The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-03-06
WHILE BREAD.
Fashions Arbitrary Sway Over tho Stan
of Life.


triment or hygienic regulation. On the
contrary, their existence weakens the
wholesome principles of bread and sac
rifc6s everything sanitary to outward
appearance. Bread must be white. A
housekeeper declines to look at loaf
until it be what she calls ''milky." A
brown tint, she has been taught to be-
lieve, implies defective bread, and, be-
sides, its aspect is not pleasing. This
religion is carefully instilled into girls,
and at the present time there is de-
mand for nothing but white bread
Bakers may have secret ideas on the
subject; in their inner consciousness
they may recognize the fact that if
white bread be used largely its effects
may not be as healthful as those of
browner bread, but they pander to the
fashion, and as long as that fashion
supplies them with loaves and fishes
they are content to be unscientific and
leave the hygienic side of the question
alone, as irrelevant and immaterial.
An agitation on this subject, how
ever. is taking place, and there is no
doubt that in ashort time it will assume
formidable proportions. Several en-
thusiasts whose ideas run in other
grooves than those of dollars and cents
have been giving the point very mature
consideration Physicians have been
consulted and their sympathies enlisted,
and movement started. Mrs. H. S.
c. Jones is an energetic worker in the
cause of bread. She has thoroughly
studied the question and talks with
fluency and interest upon it. 1.-The
present generation" she said, "believe
as firmly as they believe the earth to be
1t is a deep-seated prejudice, which has
been catered to for years, and it is a
harmful and wholly unwarranted idea.
apart from the fact that white flour
can be so readily adulterated with alum
and other pernicious substances, its
very whiteness is sign that all its
wholesome properties have been alb
stracted from it, which in itself one
might almost call adulteration. Very
white flour is deprived of the gluten OF
the wheat, which is what may be com.
pared to the lean part of meat, while
only the starch, which corresponds
with the fat part of the meat, remains
BY using the fine flour of the entire
wheat, which causes the bread to be
brown, which the sentimental people Of
the present day do not like, all the min
eral properties of the wheat are re-
tanned and bread becomes wholesome
and reliable article of food"
In the white bread which the makers
of to-day supply, adulterated with alum
in the German portions of the city, OF
with any thing else which will satisfy
the eyes and not the digestive organs
of the people, there is an excess o.
starch, which gives rise to diseases de
pendent upon fatty degeneration. Ma
jendie, the celebrated scientist, tool
two dogs, one of which he fed on white
-four, while to the other he gave foul
made of the entire wheat. In forty
days the dog who had received tho
white flour died of starvation; the othel
remained in perfect health, and coult
have lived indefinitely with no othel
food.
1t is possible to walk from San Fran
cisco to New York with no other foo(
but sound wheat. The health, in tn,
opinion of doctors familiar with tn,
subject, would be in no wise impaired
and the vigor as satisfactory as ever
This feat, however, would be impossi
BILE with nothing but the white breat
supplied at the present time. DR.. Ham
mond, of this city, on one occasion trieC
to live on starch. At the end of tel
days he was forced to give up his at
tempt. An excess of starch will cause
Bright's disease of the kidneys anC
paralysis. The reports and statistics
of the Massachusetts Board of Education
show that two-thirds of the children
under ten years of age in every civilized
community are found with diseased
teeth.
This is not the case with the Indiar
children in the Indian territories, anC
this fact is accounted for by the circum
stance that the Indians live upon wheat
which supplies food for the teeth. Will
the wealthy of the metropolis bread
does not form very large constituent
of the daily food. But with the poorel
, people it is a sine qua non of existence
and in many miserable districts nothing
else is eaten. The smaller bakers APP,
the peculiaritics of their more thriving
fraternity. They see that white bread
is the fashion in the upper part of thu
city and they are determined not to bt
outdone. Did they not adulterate theil
bread to make it white, while using thu
entire wheat, instead of merely the ker
} mel, their bread would be wholesome anC
health-giving, and its brown color, t.
which people'would become speedily &C
customed, would need no adulteration
"The outside part of the wheat i!
most nutritious" said DR.. Carleton
''but its use is entirely discouraged
owing to the fact that housekecper
will use nothing but white bread. Thu
very best part of the wheat is utterly
rejected, and bread is no longer capa
BILE of sustaining life alone"
The white flour used in ordinary
bread contains no sulphur, while tn,
flour made from the entire wheat has
LIS parts in 1000. One of the lat
Commissioners of Indian Affairs, Hon
G. P. Smith, declared that he never
saw bald-headed Indian, and the ply
sicians account for this by sle fact tina
the Indians eat wheat. HSir contains
from 3.5 to 7.3 per cent. of sulphur
and il food containing no sulphur b,