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CHAPTER XIV
CONSERVING THE GARDEN SURPLUS
How Housewives Turned Their Reserves into Preserves
From the governments of the Entente Allies and the associated nations, whose
territory girdled the earth, came the cry for conservation. There was need for
this cry. Never in the world's history was material of all kinds used up in such
quantities. More than once, in a three-hour preparation for a short advance, a
greater number of shells had to be employed than were fired in the entire
Franco-Prussian War. Shells are but a type. Everything was used in unheard-of
quantities. This was particularly true of food, the basic material upon which
the entire structure of victory rested. Speedily it became apparent that
everything possible must be saved––old cartridge cases, old shoes, old shells,
old clothes, old materials of every sort––and particularly food. This was
especially true of food because material like old shoes or old shells could be
used repeatedly; but food once eaten was gone forever. As the world's food
supply became more inadequate the cry for conservation grew more and more
insistent.
"Turn your reserves into preserves!" became the order of
the day among the women all over the country. With this as their slogan they
made ready by the million to build up a second line of defense which would serve
as an effective bulwark against the enemy. The call to make "Every Garden a
Munition Plant" was supplemented by the women with the motto: "Every Kitchen a
Canning Factory." Every facility that could be found was utilized to carry on
this effort. Women's clubs everywhere urged upon their members and others the
importance of this work. Community kitchens were opened for the convenience and
assistance of those who did not have the means or the time, at home, to preserve
all the vegetables grown in their gardens.
It was necessary that a certain amount of information
concerning new and scientific methods of canning be furnished with the appeals
made to women to proceed with the work, so the National War Garden Commission
furnished precise and practical instructions. This it did in a number of ways. A
comprehensive but concise canning and drying book was prepared by scientific
experts and printed by the Commission for free distribution. Several million
copies of this manual were given out during the first season of the garden
campaign; and an equal number of the improved and revised editions which were
issued in 1918 and 1919. These went to hundreds of thousands of individuals who
applied for them, to libraries, local canning clubs and committees, chambers of
commerce, and other trade bodies, banks, and manufacturing concerns, schools,
hundreds of emergency home demonstration agents of the United States Department
of Agriculture, and to state, county, and city food administrators.
 A
PRIZE-WINNING EXHIBIT
At the big war-garden exposition held in Rochester, New York, the blue ribbon
for best canned vegetables went to the display shown there by the Eastman Kodak
Company whose employes had gone into the work of home food production and food
conservation most enthusiastically. Mrs. Tillie Baldwin who carried off the
company's first prize with her canned vegetables and fruits was also awarded a
National Capital Prize Certificate by the National War Garden Commission.
A series of canning lessons was prepared by the
Commission's experts. These were supplied to the newspapers of the country,
hundreds of which ran them as daily instructions. With many of them
illustrations were used, showing the various steps in the cold-pack method of
canning, and giving other educational hints in pictorial form so as to attract
the eye of the home food conserver and make the work plainer. News stories
telling what was being done along this line in various sections of the country
were published in the daily press; and large numbers of feature articles were
written and widely circulated.
To arouse further interest in the work and to encourage the
best possible efforts, recognition was accorded by the National War Garden
Commission for excellence of product. This was in addition to local prizes and
awards and was in the form of National Capitol Prize Certificates which were
given to the blue-ribbon or first-prize winners at exhibits and fairs for the
best displays of canned vegetables from war gardens. With these certificates the
Commission gave money awards, the first year in cash, and the second year in
thrift stamps.
Many large manufacturing concerns which had extended aid to
the employés in planting gardens held fairs at which the products raised were
displayed and prizes awarded in the various classes. At a number of these the
Commission's certificate constituted the grand prize which went to the
sweepstakes-winner in the canned-vegetable class. Not only did hundreds of
industrial plants, large and small, provide land for their men, prepare it for
cultivation and divide it into small individual plots, but they also made
arrangements for the wives of their workers to can their surplus products in
kitchens set apart for the purpose and with capable instructors placed in charge
to show the women how to obtain the best results.
The appeal to the women of the United States to "Back Up
the Cannon with the Canner" met with loyal response. Testimony has been given by
prominent officials, governmental, military, and civil that the war could not
have been won without the aid of the women. They took places left vacant by men
in munition factories, on the farms, and in a hundred other activities. It will
never be possible to estimate accurately the extent to which they made victory a
certainty. But to no class of women is there due a greater need of praise than to
the silent millions all over the country who helped save food. While their
sisters were working in munition factories, these women in countless numbers
were packing away "ammunition" in jars so that the boys in France might always
have a supply. Soon after he landed in France, General Pershing sent a message
to America. It said: "Keep the Food Coming." The women of the country obeyed the
order. With ladles and spoons instead of bayonets, with wash-boilers in place of
tanks, and with cans and jars as their weapons instead of hand-grenades and
bombs, they performed valiant service.
They made a fine start in 1917 when, from the surplus
products of the millions of war gardens, they preserved something like
500,000,000 quart jars of vegetables and fruits. In the following season they
far surpassed their previous record and, according to estimates, stowed away
approximately 1,450,000,000 quart jars of garden produce.
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