intrigue, suggestion, device and propa- ,'ganda to divert the attention of her an- .-tagonists from the struggle itself, and -. thus to gain her ends by relaxing the strength and skill of her antagonists. What she can ,gain from these tactics. is plain to all the world in the sorrowful ex-• perience of Russia. Germany's mo s t dangerous weapon is not her Zeppelin— that is obsolete. Not her submarine—th`at can be overcome. Not her machine -like army -that has been repeatedly hurled back by the living armies of freemen. Her most dangerous weapon is her prop- aganda of peace. 1 er hands she murders and h hervoice she invites to When Liberty is in Peril There is Thereat of Lasting Disaster in the Very Word eace" Lord Leverhulme, long known in Can- ada as Sir William Lever, who knows well the German mind, in a recent inter- view stated: "You will never be able to dictate terms -to Germany till she is beaten. The argument you mention' is founded on the dangerous -fallacy that because "ss Germany is sick of this war she is sick of war in general. She isn't. I doubt if hers Government is even sick of this war. You've read the speech of that old brig- , and, Hertling: Is there any sign of re- pentance in that speech? Is it a chas- tened speech? Is it the speech of, a statesman who wants disarmament and a league of nations? No! Germany is back in her mood of 1914. She'believes she is winning the war: She believes she has won now. And if we talk of peace to her she HAS won it. Why, it would be better a thousand times that every man in England . -should be dead than that Germany should issue from this war with .the feeling of a conqueror. You hear people use the phrase, 'to the last man, and the last shilling,' and you think it is only a bit of rhetoric, but to. any mind it's the most solemn and abso- lute truth. I mean when I say it that it would in very truth be a million times better for the people of these islands to" be dead; every one of them, rather than live on as the serfs of a triumphant Prussia." How can any lover of liberty remain insensible to this peril? Food means Victory and the world made safe for democracy— Lack of food means disaster and sub- jugation to Germany. .: The Citizens of Ontario Must Lead This Mighty Crusade for Greater Food Production They.: did it last year and will do it again. As the greatest food -producing Prov- ince, Ontario must maintain her leader- ship in America. Great are our oppor- tunities—sour responsibility is tremen dons. Upon every man and woman, boy and girl, rests a' personal obligation to serve. Every pound of food produced, in what- ever form, is a contribution to the Cause of Freedom. - Ontario farmers should sow 500,000 acres of spring wheat. Every Ontario farmer whose land is at all suitable should put an extra fi-.e acres into wheat, even at the expense of another crop. What YOU Can To Help Do At all costs production must be main- tained. That's why farmers and farmers' sons are being exempted from military service. Working on a 'farm is equivalent to ser- vice in the Second Line Trenches. To enable the farm to. do the work two factors are essential. The first is Time. Whatever we are to do 'Must be done at once. Nature 'waits for no man. The second is Labor. Many farmers cannot plant the acres they would because they cannot get the necessary help Many are afraid to' increase their acreage because they tear -they would not be able to cults site and harvest an unusual crop after they had raised it. The burden is- not one to be placed solely upon the farmer. -Neither can it be placed- upon the townsman. 'It is a personal obligation- upon every man, woman, boy' and girl, in every farm, town and city home in the Province of Ontario. AWAY WITH CRITICISM,- CO- OPERATE! Mr. City Man, don't say that the farmer should do so-and-so, and thus allow criticism in this hour of our Nation's peril to cripple your effort. Mr. Farmer, don't hastily underesti- mate the value the city man can be to - you. GET TOGETHER, IN THE FIGHT FOR LIBERTY Let us not lament what MIGHT be, but earnestly face what'\MUST be. Fifteen thousand boys between thee ages of fifteen and nineteen must be or- ganized as "Soldiers of the Soil" towork on Ontario farms this :season. Farmers Can get one or more of these boys by applying to the District Repre- sentatives or to 'the Public Employment Bureaux at Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton. or London. Unmarried men, exempted from mili- tary service,` are urged to take up farm work. Married men who have had pre- vious experience' on a farm are urged to resume farm .wort:; for a season, Em- ployers of labor are asked to assist men to take up farm work. We urge the farmer and the towns- - - inen to get together for greater ‘produc- tion in the interests of a free people' and democracy. Let the Organization of Resources Committee, your District Representatives of the' Public Employment Bureaux act . as your intermediaries. •. When we leave, done our best, the cry -for food cannot be wholly met:-.., roe the rest—our Allies are tightening their belts; Orgp saization of Resources Committee , Parliament Buildinis, Toronto, Ont. CHAIRMAN: His Honor Sir ,john S. Hendrie, IC. C.M.G., C,V.O., Lieutenant Governor of'Ontario. 'VICE-CITAIR- MEN: Honorable Sir William H. Iearst, K.C,M.G., "Prime Minister' of , Ontario; William Proudfoot, Esq., K.C., Leader of the Opposition. SECRETARY: Albert II, Abbott, Esq., PhD, The only thing that Balks German at hitio>n Is the Battle . Line in France -.and -tile British Navy �. a ` The ,,only thing -that sustains our men on land and sea is Food