University History
CAC's agricultural expertise in demand during World War I
The onset of World War I influenced Colorado Agricultural College's finances, fraternities and football teams. But nowhere was the impact more apparent than in the institution's programs for farmers.
World War I created demands for American agricultural products. CAC stepped up to the challenge of helping improve food production and conservation in Colorado.
In 1917, the college's Extension Service established an advisory committee on food production and conservation; helped open new land to cultivation; provided information on storing, drying, and canning produce; and oversaw major stock-growing projects taken on by youth-club members. All was motivated by the principle, "Food will win the war."
Even President Charles Lory became involved. As a member of the State Council of Defense, Lory directed a food-supply campaign that substantially increased agricultural production throughout Colorado.
Europe's food demands during World War I also created a need for crop output unhindered by weeds. A 1917 Colorado law mandated that seeds sold to farmers be accurately labeled for purity and composition.
The law also created the CAC Seed Lab, which had a research, educational and regulatory function and, from 1920-1941, the keen eyes of seed analyst Anna Lute. Lute inspected seeds sent by farmers, seeds in stores and even seeds in farmers' drills. She was the kind of inspector who could study a drill and tell a farmer "he had just sown twenty acres with more than 200,000 seeds of wild morning glory and two kinds of poverty weed."
Of course, World War I also drew men from campus to Europe's battlefields. In June 1916, the National Defense Act created the Reserve Officers Training Corps. A few months later CAC applied to establish an ROTC unit in Fort Collins.
In the meantime, Battery A, a defunct National Guard unit was resurrected on campus and manned almost entirely with students, faculty and alumni. Battery A fought in France - taking along Peanuts, the English bulldog that served as unofficial school mascot.
Enlistment of CAC men in the military also brought the suspension of fraternity-pledging activities and two winless football seasons.
Besides offering its expertise and men, CAC made financial sacrifices for the war effort. A great influx of soldiers sent to the college to train as mechanics forced the school to use facility's funds to add two shop buildings, a dining hall and two barracks. Inflation during the war years also imposed hardships on CAC employees. From 1914-1920, inflation doubled while salaries remained at a standstill.
Just before the end of War World I, in November 1918, the college was struck with another hardship--the influenza outbreak that spread death worldwide. Barracks and classroom buildings became hospitals for student military trainees and civilian students. Home economics students ran hospital kitchens. The disease took more than 15 lives by mid-November and didn't relent until early spring.
At the conclusion of World War I, Colorado's land-grant college was called on to provide a new kind of agricultural assistance. With the war's end came a decrease in demands for Colorado agricultural products that coincided with drastic increases in property taxes. Farmers needed management and marketplace advice.
The state in 1921 authorized the creation of a department of economics and sociology at CAC. The department's mission: "Provide academic training, conduct research and carry out extension work for the purpose of heightening understanding of agricultural economics and rural life." The Extension Service also added an economics and sociology section.
Such aid would become all the more valuable as Colorado and the nation approached the next decade - an era known for the Great Depression and the devastating Dust Bowl.
