ent promotions in the Regular Army
will continue to be made as prescribed by law.

CHAPTER XXXIV

HOW FOOD WON THE WAR

Food won the war. Without the American farmer the Entente Allies must
have capitulated. Wheat, beef, corn, foods of every variety,
hermetically sealed in tins, were thrown into the scales on the side of
the Entente Allies in sufficient quantities to tip the balance toward
the side of civilization and against autocracy. Late in the fall of 1918
when victory was assured to America and the Allies, there was received
this message of appreciation from General Pershing to the farmers of
America, through Carl Vrooman, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture:

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES,
Office of the Commander-in-Chief, France,
October 16, 1918.
Honorable CARL VROOMAN, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture:
DEAR MR. VROOMAN:--Will you please convey to farmers of America our
profound appreciation of their patriotic services to the country and to
the Allied armies in the field. They have furnished their full quota of
fighting men; they have bought largely of Liberty Bonds; and they have
increased their production of food crops both last year and this by over
a thousand million bushels above normal production. Food is of vital
military necessity for us and for our Allies, and from the day of our
entry into the war America's armies of food producers have rendered
invaluable service to the Allied cause by supporting the soldiers at the
front through their devoted and splendidly successful work in the fields
and furrows at home.
Very sincerely,
JOHN J. PERSHING.

This tribute to the men and women on the farms of America from the head
of the American forces in France is fit recognition of the important
part played by American food producers in the war. It was early
recognized by all the belligerent powers that final victory was a
question of national morale and national endurance. Morale could not be
maintained without food. The bread lines in Petrograd gave birth to the
revolution, and Russian famine was the mother of Russian terrorism.
German men and women, starved of fats and sweets, deteriorated so
rapidly that the crime ratio both in towns and country districts mounted
appallingly. Conditions in Austria-Hungary were even worse. Acute
distress arising from threatening famine was instrumental in driving
Bulgaria out of the war. The whole of Central Europe indeed was in the
shadow of famine and the masse