"The importance to the nation of a generously adequate food supply for the coming year cannot be overemphasized, in view of the economic problems which may arise as a result of the entrance of the United States into the war"
About this Quote
“The importance...cannot be overemphasized” is the sound of a government trying to make logistics feel like patriotism. David F. Houston, a cabinet-level politician who served as Secretary of Agriculture during World War I, isn’t selling romance or glory; he’s selling calories. The sentence is built like a memo, but its real purpose is emotional: to convert an abstract, faraway war into a domestic mandate that reaches every kitchen, farm, and grocery ledger.
The specific intent is mobilization. Houston is preempting panic and scarcity by framing food supply as national security. “Generously adequate” does double duty: it’s reassurance (we can have enough) and pressure (enough is not enough; surplus is the goal). That phrasing quietly drafts farmers, distributors, and households into wartime service without using the word “rationing,” which would sound like deprivation and political risk.
The subtext is an admission that war doesn’t just kill on battlefields; it destabilizes prices, labor, transportation, and public confidence. “Economic problems which may arise” is polite language for inflation, shortages, strikes, and unrest - the kind of domestic turbulence that can undermine a war effort faster than enemy fire. By linking food to “the nation,” Houston folds private consumption into public duty, implying that wasting, hoarding, or failing to produce is not merely personal behavior but a threat to collective stability.
Context matters: America’s entry into WWI demanded rapid coordination across a modernizing economy. Houston’s rhetoric is managerial, but its stakes are existential: feed people, keep markets steady, and you keep the war machine - and the home front’s consent - from cracking.
The specific intent is mobilization. Houston is preempting panic and scarcity by framing food supply as national security. “Generously adequate” does double duty: it’s reassurance (we can have enough) and pressure (enough is not enough; surplus is the goal). That phrasing quietly drafts farmers, distributors, and households into wartime service without using the word “rationing,” which would sound like deprivation and political risk.
The subtext is an admission that war doesn’t just kill on battlefields; it destabilizes prices, labor, transportation, and public confidence. “Economic problems which may arise” is polite language for inflation, shortages, strikes, and unrest - the kind of domestic turbulence that can undermine a war effort faster than enemy fire. By linking food to “the nation,” Houston folds private consumption into public duty, implying that wasting, hoarding, or failing to produce is not merely personal behavior but a threat to collective stability.
Context matters: America’s entry into WWI demanded rapid coordination across a modernizing economy. Houston’s rhetoric is managerial, but its stakes are existential: feed people, keep markets steady, and you keep the war machine - and the home front’s consent - from cracking.
Quote Details
| Topic | War |
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