Question

During World War I the U.S. government took a much stronger role in running the economy to make sure soldiers and allies had what they needed. The Food Administration, led by Herbert Hoover, encouraged people at home to conserve food with ideas like "meatless Mondays" and helped set prices so farmers would grow more for troops. The War Industries Board coordinated factories, told companies what to produce, and helped standardize parts so weapons, ships, and supplies could be made faster and cheaper. The War Labor Board worked to prevent strikes by settling disputes between workers and bosses, setting wages and hours, and supporting collective bargaining so factories could keep running. These actions led to much higher industrial production, lower unemployment, and more women and people moving to cities for factory jobs, but they also meant higher government control of business, rising prices, and big government spending paid for by war bonds and new taxes.

in the paragraph, it says "helped set prices so farmers would grow more for troops."

prices on what? food? im writing smth and here is wha. i have: Herbert Hoover led the Food Administration, and encouraged people to conserve food with a multitude of ideas. Hoover also set prices on food so that farmers could grow more crops for soldiers.

was it prices on food orrr what?

Answer 1

Yes — the sentence is referring to food/farm commodity prices. But be careful: Hoover didn’t simply impose broad retail price controls. The Food Administration mainly used voluntary conservation campaigns (Meatless Mondays, Wheatless Wednesdays), coordinated U.S. purchases for the Allies, and encouraged agreements that stabilized and raised farm-level prices so farmers would plant and produce more. (The Food and Fuel Control Act gave emergency pricing authority, but Hoover preferred persuasion and coordinated buying rather than heavy-handed, blanket price controls.)

Suggested rewrites:

- Short/simple: "Herbert Hoover led the Food Administration, encouraging conservation and helping stabilize farm prices so farmers would grow more food for soldiers and allies."

- More precise: "Hoover led the Food Administration, encouraging people to conserve food and coordinating government and private purchases and price guarantees to boost farm prices and increase production for troops and allies."