quickly and at any price. The price situation is made
worse if for any reason there happens to be a scarcity of a given
article. When the government wants a great quantity of ammunition for
which it is willing to pay a high price, the manufacturer, desiring to
obtain an increased number of workmen quickly, offers unusually high
pay. This attracts workmen from other industries, and the latter offer
still higher pay to retain their workmen. In this way, wages rapidly go
up and things that have to be produced with labor, like coal, or houses,
or ships, rise enormously in cost. The farmer, too, has to pay more for
his help. In order to induce the farmers to plant more wheat, the
government fixed a high price for it. This helped to make flour
expensive. Many fishermen went into the navy, or into factories where
they could get high wages. If they kept on fishing, they thought they
ought to make as much money as the men who had given up fishing and gone
to make guns and build ships.

Perhaps the biggest reason for high prices is the actual scarcity of
many things. Many of the men who do the work of producing are at war.
They are using food and clothing much faster than if they were not
soldiers. A soldier needs about twice as much food, and wears out eight
times as many pairs of shoes, as he did when he was at home. From these
facts it is easy to see why prices are high during the war.

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS IN 1917.--- As a result of our unwillingness, before
1917, to face the fact that we might sometime be involved in war, the
tremendous amount of preparation described in this chapter had to be
done in a few months, or even in a few weeks. When things have to be
done in such a great hurry, missteps are often made and unfortunate
delays result.

In spite of all difficulties, however, the United States had, at the end
of 1917, two hundred and fifty thousand troops in France and a million
and a half in training camps. Guns, rifles, clothing, shoes, food, and
other necessary supplies were being produced in sufficient quantities.
On the other side of the Atlantic, our engineers and railroad men were
busy constructing docks, warehouses, and miles of railroad for the
purpose of providing bases of supplies for our soldiers in France. Much
of the equipment of these railroads and docks cars, locomotives, and
unloading machinery--had been brought from America.

MORE SOLDIERS SENT TO FRANCE.--As the troops in the various camps and
canton