n-made machines,
whether for bombing, observing, or scouting, went into action for the
first time in July, 1918.

[Illustration: A photograph from an airplane at 7900 feet, showing Love
Field, Dallas, Texas, and a parachute jumper in the "Flying Frolic,"
November 12, 1918. Parachutes were used by observers to escape from
"kite" balloons ignited by German artillery fire, and a new type is
being perfected by which aviators may also escape from disabled
airplanes.]

The American people before the war were the most wasteful people in the
world. This was probably due to the fact that the people had never
been confronted by a real necessity for economizing. However, when war
was declared the government immediately demanded that the people
conserve their food. The result was that Americans were soon observing
wheatless, meatless, and porkless days with great patriotic fervor.
12,000,000 families signed pledges to observe the rules of the food
administration, and hotels and restaurants joined in the great
conservation effort. War gardens sprang up by the millions. The
country was soon conserving millions of pounds of foodstuffs that would
ordinarily have been wasted. A food "hog" was considered in the same
light as a traitor!

On the same plan as the food administration, the government conducted
the conservation of coal. The result was that the essential industries
received coal first and the people could get only what was absolutely
necessary for heating their homes. Lights were turned out in cities
early to save fuel. The "daylight saving" plan from April to November
turned the clocks ahead one hour. As a result of all these
precautions, the factories were kept going, the ships were not hindered
for lack of coal, and America's great preparedness program was carried
on without hindrance or delay.

It is difficult to realize what gigantic efforts America was putting
forth. An illustration from the manufacture of ordnance will help such
an understanding. In the fall of 1918, the United States government
was spending upon the making of ordnance alone, every thirty days, an
amount equal to the cost of the Panama Canal, and it was spending as
much or more in several other departments. What a terrible loss war
brings to the world!

[Illustration: The Red Cross War Fund and Membership poster by A. E.
Foringer was one of the most effective produced during the War.]

To finance these tremendous preparedness projec