G, TUESDAY, MARCH. 26, 1918. BE -- {3 gs ii seh yes ---- t Lack of Foo | --Threatens the Battle Line | "The food wanted by man- kind does not exist. The word 'shortage' is not strong enough. The whole world is up against a nasty thing, familiar lo the people of India, called 'famine.'" ~Lord Rhondda, Britain's Food Controller. ONTARIO One year 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 Allies can be fed. If that erop is not sufficient the Allies may have fo accept a German peace. That Battle-Line in France and Flanders Must Not Want Do you realize what a German Peace would mean to Canada? Germany covels our natural resources --our agricultural and mineral wealth, our forests, our fisheries, everything that is Canada's. Germany won't be satisfied with Euro- ling factions and depieted natural resources. She 'wants colonles--big, thinly-populated couniries in temperate zones for her sens and daughters to go to propagate their kind. The Kaiser would sacrifice millions of Ger- 'mans to-morrow if he thought that by so doing he could set foot on Canada's shores as Con- queror. And what's more, the Germans would offer themselves for the sacrifice, so great is their sub- jection to the military ideal. The only thing that balks German ambition is that battle line from the North Sea to Switzer- land--and the British Navy. | The. Only Thing That, Sustain Our Th he and Sea--Is Food What: ¥re we, each one of us, prepared to do to insure that Food supply ? Germany, by her submarine campaign, has séen that great Armada, the. British Mercantile Marine, shtink in volume. : 'Germany has seen South America, Austra- lia, New Zealand, India and far away outposts of the Empire practically cut off from supplying food to the Motherland because of the lack. of v Foriy million Allied men and women having been put on war work, food production has dan- gerously decreased in Europe. These forty million consume more food than there are fewer men for farming. Hence an in- 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 supplied Aetoughs shortact of shipping. ~ ip ! ay were in ordinary occupations, and, The world's decrease in live stock, as com- pared td" 1913, is approximately 115,000,000 _ head, Herbert 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 mare than 750,000,- 000 bushels of grain, plus vast quantities of meats ard fats. "The submarine destruction of shipping has made it necessary to abandon the hope of bring- ing food from South America, Australasia and India. "Food must, therefore, be shipped from Canada and the United States--the nearest and safest route. "Canadian and United States supplies are normally 350,000,000 bushels short of the Al- lied needs. By greater production and conserva- tion Canada and the United States 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 them rests the burden of saving humanity. The story of their service shall ring and echo for- ever along the hill tops 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 pro- tection have a higher claim than had Lazarus, 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 pur food supplies. As the shipping situation. makes the Allies dependent upon the North American continent for food, it is vitally necessary that Canada should increase her production of food in order to take a larger part in providing for the Allies' requirements. This is especially- urgent as the maintenance of a large United States army in the European field will cause a must combine to increase the ex- port of grain by 150,000,000 bushels. "The remain- ing shortage of 200,000,000 bushels must be overcome by greater reduction in consumption in the allied coun- tries. And this is being dome by Britain; France and Italy ration- ing their people. "From two and a half years of contact with the German Army l have come out of the horror with the The Heart of This Problem is Labour Without More Farm Labour More Food Cannot be Produced If you really. want to serve your Country in a big practical way, register now for. farm labour, or urge or assist your male employees to do so. very heavy drain on that country's food resources. There must be no peace without victory. For nearly four - years Ger- many has been struggling against the pow- ers of law and or- der. She has fail- ed so far to make good her escape with her booty by superior strength and skill And now she is at tempting by in- trigue, = sugges- tion, device and propaganda to di- of her antagon- complete convic- CS tion that autocracy is a political faith and a sys- tem that directly endangers and jeopardizes the future of our race--that threatens our very in- dependence. It has, however, been able to com- mand a. complete inspiration of devotion and self-sacrifice in its people to the interest of their nation.. The German Lindy 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 academic problem to be solved by discussion. To me it is a vision of brave, dying men and suffering wo- men and children, for service on whose behalf the greater exertion of the Allies' farmers comes as a direct necessity and a direct plea. The Can- adian and the United States citizen who sees war as I see it, needs no inducement and no inspira- tion but the thought that every spade full of earth turned, and every animal reared is lessen- ing human suffering and guaranteeing the lib- erty of the world." 3 ination of wife and sister and ¢ and ing men may --I fear it more than the - Britain is now on-Food Rations. France is now on Food Rations. Italy is on the verge of starvation. Only con- , bone of our bone, are proud- . ly paying the price and sharing with France an: aly thelr limited stock of food, For n this ther ists from the struggle itself, and thus to gain her ends by re- « laxing the strength and skill of her antagonists. What she can gain from these tactics is plain' to all the world in the sorrowful experience of Russia. Germany's most dangerous weapon is not her Zeppelin--that is obsolete. Not her sibma- rine--that 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 propaganda of peace. While with her hands she' murders and de- spoils, with her voice she invites to parleys. | When Liberty is in Peril There is ing Disaster in ery Word "Peace" Lord Leverhulme, long known in Canada as Sir William Lever, who knows well the German mind, in a recent interview stated: will never be able to dictate terms to : is even sick of this vert the attention solemn and absolute truth. | mean when I say it that it would in very truth be a million times better for the people of these islands to every one of them, rather than live on as the serfs of a triumphant Prussia." > How can any lover of liberty remain insen- sible to this peril? means Victory and the world made safe for democracy-- 3 Lack of food means disaster and subjugation to Germany. Lead, This Mighty Crusade for Greater Food Production: They did it last year and will do it again. As the greatest food-producing Province, Ontario must maintain her leadership in Ameri- ca, Great are our opportunities--our responsi- bility is tremendous. Upon every 'man and woman, boy and gil, rests a personal obligation to serve. Every pound of food produced, in whatever 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 . five acres into wheat, even at the expense of another crop. What YOU Can Do to Help, | At all costs production must be maintained. That's why - farmers and farmers' sons are being exempted from military service. Works on a farm is equivalent to service in the Line Trenches. 4 To enable the farmer to do the work two fac- tors are essential. The first is Time. Whatev: we are to do must be done at once. Nature w for no man. The sécond is Labor. Many farm: cannot plant the acres they would because th cannot get the necessary help. Many are afrs to increase their acreage because they fear would not be able to cultivate and harvest an.up- usual crop after they had raised it. or solely The. burden is not one to be placed ; 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 Ontari AWAY WITH CRITICISM--CO- OPER- ATE! 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 under-estimate 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 the ages of fifteen and nineteen must be organized as "Sol- diers of the Soil" to work on Ontario farms this season. Farmers can get one or more of these boys } by applying to their District Representatives or to the Public Employment Bureaux at Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton or London. Unmarried men, exempted from military service, are urged to take up farm work. Mar- ried men who have had previous experience on a farm are urged to resume farm work for a sea- son. Employers of labor are asked to assist men to take up farm work. Sdn We Sige the farmers and the townie to get together er for greater uction in the inter ts of » freq people. and a , : the Organiza tion of Resaurces i tes, your District Representatives or t Employment Bureaux ne aries. Bhi When we have done our best, the cry for food cannot be wholly met. er _ the rest--our Allies are tightening thes - > be PEP A a hs ne. 8 sro rr ms - IR he om rp ---- a ot ------