At the end of the reading, “War Prosperity and Hunger: The New York Food Riots of 1917″. Congressman Meyer London, stated, “it takes a formal declaration of war, it takes war, famine and pestilence before the Democrats and Republicans get any sense in their heads.” Why is it that it took extreme measures for politicians to take the issues of poverty and hunger seriously enough to take actions against those issues? Were there any ways the people could have gotten the attention of the politicians without riots and violence? Would the politicians have listened?