Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-04

taste and experience told me lately of rich
baker who showed him proudly his ware
house, with 500 barrels Of -four stored for
use next fall. He was keeping 1t till it
grew old.
"But," the doctor said. "you don't pre-
tend that old Hour makes as good bread a.
new?"
"No," said the baker, "but it makes hand
| somer goods" That is, it makes whittier,
chalkier bread, with the flavor and nutri-
ment wasted by years keeping. White
flour, extra fine -four, old -four are all detri-
mental to the nutrition and richness of our
bread. France has held her own among ma
tions for centuries against strong odds, more
by virtue of her sound bread, which is Of
better quality than that of any other people
except the few who use unbolted -four as it
should be baked. I believe they had to
hang baker or two to fix the standard, but
1t has been kept up ever since, and French
bread is the acme of the bakers art We
| need rigid supervision of the food brought
to market, from the farmers soil till 1t
passes our lips.
WELL KILLED MEATS.
1t is not enough that the cattle be of
healthy stock, given pure water to drink
and grass free from fungus. and kept from
musty hay and grains. They must not be
| in transit develop disease in the carcass.
| Not alone humanity, but our own self
| interest demands that the flesh for our food
should not be that of animals fevered by
| days and weeks of torture and thirst on
board cars, and dying at last in maddened
| agonies under the butchers az, but that it
be as carefully kept before it comes to our
refrigerators as it is after.
The method of killing animals should be
as brief and merciful as the intelligence of
man can devise, tor the sake of his own
children who eat OF the meat If the fright
or anger Of a woman can transform her
babes milk into acrid poison, as experience
| tells, the agony and fear of tortured Great
ure cannot but cause similar banetul
change in all its tissues. The fabby, reck-
ing quality of beef and its unnatural taste,
which no cookery can disguise, often tell a
tale which would deter one from eating, if
it were the finest flavor. SUCH meat must
decay sooner than that properly killed.
ELECTRICITY FOR BUTCHERS.
| Electricity seems the best method of slay-
ing cattle for food, as it leaves the blood in
liquid state long enough to admit of
thorough bleeding, and the flesh must have
more wholesome quality and higher flavor
| for being killed without pain. Poultry and
! small animals may be. killed so easily with
out pain that there is no excuse for savoring
our dishes with the reminder of the victim s
death agonies, and thousands besides me
| feel that sustenance is too dearly bought at
the price OF one mortal pang of a fellow
| creature. Such all things creeping, flying,
walking that have nerves must claim to be-
Killed they must be to make room for
others, or the globe would be overcrowded
and the weak perish by assaults OF the
| ctrnDU Rut rvho fhinLy " ha oontank
to reserve the supreme sufferings of animal
nature to ourselves and let these harmless,
useful servants after happy life die pain
iessly, unconscious of their doom. There
are pangs enough in human sufferings with
out the torture of dumb innocents.
| The pamphlet "How to Kill Animals
Humanely," by Prof. SIade, of Harvard
University, should be in the hands of all
who kill for business or those who kill from
their own poultry yards or who must put
some disabled dog or cat out of the way.
Professor and DIR. SHADES words may be
| quoted here as to "there being no question
as to the effects of torture, cruelty and fear
upon the secretions. and if upon the secre-
tions necessarily upon the flesh"
LITERATURE ON THE SUBJECT.
Until electric killing is possible nothing
| better can be advised than the methods OF
this tract Of dozen pages which describes
| clearly by words and drawings how to kill
| any creature painlessly and safely. Every
mother should have it to teach her children
| of suitable age how to perform necessary
| operations mercifully, and never allow boys
| or girls to make sport of tormenting a sick
cat or old dog to death. The brochure is
distributed gratuitously BY the Massachu-
setts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
in Boston, but simple decency will prompt
a small contribution with applications for
it. The matter of painless electric killing
of food animals ought to be insisted ON at
once as due to public health. The gain in
the quality of food will more than balance
the expense of its introduction, to say moth
ing of the better keeping of meats by this
| process.
Vegetables and fruit demand rigid inspec-
ton, and roots especially should not be al
lowed to enter the markets in the diseased
state SO common. 1t Is an imposition on the
health and pocket of the consumer to buy
| such potatoes as are sold. two-thirds of
which are not only uneatable but dangerous.
| The use of unwholesome fertilizers not oxi-
| dized, as all such matters should be before
using on soil for food, is cause of much Of
this decay, and sour, undrained soil must
| answer for the rest.
DANGEROUS FERTILIZATION.
Fertilizing with sewage as at present un-
derstood is risky thing. The wastes of q
city, with the poisons of typhoid fever and
other malignant diseases potent through it,
with vlrulent acids and gases, need purify
ing as by fire before they are fit to approach
the manufacture Of food in the soil. The
relation of diseased products with diseases
Of the soil, fungus of crops and insect pests,
is curious and interesting study for those
who would see this world q garden N at
first.
Fruit, too, burrowed by insects, corky and
hard, with more woody than cellular tissue,
ifl-ripening, early decaying, is far from be-
ing safe food, and has contributed to the
popular idea of its unhealthiness Garden
vegetables resent ill care, with tendency
to develop dangerous aIkaloids instead of
refreshing juices. This is why cucumbers,
squash, eggplants and tomatoes occasion nally
prove acrid poisons, and lettuce will drug
the eater as effectually as dose of opium.
The protection against these evils must be
fastidious care in choosing food. Reject all
roots SCARED with the beginning of disease
or decay or eaten by worms, all that are not
tender, clear skinned and we'll colored
throughout. Be as particular about sthe
ripening of tomatoes as you would be OF q
pineapple; take none but the palest, crisp
est lettuce, and burn all inferior fruit. You
will miss great many uncomfortable sem
sations by this fastidiousness, and the
farmers may learn the profit of growing less
crops and better ones.
WHAT WE OWE THE M'KINLEY BILL.
As to eggs, the only food it is hard for
growers or cooks to spoil, the tarin Dill has
efficiently debarred the masses-thst is,
most families-from the possibility of in.
dulging in this luxury. With the cool,