World War I Food and Two Thousand Questions

You know what to do if you have a question. "Google" it! Today, most of us skip the encyclopedia or the exhaustive research in a library to get our questions answered. Pre-Internet folks (including us) use to go to the library or  seek advice from an expert (we actually still should use these techniques but I'm trying to make a point). 

If you were living in 1918, what would you do to learn more about all aspects of life during World War I? Many people got their facts from Q+A newspaper columns and books like the one below, available from Internet Archive, titled Two Thousand Questions and Answers about the War; A Catechism of the Methods of Fighting, Travelling and Living; of the Armies, Navies and Air Fleets; of the Personalities, Politics and Geography of the Warring Countries by Julius Washington Muller (1918).

Aimed at Americans, there are all kinds of great facts about The Great War in here. Maps and details about all aspects of the War fill this volume.

Oh, and there is food.

You can read the food pages below (book is opened to the America's Food section) but to just give you a taste of what's in this chapter consider the following Q + A.


Q.--What are "Farm Loans"?
A.-To relieve farmers from the high interest charges levied by private interests when they need loans, a Federal Farm Loan Act was passed in 1916. It established 12 Federal Land Banks and these banks lend money to the farmers on security which is provided as follows: in any place farmers may form a farm loan association and this association can go to a Federal Loan Bank and obtain loans on mortgages laid on the farm property. These loans may fund from 5 to 40 years and are at 6 per cent or less. The Federal Farm Loan Banks get their funds by selling to the investing public bonds secured by mortgages.

The next question asks about this program's success and the answer states that by 1918 more than 51,000 farmers had obtained loans averaging $2,200 each (maybe one  of these farmers was your ancestor).

While wheat and food exported to feed allies is the main topic there is a few questions about food prices during the War compared to those during the American Civil War.

A follow up to a question about food price comparisons asks:

Q.--What caused the higher prices in Civil War days?
A.-The enormous increases in prices during Civil War days were almost entirely due to the speculative operations and the inflation of the currency and depreciation of the dollar. No stain was attached to persons who made money out of food speculations in those days. It is also happily true that higher political and commercial ideals by American business men to-day made possible the United States Food Administration which induced business men to voluntarily keep prices down without legal compulsion.

This answer is actually more complex that what is given in the book but that can be further explored with period newspapers and food history research.

The previous chapter of this book focuses on the food situation in Europe including alcohol consumption. You can read about the outlawing of certain alcoholic beverages and about overall "drunkenness" in England.

What to learn more about the history of a time period? Always read books written during that time period. I have no doubt that this book contains errors but it's a good start to learning more about World War I food history.