Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1873-06-07
AnItIterant rating House

y sill Q liar engineer by the name OF
Riddle suggested singular scheme for
applying hot dinners to industrious fam
lies at their various homes, which is de-
scribed by writer in the Practical
Nagc ne. The theory Is so new. that
IN acceptance Of it in full is hardly to be
expected; yet it is so suggestive, that
many parts of it are ikey to bear good
fruit if carefully studied; the project
was first submitted some time ago, to
the Food Committee Of the Society of
Arts, and then, at the wish of the So
ciety, developed more fully at one of
the regular meetings.
Mr.. Riddle starts with the warranta-
BILE assumption that provisions can be
bought to better advantage at whole
sale than retail; that well planned cook
ing effects vast saving of fuel over
NV OF the common ranges and stoves;
that few cooks can prepare dinners
for large number of persons where the
organization is good; and that greater
comfort more cleanliness and less waste
NAV be ensrr,d the coy. He takes
what may he called the lower grade of
the middle class and the upper grade
of the working class, and proposes to
supply them with hot dinners i'll way
that will enable them to economize their
time in other ways. There are many
dist'i Is in London almost entirely oc u
pied bv such families industrious, but
/ not poor; and he .supposes from three
t. four thousand persons in one district
t. he supplied from one establishment.
\ plot of ground is rented nearly in
the centre of the district. On it is
built structure of iron and glass, with
very little brick or wood, and all parts
easily removable for enlargement or al
teration. The builling, say one humid
red and sixty feet by forty, is divided
| into siXtccI comp r-mentS, each twenty
feet square By eighteen feet high
rramways run along the floor, with
turn tables at intervals, through broad
passage, with eight compartments has
t. assigned purpose-one meat store,
and one n vegetable store, one n dry
goods and grocery store, one pudding
m king room, three or four cooking
rooms, steam engine and boiler rooms,
stable, carthouse, harness and fodder
room, canister, cleaning and repairing
room, counting house, managers room,
&c.-all so localized relatively one to
another rs to obyiate confusion. The
establishment buys the food, cooks it,
and sends it out; and this order de-
notes the way in which the operations
can be studied.
Shopkeepers in the district act as
AGENTS. Their number aud the mode of
having them for their trouble, are mat
ters easily managed. Each agent is
provided with books of hlarl tickets.
: Each leaf of the look comprises three
repetitions of the same ticHe,, one To De
given to the patron, one 10 be sent to
the office, and one TO be kept by the
agent. The blank form contains space
for she entry of various kinds and
weights of hot cooked and canistered
food. Each ticket represCns enc din
ner for one family or household. The
items are entered in pen and ink, and
the money paid to the agent. Dinners
for any number of days may thus be
settled for at any one time. The cen
trail office receives a duplicate (or rath-
er triplicate) of each ticket, and arrang.
es for the execution of the order denoted
by it. The driver of each cart is provi'
ded with n proper list, showing the DIES.
tination of the several tins entrusted
to his care; aud the marshalling OF tho
route is so managed that he may waste
as little ground as possible in taking his
circuit A "postman's knock. 10 70 ba