Private donations and government grants supplied the majority of its $11-million-a-month budget, and the CRB became a veritable independent republic of relief, with its own flag, navy, factories, mills, and railroads.[68] [69]
Hoover worked 14-hour days from London, administering the distribution of over two million tons of food to nine million war victims. In an early form of shuttle diplomacy, he crossed the North Sea forty times to meet with German authorities and persuade them to allow food shipments.[70] He also convinced British Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George to allow individuals to send money to the people of Belgium, thereby lessening workload of the CRB.[71] At the request of the French government, the CRB began delivering supplies to the people of German-occupied Northern France in 1915.[72] American diplomat Walter Page described Hoover as "probably the only man living who has privately (i.e., without holding office) negotiated understandings with the British, French, German, Dutch, and Belgian governments".[73][74]

U.S. Food Administration
Main article: United States Food Administration
U.S. Food Administration poster
War upon Germany was declared in April 1917, and American food was essential to Allied victory.  