26 JANUARY 1918, Page 13

NATIONAL FOOD ECONOMY LEAGUE.

[To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR."] Sia,—I shall be glad if you will allow me to inform the piddle through the medium of your widely read paper that the Com- mittee of the National Food Economy League (of which I am President and Chairman) have decided to close down next March. The League will then have completed over three years of active educational work, conducted chiefly by means of cheap literature and of demonstration lectures. The success of our efforts may be gauged by the fact that over three-quarters of a million of the publications have been sold and between two and three thousand demonstrations given in London and the provices. The reason for bringing this voluntary and patriotic work to an end is that the Committee has been unsuccessful in obtaining any recognition or encouragement from the Ministry of Food, all its endeavours in this direction having met with uncompromising rebuffs. No financial support was asked for or needed. It is felt that without. official recognition of some kind which would enable the League to co-ordinate its activities with those of the Government Food Economy Campaign, great waste and overlapping of effort would result. We naturally regret that the practical experience and knowledge gained in our three years of strenuous work are not to be utilized now that the need for every effort, both individual and organized, is more urgent than ever, and it does not afford us much consolation to hear that the highly successful Scottish Patriotic Food League, organized by Dr. Chalmers Watson of Edinburgh, met with exactly similar treatment at official hands.—

President and Chairman of Committee. 3 Woodstock Street, Oxford Street, W. 1.

[We greatly regret this news. The League has done splendid work. We hope that even now the Government may try to save it. —En. Spectator.]