Our country's call to service through public and private schools; work--save--give; a summons and a plan of action for American boys, girls, parents

Front matter

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Preface

This little book is the outgrowth of efforts to supply pupils and parents with the information necessary to an understanding of some of our great national needs, and also to make clear to them that patriotism means unselfish service and sacrifices freely made, and that such deeds done at home in civil life are as patriotic as the heroic acts by soldiers in the death struggle for Democracy.

Early in this school year an attempt was made in the Des Moines Public Schools to accomplish these ends by supplying teachers with Government pamphlets, and lesson plans. This method, however, proved unsatisfactory because of the difficulty of securing and distributing the pamphlets, the confusion resulting from the inclusion in them of a large amount of technical subject matter, and the fact that the material was not in shape for classroom use. Then too it was not possible to interest the home in a collection of disconnected pamphlets. A single book for school and home seemed a necessity. The present volume is the outgrowth of this situation. It is prepared with the keynote : A recognition of one's personal obligation to his country ivhich ends in action.

Every school man feels now as never before that courses of study should not be fixed by tradition but must be determined hy the important present and future needs of our country. This book is therefore based upon the conviction that the traditional activities of the schools must yield to new and more vital demands by giving up part of the time formerly allotted to them. The author recommends that a daily period of not less than 10 to 20 minutes in the grades and an equivalent amount of time each week in the high school be set aside as a Service Period in which the activities suggested in this book may be discussed, planned, and, wherever possible, performed in the classroom. Those which cannot be done in the classroom should be followed up by the teachers, who after all are the most influential and therefore the most responsible agents for the development of good citizenship.

Such a period, holding as it should a definite place on the regular program of the school, and designed for the purpose of causing pupils to think and work intelligently and unselfishly for others will do much to develop among them a clear conception of the rapidly increasing interdependence of modern society. It will be more effective than any other period in bringing the boys and girls of today — the adult citizens of toinorrow — into a full realization of the fact that their destinies are unavoidably bound up with the fortunes of their fellows ; that their future happiness is as dependent upon the happiness of others as upon their own individual achievements. The result will be a conservation of resources, a stronger nation-wide morale, and the development of a determination to stand together and fight for Democracy to the end.

As stated above, the book has been prepared for the purpose of informing and influencing parents as well as pupils. It should, therefore, be used in as many grades as possible. In Des Moines each pupil from the kindergarten through the high school received a copy. In the lowest grades, where it can not be studied, teachers have a series of lessons on the content of the book, direct the cliildren's attention to some of the pictures while discussing certain points, ask the pupils to insert a book mark at a particular page, and request them to have their parents read up to that place in the evening. In addition to this procedure there are, of course, many other exercises in the form of dramatizations, dialogues, songs, etc., that add much enthusiasm as well as seriousness. In the intermediate and upper grades, and in the high school the pupils eagerly study the hook as a text; bring into the class discussion their own interpretations and experiences and information gleaned from available reference material ; make and compare the various records suggested; write patriotic compositions and plays; carry into the home and into general practice the suggestions in the book, etc. In ail grades the pupils are daily doing Red Cross work; buying Thrift Stamps and War Savings Stamps; discussing conservation, gardening, the value of economy, and the evil of waste.

Aside from the exercises definitely arranged for, the material on every page furnishes the basis for valuable discussion which may be so handled as to secure practical action among the pupils. For example the statement on page 18 "Breadstuffs are wasted by careless storing of cereals (insects destroy flour and meal)" will suggest such questions as these : What kind of flour or meal have you ever seen destroyed by careless storing? Where was it stored? What destroyed i#? How might it have been saved? etc. Again, on page 33 the ^fluestion is asked, "How many teaspoonfuls of sugar do you think you eat each day?" Extend this by asking several pupils individually to tell for each meal in the day how many teaspoonfuls they generally use. Ask them to estimate the amount used in pie, cake, jelly, ice cream, candy, etc., that they eat and add this to the total amount which they put in cereals, cocoa, coffee or tea, fruit, etc. Another illustration of these numerous opportunities is found on page 98 where reference is made to the lack of patriotism shown in purchasing luxuries and spending lavishly on clothing. All through this section on Thrift, as elsewhere in the book, the teacher should capitalize the opportunity to impress the value of the simple life, the dignity of honest labor, and the evil of extravagance and idleness.

The author is deeply grateful for the generous help received from many people and organizations. He is especially indebted to the Committee on Public Information, the American Red Cross, the United States Food Administration, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the War Savings Committee for pictures and material; to the American Red Cross for pictures used in Part V ; to Laura Moulton, Gertrude Murphy, Emma Bradley, Clara Funston, Anna Stohlgren, Frances Umpleby, and Laura Mathews, elementary school principals in Des Moines, Iowa, for the preparation and criticism of much of the material on food conservation; to Dr. E. G. Cooley, Director Junior Red Cross for the Central Division, for his helpful suggestions ; to L. P. Benezet, Superintendent of Schools, Evansville, Indiana, for the preparation of the section on the Junior Red Cross ; and to Mr. Seth Shepard, Country Life Director, Cook County, Illinois, for material furnished for the section on the Home Garden.

