Herbert Hoover to Woodrow Wilson
Title
Herbert Hoover to Woodrow Wilson
Creator
Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964
Identifier
WWP19460
Date
1918 July 11
Description
Herbert Hoover reports to Woodrow Wilson on the amount of foodstuffs shipped from the United States to the Allied countries during the last fiscal year.
Source
Hoover-Wilson Correspondence, Hoover Institution, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford, California
Publisher
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum
Subject
United States Food Administration
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924--Correspondence
Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964--Correspondence
Relation
WWP19462
Language
English
Text
Dear Mr. President
It is now possible to summarize the shipments of foodstuffs from the United States to the Allied countries during the fiscal Year just closed – practically the last harvest year. These amounts include all shipments to Allied countries for their and our armies, the civilian population, the Belgian Relief and Red Cross. The figures indicate the measure of effort of the American people in support of Allied food supplies.
The total value of these food shipments which were in the main purchased through, or with the collaboration of, the Food Administration, amount to, roundly, $1,400,000,000 during the fiscal year.
The shipments of meats and fats (includes meat products, dairy products, vegetable oils, etc.,) to Allied destinations were as follows:
Fiscal year
1916-1917.........................2,166,500,000 lbs.
Fiscal year
1917-1918.........................3,011,100,000 lbs.
Increase ............................844,600,000 lbs.
Our slaughterable animals at the beginning of the last fiscal year were not appreciably larger than the year before and particularly in hogs; they were probably less. The increase in shipments is due to conservation and the extra weight of animals added by our farmers. The full effect of these efforts began to bear their best results in the last half of the fiscal year when the exports to the Allies were 2,133,100,000 pounds, as against 1,266,500,000 pounds in the same period of the year before. This compares with an average of 801,000,000 pounds of total exports for the same half years in the three-year pre-war period.
In cereals and cereal products reduced to terms of cereal bushels, our shipments to Allied destinations have been.–
Fiscal year
1916-1917.........................259,900,000 bushels
Fiscal year
1917-1918.........................340,800,000 "
Increase ............................ 80,900,000 "
Of these cereals our shipments of the prime breadstuffs in the fiscal year 1917-18 to Allied destinations were, wheat 131,000,000 bushels, and of rye 13,900,000 bushels, a total of 144,900,000 bushels.
The exports to Allied destinations during the fiscal year 1916-17 were, wheat 135,100,000 bushels and rye 2,300,000 bushels, a total of 137,400,000 bushels. In addition, some 10,000,000 bushels of 1917 wheat are now in port for Allied destinations or en route thereto. The total shipments to Allied countries from our last harvest of wheat will be, therefore, about 141,000,000 bushels, or, a total of 154,900,000 bushels of prime breadstuffs. In addition to this we have shipped some 10,000,000 bushels to neutrals dependent upon us and we have received some imports from other quarters. A large part of the other cereals exported have also gone into war bread.
It is interesting to note that since the urgent request of the Allied Food Controllers early in the year for a further shipment of 75,000,000 bushels from our 1917 wheat than originally planned, we shall have shipped to Europe or have en route, nearly 85,000,000 bushels. At the time of this request our surplus was already more than exhausted. This accomplishment of our people in this matter stands out even more clearly if we bear in mind that we had available in the fiscal year 1916-17 from net carry-over and as surplus over our normal consumption about 200,000,000 bushels of wheat which we were able to export that year without trenching on our home loaf. This last year, however, owing to the large failure of the 1917 wheat crop, we had available from net carry-over and production and imports, only just about our normal consumption. Therefore our wheat shipments to Allied destinations represent approximately savings from our own wheat bread.
These figures, however, do not fully convey the volume of the effort and sacrifice made during the past year by the whole American people. Despite the magnificent effort of our agricultural population in planting a much increased acreage in 1917, not only was there a very large failure in wheat but also, the corn failed to mature properly and our corn is our dominant crop. We calculate that the total nutritional production of the country for the fiscal year just closed was between 7% and 9% below the average of the three previous years, our nutritional surplus for export in those years being about the same amount as the shrinkage last year. Therefore the consumption and waste in food have been greatly reduced in every direction during the year.
I am sure that all the millions of our people, agricultural as well as urban, who have contributed to these results should feel a very definite satisfaction that in a year of universal food shortages in the northern hemisphere all of those people joined together against Germany have come through into sight of the coming harvest not only with health and strength fully maintained, but with only temporary periods of hardship. The European Allies have been compelled to sacrifice more than our own people but we have not failed to load every steamer since the delays of the storm months last winter. Our contributions to this end could not have been accomplished without effort and sacrifice and it is a matter for further satisfaction that it has been accomplished voluntarily and individually. It is difficult to distinguish between the various sections of our people – the homes, public eating places, food trades, urban or agricultural populations – in assessing credit for these results but no one will deny the dominant part of the American women.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) HERBERT HOOVER
It is now possible to summarize the shipments of foodstuffs from the United States to the Allied countries during the fiscal Year just closed – practically the last harvest year. These amounts include all shipments to Allied countries for their and our armies, the civilian population, the Belgian Relief and Red Cross. The figures indicate the measure of effort of the American people in support of Allied food supplies.
