This situation is true not for war-time alone. As one result of the war it ought to be brought home to each of us that we have a responsibility for food shortage wherever it exists. We should have a part to play at all times in alleviating and controlling famine conditions whether in Armenia, Serbia, India, China, or wherever else the situation is less favorable than it is for us here in America.

But it is not only these extraordinary conditions in far-away lands which should cause us to take more heed to our food. We have learned some facts here at home during the last two years which should give us pause and make us wonder if we have put all of our great wealth of national resources to the best possible use. Why should such a large proportion of our boys, coming in most instances directly out of our homes, have to be rejected by the draft boards the country over as unfit for service? Would our girls have shown up any better? Why should fifty per cent of our children in our public schools be below normal in weight? Yet such is the case in the cities and towns where investigations have been made. Why should the United States be the only country where the death-rate is increasing between the ages of thirty-five and fifty-five, the period during which the individual should be of the greatest economic value to the State?

Do not all these matters come straight home to the housekeeper? Is she doing her job as well as it ought to be done? No man starts in business at the top, nor in this day does he begin to practice a profession unless he has spent much time in preliminary training. Housekeeping is a profession of vital importance to the health of the nation as a whole; for a nation is only an aggregation of homes, and as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so the strength of a nation is only the strength of its weakest home. The individuals from such a home have to be cared for by the State or the community as a whole. This, then, makes the housekeeper or home-maker the most important member of the community, for the value of her services is judged by the economic worth and fitness for life of the citizens who come from her home.