J. W. STUDEBAKER,

Contents

Page Pbeface 3

A Catechism of Service 7

A Call from the U. S. Food Administration 8

Part Six — What Is Democracy ? 117 Bibliography of Bulletins for Further Study or Reference 123

Index 127

A PLACE FOR ALL IN THE ARMY OF SERVICE The soldier and the sailor serve by fighting for Democracy. The doctor and the nurse serve by caring for the wounded.

The miner, the mechanic, and the farmer serve by supplying coal, ships, munitions, food, etc., for carrying on the war.

The business and the professional man, in fact all of us, serve

by supplying money.

The housekeeper and the cook serve by saving food and fuel.

The teacher serves by training boys and girls to become good citizens.

Every patriotic American can serve by being loyal — by working, saving, giving.

How can every hoy and girl join the ranks of the great Amencan Army of Service? This hook tells you.

What Service Means 7

A CATECHISM OF SERVICE

Question: What is patriotism?

Answer: Patriotism is love of one's country, the desire to serve one's country.

Question: What are some of the most important vrays in v^hich American boys and girls can serve their country now?

Answer: By producing and conserving food, by saving fuel, by avoiding waste, by investing money in War Savings Stamps and Liberty Bonds, by joining the Red Cross, by giving money and service to all organizations that are helping to win the war.

Question : How can they help in the production of food?

Answer: By planting and caring for gardens at home or on vacant lots. They thus increase the food supply.

Question: What is meant by conservation of food?

Answer: Conservation means no waste. It also means that

we must not eat more than we really need.

Question: Why must we conserve food?

Answer: Because our soldiers in France and our Allies depend on us for food. They are doing the fighting, the suffering, and the dying. We must send food.

Question: What food is it most necessary to conserve?

Answer: Wheat, meat, fats, and sugar.

Question : Why should we save wheat ?

Answer: Because wheat bread is an energy food. The men on the firing line must be well nourished. Wheat can be shipped better than corn.

Question: Why should we save meat and fats?

Answer: Because they are a necessity for soldiers, who do hard manual labor. Our allies cannot produce live stock because of lack of feed. Then too fats are needed for explosives.

Question : Why should we save sugar ?

Answer: Because sugar furnishes physical and mental energy. The men on the front need sugar more than we do.

A CALL FROM THE U. S. FOOD ADMINISTRATION

"We are at war. The path of duty lies clearly defined before us. We must follow it to the end; we may not turn back, save at the price of national honor and the loss of national and individual freedom. We must drink to the last bitter dregs the cup that we could not put from us. Humanity, patriotism, self - preservation, honor urge us onward to the successful completion of the task that shall for all time rid the world of the danger overshadowing it and make it safe for democracy.

Our Allies are confronted with the grim specter of starvation and if for no other reason they must be fed in our own defense. If they

have to yield to Germany because of hunger, America alone will have to shoulder the burden of winning the world war. And so to save our Allies and their liberty and our own, we have pledged our youth, our wealth, our all.

An army ill-fed cannot fight; people ill-nourished cannot maintain their armies; if the women and children cry for bread, the soldiers lose heart. If the bread line is lowered, the battle line breaks.

You would give your life for your country. You would scorn an American whose patriotism ended with waving flags, cheering the troops, and standing up when the band plays. You want to serve your country. Are you willing to do what your government asks? Are you so comfortably fixed that you can afford to eat what you please? Ah, but you can't afford to eat what your country needs.

Herbert Hoover

U. S. Food Administrator

A Call from the U. S. Food Administration 9

If you have given a son or brother or husband to fight ; if your wife or daughter or sister is nursing at the front; if you have subscribed for Liberty Bonds or to the Red Cross; if you have given aid to war orphans or cripples ; if in doing all these things you think you have done your share, J^now the grim truth:

All the blood, all the heroism, all the money and munitions in the world will not win this war unless our Allies and the armies behind them are fed.

They will 7iot be fed unless we take care ; indeed, if we are not prudent we, too, shall go hungry. Protect our supplies, then, that they may be fed, that your sacrifice of life and money be not in vain.

Lest we lose the Great Cause, stand guard, each day, in your home, over your supply of

WHEAT, MEAT, FATS, SUGAR, MILK

Use here the foods that we have to spare so we will be able to supply the needs ''over there."

Your task in this war is to guard food for the soldiers and home workers of our Allies. They are fighting for YOU !

You can release shiploads of wheat for these fighters and workers by using less wheat flour in your homes and by using more corn meal, by wasting not a crust or crumb of white bread.

By eating less beef, mutton, and pork, and by eating more fresh and preserved or dried vegetables and fish, our supply of meat animals will do for us and our Allies.

Likewise you are needed to stand guard and see that there is no waste in the world's supply of fats, sugar, and milk in your homes. They are becoming scarcer. As they do, then we ourselves and our brothers on the firing lines and our sisters in the fields and munition factories will suffer.

Three times a day — at each meal — think of America's glorious privilege: To feed the world while it fights its way to freedom. Then remember that you are standing guard, that the opportunity to win this war for humanity is yours.

HUNGER.

For three years America has foutfht starvation in BeMum

w^ill you Eat Jess '^ wheat meat — fats and sugar that jve may still send food in ship loads

UNITED STATES FOOD ADMINISTRATION

CAN YOU LOOK AT THIS PICTUEE AND STILL WASTE FOOD?