100 years ago in Spokane: Residents urged to cut calories for war effort

Spokane residents were urged to “save lives through food conservation.”

A headline in the Spokane Daily Chronicle said, “Overeat If You Must, But Spare Wheat Flour, Fats, Beef, Mutton, Pork and Sugar.”

Millions were starving in Europe as the Great War continued, and everyone was urged to do their part to ease the food shortages. People had already been asked to cut down on meat and wheat. Now the list was expanded to include sugar and all kinds of fats.

N.W. Durham, the chairman of the Spokane County Council of Defense, said, “Let us keep always in the mind the solemn fact that our allies must have food to win the war.”

He asked all of the “patriotic people of Spokane” to sign a pledge card to “save these commodities that are so essential to victory.”

“Every flag that flies against the central powers is by proxy the American flag. Every man in the ranks of the allies, every woman and child in Europe sacrificing for the maintenance of these men, are fighting in our defense.”