Letter from John Paul Lucas to the Ministers of North Carolina, May 1917

NORTH CAROLINA FOOD CONSERVATION COMMISSION
RALEIGH, N.C.

May

To the Ministers of North Carolina;

Gentlemen:

It is your good fortune to be closer to the people of our State than any other class of men. I am confident that every minister of the Gospel in North Carolina has the physical and material, as well as the spiritual welfare of his people at heart. I don’t believe a man can be a Christian and not be a patriot and a good citizen. I believe that in our National crisis, it will be very largely the members of our churches who will preserve the liberty and civilization of our Nation or the World.

Now, all of us can’t shoulder a musket, but we can all “do our bit” at home. According to President Wilson and our other authorities at Washington the man who does his full duty to his country at home will do no less toward winning victory than those who go to the front.

In the congregation of practically every church in North Carolina there are farmers or landowners. Will you not aid in the campaign we are prosecuting to save our people from distress and hunger by urging upon these from your pulpit and in your daily association with them that they, as greatly as possible, increase their acreage of food and feedstuffs: 1st, by cutting down their acreage of cotton and tobacco, and 2nd, by putting into cultivation every foot of land they can properly tend? Also that they increase their production per acre by more careful and thorough preparation of the soil and cultivation of the crop, and by heavier fertilization.

Of equal importance with the matter of increasing our production of foodstuffs is that of saving and utilizing to the best possible advantage that which we have grown or shall grow. The waste of foodstuffs in the kitchens and households of this country has been conservatively estimated at $700,000,000 per year. At present prices it would probably be $1,500,000,000. The greater part of this waste is preventable. This tremendous aggregate is made of bread, bits of meat, fat, vegetables, fruits, and other wholesome foods that are allowed to spoil, or are thrown away because they are in such small bits that they are apparently “not worth bothering with”. It is our patriotic duty, regardless of our material wealth, to put an end to this waste. The bread or meat that your wealthy parishoner wastes now may cause your less fortunate parishoners to want a few months hence.

There are many ways in which our ministers may very effectively serve their State and Nation now, and this letter is written more to put the facts before you than to point out to you your opportunity for real service, because I believe that few ministers in North Carolina have not already seen this opportunity and duty and are doing their part toward getting our people to realize the seriousness of the situation which confronts us. When one considers that our State last year imported food and feedstuffs to the value of $90,000,000 from other sections, which supplies will absolutely not be available for us this year, he can begin to realize what a gigantic task we have to perform this year if we are to save our people from want and suffering.

With confidence that our Nation and State can rely upon its religious leaders to do their full part in this time of urgent need and danger, I am

Very truly yours,

NORTH CAROLINA FOOD CONSERVATION COMMISSION,
By John Paul Lucas
Executive Secretary.