The total value of these food shipments which were in the main purchased through, or with the collaboration of, the Food Administration, amount to, roundly, $1,400,000,000 during the fiscal year.
The shipments of meats and fats (includes meat products, dairy products, vegetable oils, etc.,) to Allied destinations were as follows:
Fiscal year
1916-1917.........................2,166,500,000 lbs.
Fiscal year
1917-1918.........................3,011,100,000 lbs.
Increase ............................844,600,000 lbs.
Our slaughterable animals at the beginning of the last fiscal year were not appreciably larger than the year before and particularly in hogs; they were probably less. The increase in shipments is due to conservation and the extra weight of animals added by our farmers. The full effect of these efforts began to bear their best results in the last half of the fiscal year when the exports to the Allies were 2,133,100,000 pounds, as against 1,266,500,000 pounds in the same period of the year before. This compares with an average of 801,000,000 pounds of total exports for the same half years in the three-year pre-war period.
In cereals and cereal products reduced to terms of cereal bushels, our shipments to Allied destinations have been.–
Fiscal year
1916-1917.........................259,900,000 bushels
Fiscal year
1917-1918.........................340,800,000 "
Increase ............................ 80,900,000 "
Of these cereals our shipments of the prime breadstuffs in the fiscal year 1917-18 to Allied destinations were, wheat 131,000,000 bushels, and of rye 13,900,000 bushels, a total of 144,900,000 bushels.
The exports to Allied destinations during the fiscal year 1916-17 were, wheat 135,100,000 bushels and rye 2,300,000 bushels, a total of 137,400,000 bushels. In addition, some 10,000,000 bushels of 1917 wheat are now in port for Allied destinations or en route thereto. The total shipments to Allied countries from our last harvest of wheat will be, therefore, about 141,000,000 bushels, or, a total of 154,900,000 bushels of prime breadstuffs. In addition to this we have shipped some 10,000,000 bushels to neutrals dependent upon us and we have received some imports from other quarters. A large part of the other cereals exported have also gone into war bread.
It is interesting to note that since the urgent request of the Allied Food Controllers early in the year for a further shipment of 75,000,000 bushels from our 1917 wheat than originally planned, we shall have shipped to Europe or have en route, nearly 85,000,000 bushels. At the time of this request our surplus was already more than exhausted. This accomplishment of our people in this matter stands out even more clearly if we bear in mind that we had available in the fiscal year 1916-17 from net carry-over and as surplus over our normal consumption about 200,000,000 bushels of wheat which we were able to export that year without trenching on our home loaf. This last year, however, owing to the large failure of the 1917 wheat crop, we had available from net carry-over and production and imports, only just about our normal consumption. Therefore our wheat shipments to Allied destinations represent approximately savings from our own wheat bread.
These figures, however, do not fully convey the volume of the effort and sacrifice made during the past year by the whole American people. Despite the magnificent effort of our agricultural population in planting a much increased acreage in 1917, not only was there a very large failure in wheat but also, the corn failed to mature properly and our corn is our dominant crop. We calculate that the total nutritional production of the country for the fiscal year just closed was between 7% and 9% below the average of the three previous years, our nutritional surplus for export in those years being about the same amount as the shrinkage last year. Therefore the consumption and waste in food have been greatly reduced in every direction during the year.
I am sure that all the millions of our people, agricultural as well as urban, who have contributed to these results should feel a very definite satisfaction that in a year of universal food shortages in the northern hemisphere all of those people joined together against Germany have come through into sight of the coming harvest not only with health and strength fully maintained, but with only temporary periods of hardship. The European Allies have been compelled to sacrifice more than our own people but we have not failed to load every steamer since the delays of the storm months last winter. Our contributions to this end could not have been accomplished without effort and sacrifice and it is a matter for further satisfaction that it has been accomplished voluntarily and individually. It is difficult to distinguish between the various sections of our people – the homes, public eating places, food trades, urban or agricultural populations – in assessing credit for these results but no one will deny the dominant part of the American women.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) HERBERT HOOVER
Original Format
Letter
To
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
Files
Citation
Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964, “Herbert Hoover to Woodrow Wilson,” 1918 July 11, WWP19460, Hoover Institute at Stanford University Collection, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.