to be registered or not, to see to it that
the name of every male person of the designated ages is written on
these lists of honor.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this 18th day of May, in the year of
our Lord, 1917, and of the independence of the United States of
America the one hundred and forty-first.

By the President:

ROBERT LANSING, Secretary of State.

VI

CONSERVING THE NATION'S FOOD

(_May 19, 1917_)

It is very desirable, in order to prevent misunderstanding or alarms
and to assure co-operation in a vital matter, that the country should
understand exactly the scope and purpose of the very great powers
which I have thought it necessary, in the circumstances, to ask the
Congress to put in my hands with regard to our food-supplies.

Those powers are very great, indeed, but they are no greater than it
has proved necessary to lodge in the other Governments which are
conducting this momentous war, and their object is stimulation and
conservation, not arbitrary restraint or injurious interference with
the normal processes of production. They are intended to benefit and
assist the farmer and all those who play a legitimate part in the
preparation, distribution and marketing of foodstuffs.

A SHARP LINE OF DISTINCTION

It is proposed to draw a sharp line of distinction between the normal
activities of the Government, represented in the Department of
Agriculture, in reference to food production, conservation and
marketing, on the one hand, and the emergency activities necessitated
by the war, in reference to the regulation of food distribution and
consumption, on the other.

All measures intended directly to extend the normal activities of the
Department of Agriculture, in reference to the production,
conservation and the marketing of farm crops, will be administered,
as in normal times, through that department; and the powers asked for
over distribution and consumption, over exports, imports, prices,
purchase and requisition of commodities, storing and the like, which
may require regulation during the war, will be placed in the hands of
a Commissioner of Food Administration, appointed by the President and
directly responsible to him.

THE END TO BE ATTAINED

The objects sought to be served by the legislation asked for are:
Full inquiry into the existing available stocks of foods