Lee County, Illinois - Chapter 18, 1920

On September 1, 1017, Mr. L. 8. Griffiths of Amboy was appointed Food Adniinistrator of Lee County. He proceeded to organize the county by appointinji town-ihip administrators, wherevei' it seemed leasable, to help him in carrying out Ihe ic(|uireiiieiits of tlie (iovernment. This he did throughout the winter and spring until it bccuiue apjiarcnt that his duties as sciil cxpi'rt , which by the way was as necessary to the war activities as lliat of Focid .\(liiiinistiat(i|-. would necessitate his n^signation.

In the spring of HUS he w:;s succeeded by Mr. Ames H. Hoswciith who had held the position of township adnnnistrator since September I'.IIT. Mr. lioswrnth's work was very comphcated and became more so as time went on, for it meant the checking up of all the elevators of the county to prevent their overloading and td see that the grain was shipped to the market as rapidly as jiossible, to see that farmers and laliorers cooperated in the handling of wheat so that tlieiv might be m. delay in getting it to the consumer, and to ferret out the hoardeis of Hour and sugar by those who were unscrupulous enough to defy the country's call to rally to her aid in cai'ing both foi' thi' soldier ami civilian population of the country.

Very few realized that when one man hoaided a C[uantity of flour or sugar it meant that some one of his neighbors might have to go without. This of course had to be investigated promptly and the injustice |)ointed out to the offender. The conservation of all kinds of food products had to be carefully watched and effect iv<'ly iiromoted. This took untiring activity.

From September 1, 1918 to October 15, 191S the allotment of sugar for Lee County was 2700 pounds, not nearly enough to care for the needs of the people in the preserving of the fall fruits that would otherwise have gone to waste. The Food Administrator succeeded in having this allotment increased to 6700 pounds. It took hard work to accomplish this and to see that all were treated fairly in the distribution of this allotment. Then there were the complaints of the dealers and consumers which came into the office daily and hourly and which must be separately investigated and justly dealt with.

Mr. Bosworth loyally and faithfully devoted his time to the work of food administration, he succeeded in keeping the grain moving to the markets, he helped the dealers with their allotments and he was always i'e:id>' to explain the reciuii-ements of the Government to those who were entitled to know.

The Food Administration was one of the most necessary adjuncts of our war activities and its successful accomplishments in Lee County was due largely t(j the mitiring energy and skill of "Sir. Bosworth.