Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-04-06

all classes - rich and poor, whites and
negroes, rural and city people. Agents are
instructed that they must exercise great
care and tact. There is no point on which
the average housewife is SO sensitive as in
respect to her housekeeping 1t IS a deli
cate matter to go into household and
make critical notes Of what is eaten and
drunk A boarding house mistress Is like
ly to object to having ner kitchen and ac-
count book subjected to examination. Yet
the present object is only to be attained by
study of precisely this kind Selection will
be made of families in town and country
which are willing to subject themselves to
the test. 1t is further recommended that
agents shall gain the confidence of the peo-
pie, stating with the utmost frankness the
purposes Of the investigation.
The Investigation Begun.
way Of the food supply Of various locali-
ties. 1t will be ascertained what foods are
purchased by people Of different occupa-
tons and how much they pay for them.
The question whether these foods are most
economical aud best suited to the condition
OF the consumers will be a point of in
quiry. Already work has been started at
the Maine State College, near Bangor;
University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Uni
versity of Missouri. at Columbia; Purdue
University, at Lafayette. Ind; Middletown
and Hartford Conn: Hull House, head
Chicago; experiment station at New Bruns-
wick, N. j., and in New York city. 1t will
soon be taken up also in Charleston, S. c.;
at the experiment station at Auburn. Ala,
and at the Tuske gee Institute, Tuskegee,
Ala.
Students at the educational institutions
mentioned will afford exceptional oppor-
tunities for study To begin with they
will be studied under ordinary conditions
and furnished with their customary diet.
Thus an opportunity will be afforded for
comparisons, for example. between New
England college boys, fed on pork and
beans, with youths Of the same age and
condition in the south, consuming bacon
and hoe-cake. Afterward. selected groups
of students will be subjected to what are
called feeding experiments" Dietaries
will be made up for them such as are
deemed most wholesome and economical.
and they will be restricted to stated bill
Of fare for period long enough to make
1t possible to draw conclusions. An aver
age gain in health and strength would
demonstrate the superiority of the dietary,
while loss of weight or physical derange-
ment would go to prove the opposite.
Work of the same kind has just been be-
gun with students at the Tuskegee Insti-
tute. all OF whom are negroes. AS in the
case of the white boys. the foods and
liquids consumed will be weighed. AT Suf-
field, Conn., experiments have been COM
menced with selected families of farmers.
In some localities the inquiry will not be
carried farther than to find out what foods
by typical households, with notes of ex-
penditures for edibles by such households
In other pllces. as at the experiment. sta
tions in New Brunswick, N j., and Au-
burn. Ala, where there are laboratories
chemical analyses of samples will be made
At the same time all waste will be saved
and weighed carefully, in order TO deter
mine the proportion thrown away.
In Private Houses.
Having obtained the consent of family
to be investigated, the government agent
will first make his inventory of the stock
of food on hand in the house. He will
weigh everything, not trusting to purchase
weights. Tea. coffee. salt. spices, beef ex-
tract and condiments will not be taken in
to account. Beef tea made from beef ex-
tract is a stimulant, but is not nourishing
to any extent. Beer will be considered as
food. and likewise spirits. Whatever Is
bought during the term of the trial will be
subjected to like treatment, and at the
end another inventory will be taken, the
stock remaining being subtracted from
the total. Choice will not be made of fam
lilies in which there are invalids, aged per-
sons, greatly diversified or understood indi-
viduals or excessive users of stimulants.
In New York city the work is being con-
Quoted through the Society for the I'M
provement of the Condition of the Poor.
Families are selected by the advice Of the
society, choice being made of those which
are most respectable and reliable. Obvi-
ously, some allowance must be made for
lying, which is SO common human pro-
pensity. Errors arising from this cause,
which might seriously impair the accu-
racy of conclusions. are guarded against
as carefully as possible. Efforts are be-
ing made by the government agents to
ascertain what foods these poor folks of
the metropolis buy. and what they pay for
them; what they eat ard what goes to
waste Samples are sent to Prof. Atwater
at Middletown. Conn.,. for analysis.
Some of the results already obtained
are quite striking. One family Investigated
was so poor that its members had not de-
cent clothes. The mother, for lack of a
respectable dress. was a prisoner in her
street. Yet that household. which COM
prised six persons, spent $14 a week for
raw food. Another case was that of a stu
dents boarding house, where the guam
tity of food material wasted was equal
to the amount eaten. 1t Is expected that
the evidence obtained respecting the waste
of food by rich people will be surprising.
Errors in Diet.
Eventually the Department of Agricul-
ture will issue report that will be wide
ly distributed, pointing out conspicuous
errors in the diet of the people, and max
ing recommendations. The community at
large will go on doing just as 1t has done
hitherto, but a few intelligent persons will
become interested in the subject and the
Ideas will gradually spread. This has been
the experience in similar researches direct
ed to the economical feeding of animals.
Adopting the suggestions with reluctance
many farmers and stock raisers are now
using with considerable saving the ra-
lions recommended on scientific basis by
the government. 1t takes a good while
to saturate the popular mind with a new
idea.
Rations for the German army are al
ready arranged on strictly scientific ba-
sis, being varied according to the work