The importance of saving and thrift was early impressed on the children, not only through the thrift stamp and Liberty loan campaigns, but also through direct lessons on conserving food, clothing, and public and private property.

Many children planted and took care of war gardens, adding a total of many million dollars’ worth of food to the nation’s supply.  In connection with the gardens, a canning campaign was conducted which aimed at the conservation of perishable food that could not be consumed at once.

The schools rendered valuable service in doing Red Cross work.  Both boys and girls knit garments and comforts for our soldiers, and the girls made garments for the little children of France and Belgium who had been driven from their homes by the war.

RISE IN PRICES.—­When a country is at war the government must have what it needs, 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.