The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-11-28
THANKSGIVING TURKEY.

The careful accounts compiled by report
ers Of the Thanksgiving dinners which were
eaten on Thursday have not been read with
the attention they deserve; few readers have
realized the significance Of the feasts The
columns OF The CALL enumerated several
of them. One hundred and forty impover-
shed families were supplied with turkey
and mince pies by the Fruit and Flower
Mission. Five hundred aud fifty children
were RECALLED with turkey by the sisters of
the holy Family" on Powell street. The
poor little waits in the care of the Boys and
Girls Aid Society had their fill oil the tooth
some bird. One humid ed aud four families
were presented with a turkey each by the
Young Women's Christian Association.
Eighty hungry boys were fed by the Youths
Directory. The old ladies at the Protestant
Episcopal Home We're all banqueted on tur-
key, Turkeys, oysters and flowers poured
into the City and County Hospital. The
list OF turkey dinners might be indefinitely
prolonged; we may end il now with a refer
ence to the glorious feast of turkey which
was furnished by the Sheriff to the prison.
ers in the County Jail.
The very paper which contained these
tales of peace and plenty likewise found
room for doleful accounts of starvation in
Russia. 1t is said that human beings to the
Incredible number OF three or four millions
are likely to suffer, and many of them to
perish. Of munger in that empire this winter.
For them il is not a question of turkey.
Food Of any kind, rye bread or porridge,
would be Lucullan banquet. And their
condition only differs in degree from that of
the working class throughout the Continent
of Europe. The German and French peas
ant lives on coarse vegetables, sour bread,
coffee which is mainly chcory, wine which
is the refuse OF the vineyard, and beer which
is of the poorest quality. His idea of
feast is large carrot, or cabbage, cooked
in pot with slice of fat pork. And it is
not the peasants only who are restricted TO
this fare. Zolaln "GerminaW paints the coal
miners living on soup made out OF refuse
with few vegetables. The German opera
tive dimes on a slice Of rye bread. He is not
an exception In Asia pretty nearly 49,
000,000 people know little other food than
rice. In japan. while 1t is a fairly prosper
GUS country, fish and rice are the dietary Of
nine-tenths of the people; a cent or two
day supports an able bodied man.
From such bills of fare to Thanksgiving
turkeys how vast the gap,
If it be true, as writer's on detetics have
said, that the performance Of races is in
direct proportion 10 the quality and guam
tity Of the food they consume, the people of
the United States must have before them
destiny higher than history recounts of any
previous race. No people ever before en-
ioyed such ample supplies of wholesome
and nutritious food. Throughout modern
times, the peasant ard the workman of
Europe have camped with hunger. They
have rarely known what it was to have suf-
hcient meals, or meals of nourishing food.
Their main resource has been an INSULT
cient supply of vegetables, containing nine
parts OF water to one part OF fbrin and
starch. How far this barren dietary has
contributed to stunt their stature, to dull
their intellect, and to quench their ambi-
ton, 1t would be curious TO inquire. In the
old days. when France and England we're
always at war, the frequent victories Of the
latter against numerical odds were often
ascribed TO the more bountiful rations
served to the British soldier, and in the
war of the Crimea, the French generals de-
voted special attention to their commits
sariats in consequence. In the Franco
German war, the German soldier was al
ways we'll supplied with nutritious food,
while the French levies frequently suffered.
Did the contrast count for anything in pro-
ducing the result of the war?
So long as we can afford to feed the
orphan, the Dauper and the prisoner with
Thanksgiving turkey, we may feel sure
that in one respect at all events we are do
ing something more than keeping abreast of
the word.