The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-09-25

merely pointed the way to an incx-
haustible and almost omnipresent food
supply. In his investigation of the
ortooptera lepidoptera and other
optera, he has found that the vegeta-
~ble-feeding insects which so often rob
the farmer Of the fruits of his toll, can
be made to restore their. plumber in a
thoroughly practical way by feeding
those whose food they have taken, He
has demonstrated to his own satisfac-
ton and that of others that the grass
hopper and the locust can be eaten as
well as eat. Hehas taken the .'crlck-
ct on the hearth" and transferred it to
the frying pan for tie nourishment of
millions who have never appreciated
it in its former aspect as an emblem
of domesticlty.
Spite of the satire, not to say ridi-
Guile, which the Professors discovery
seems to invite, it really is valuable
aud far-reaching. The theory upon
which he bases his declaration that
certain insects are edible Is perfectly
sound. The food of the locust and the
grasshopper is not only purely vege-
table but vegetable OF The choicest
and tenderest. In point ofscleanliness
they are far superior to much OF the
food which mankind eats with a relish.
As for any naturally unpleasant sug-
gestiyeness about them it is largely
prejudice and will disappeaf Just as
the %prejudices against crabs and lob
sters, periwinkles, shrimp, frogs and
horscilesh have disappeared after a
fair trial.
With the addition of the grasshopper
to our bill of fare and the breaking
down of the prejudice which has so
long keptit in the list of pests, the
way will be opened to still grander
additions to the national larder. The
English sparrow may cease to be the
popular puzzle and become an article
of diet to those VINO have so long been
his victims; and with his introduction
to the soup-pot and the gridiron the
prophetic eye "a see a long vista of
hitherto unguessed articles of food
coming up, not only to the mere APP
peasemept of hunger but to the graft
tication of the cplcure who sighs con-
tinually for a new flavor. Even the
despised butterine in that day will be
acceptable to the hitherto hostile leg
islator who will demand only that ii
shall be sold for what it is.
it is a pleasant picture, but like
many a pleasant picture it has a shad-
owy background. The doubt will
arise whether an unlimited increase OF
the food supply is an unmixed bless
ing The student of social science,
firm in his belief that the struggle for
food is one of the most powerful ele.
ments in the elevation of the race and
the restriction of it's growth within
wholesome limits will stand appalled,
before a future in when hunger will
be satisfied with no other exertion
than the mere catching Of grnsshop-
pers. He will point with gloomy fore.
boding to the low condition of the
races who now subsist without taking
thought for the morrow. And there
is ground for the toreboding. 1t
would be a sad blow to progress if the
necessity of persplrIng in the getting
of bread were to be wholly done away
with. Perhaps it will not be wholly
done away with, even when the grass.
hopper. instead of being a burden. be-
comes the component part of a salad,
or makes his appearance in an appetiz.
ing fry. In the wise economy OF ma.
ture, as he becomes useful, he may
possibly become scarce. Such must
indeed, be the result if the doctrine of
the survival of the tittest has the
breadth and solidity accorded tc it by
the later philosophers Detroit Fire,
Press.