The steely glance from the harried housewife in the World War I propaganda poster tells the tale: “In her wheatless kitchen, she is doing her part to win the war. Are you doing yours?”

During the First World War, with slogans like “The Kitchen is the Key to victory: Eat Less Bread,” “Spend Food Carefully” and “Food is ammunition: Don’t waste it,” the government urged Americans to sacrifice at home for troops in the field.  

Waco residents were no exception.

A group of doughboys on “spud duty” in World War I. Peeling potatoes was a traditional part of KP, or kitchen police, work for the rank-and-file soldier. Some said the initials KP stood for “keep peelin.’ ”
Photo courtesy of Agnes Barnes, Waco

And with the presence of the U.S. Army’s Camp MacArthur on the city’s northwest side from 1917-19, the quest to feed the troops took on special urgency and local importance.

The United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. By August that year, construction began in Camp MacArthur, named for Lt. Gen. Arthur MacArthur, a Civil War veteran and hero of the Spanish-American War.

Its first mission was to train the 32nd Division of the National Guard (troops from Michigan and Wisconsin). Later, personnel from Arkansas, Missouri, New Mexico and Texas served there.

At a time when Waco’s population was only 32,000, the camp’s capacity was more than 45,000. Camp MacArthur became an infantry replacement and training camp and officers’ training school.

Nearby Rich Field, the Army’s air base, trained about 400 cadets for aerial combat.

Government programs

Shortly before war was declared, future President Herbert Hoover was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson as head of the U.S. Food Administration.

As food czar, Hoover’s job was to promote voluntary cutbacks so that the chow could be funneled to the front.

He developed programs like Meatless Mondays, Wheatless Wednesdays and other days of self-imposed alimentary abstinence, which “militarized” American housewives.

The doughboys in training at Camp MacArthur (1917-19) sometimes had to take their meals in the field. Army life here meant serving three square meals a day to more than 20,000 troops.
Red Men Museum and Library photo

Precious resources could supply the troops and the war-ravaged civilian populations of Europe, avoiding the rationing seen 15 years later in WWII while successfully trimming the fat by 15 percent.

Besides cooperating in the food-conservation program, known popularly as “Hooverizing,” Central Texans helped the war effort by planting “war gardens.”

Farmers devoted more acreage to food crops and cotton for uniforms. Because of the increased demand for their products and guaranteed markets for surplus, farmers saw the prices on their commodities rise more rapidly than those of nonfarm goods and services.

Consequently, between 1900 and 1920, the number of cultivated acres on Texas farms grew from 15 million to 25 million, and the value of livestock more than doubled.

U.S. food shipments tripled during the war years; Hoover kept the American armies fed and was able to build up surplus stores of sustenance to prevent a post-war famine in Europe — earning him the reputation as “The Great Engineer,” the practical idealist.

 Additional Sources: Handbook of Texas Online; Hoover.archives.gov, Worldwar1.com, AgriNews.com.

The Camp MacArthur mess hall, decked out for Christmas dinner. The photographer helpfully scratched 19XMAS17 in the middle of the image, by the doors.
Red Men Museum and Library photo

Cavalry troops at Camp MacArthur work up an appetite. Cavalry units attached to the Michigan and Wisconsin National Guard trained at Camp MacArthur before their journey to the battlefields of France to fight the Germans.
Red Men Museum and Library photo