The times., 1898-09-18

estimate would place the beef consumed
at 5000. 600. 900 pounds, pork at 1000 000 900
and mutton at 800, 00o,000 pounds. With
the poultry and game the total meat
eaten annually cannot be less than 10,-
000. 900 pounds, which is nearly two
pounds a day for each family of five
persons.
At the same time the export of this
product is enormous. OF beef 4SS 000, 900
pounds went out last year, seven-eights
of which was consumed in Great Britain.
Exports of pork products reached no less
than l.302. 900, 600 pounds. Germany took
Is per cent. and Great Britain SIS per
cent. To the meat supply must be ad-
ded the products of the rivers, lakes and
oceans, aggregating probably some S0o,-
00O, 900 pounds of various kinds of fish.
The canned salmon alone is placed at
SO 000. 600 pounds.
Americans are drinkers as well as eat
ers. Last year they used 725.000,OO pounds
of coffee and 110,0O0.o0O pounds of tea. AT
the average strength the coffee in the
cups would measure 1.20O, 0O0,GGO gallons
and the tea 1l00 0o0.0o0 gallons To
these must be added, beer, 1,200,00l,00 600;
wines, 25.CD3.090; and distilled spirits, such
as whisky, brandy and rum, 9o,000c00 gal
Ions. This gives a total of over 3.00O,
man, woman and child. If we add the
cocoa. soft drinks, mineral waters, etc,
the total not including plain water used
for drinking purposes, is easily swelled
to 900, ,000, 600 gallons, or more than gal
Ion a person per week of liquids other
than clear water. On the average a per-
son drinks his own weight of these drinks
every three months.
All told, the consumption of solid food
amounts in its raw state to some 90,o0O,-
600. 900 pounds. or a little more than three
pounds a day for each person. This
means that the people eat their own
weight of food about once each month.
The total cost must be placed at not less
than $500, ,000,000 a year, to which must
be added another 81. 900, 000, 900 for drinks,
making the total for food and drink more
than could be purchased by the entire
gold supply of the world. OF this ex-
penditure. roughly, 1000, COO 900 goes for
meat and fish. $780, 00G, 600 for eggs and
dairy products, $500. 900 for vegetables.
The 10000, coo pounds of food con-
sumed is about 1,20O pounds a year for
each person. Psychologists say that the
grown man needs about 600 pounds, the
grown woman !, 200 and the child from SOC
to 1.000 pounds so that on a fair average
the Americans may be considered a we'll
fed people. AS to whether this food is OF
the proper proportions to give we'll
nourished bodies is another question.
Careful analyses show that this bulk
contains a, 600, 00O, 600 pounds, or more than
half the entire material, of nothing more
substantial than water, That liquid is
essential to the body, but may be more
cheaply supplied in fluid form. Nearly
another Loco, 900 900 pounds is composed
of mineral matter, much of which is
needed in bone making.
OF. the q, 000, 900 pounds that remain,
5.oO0, 900 pounds are what the chemists
call protein, which goes TO form muscle
and to enrich the blood another 80 000,-
600 900 pounds are carbohydrates, such as
sugar and starch. In the digestive pro-
cesses these are converted into fats, and.
with the 1000 0OO. 900 pounds of other fats
present in the food originally, serve for
fuel and for giving strength to the mus
cles. Experiments show that the people
would be better nourished If fully 2000-
600, 900 pounds of these carbohydrates
| We're replaced by an equal amount of
protein. In other words the nation
should eat less sugar and starch and
more lean meat, whole wheat flour, and
beans. Americans are inclined to starve
the machinery of their bodies while they
put too much fuel into the furnaces.
The statement in billions OF pounds of
pressive, but far less so than if one could
actually see these enormous quantities.
AS an aid in measuring one days food of
the American people. imagine that
giant 1900 feet tall were to land on this
continent from a distant planet. Larger
by far than the famous giants found by
Gulliver in the land of Brobdingnag, this
monster would tower four times as high
as the Washington Monument Taking
ha Do lis1 dos q
American metropolis. suppose he were to
call upon the nation to supply him with
food. He would need an amount equal
TO that consumed by the entire 75 000, 900
people
Set his daily supply before him and see
what il would be. On bread plate half
as large as a city block would rest a loaf
of bread 800 feet long and half as tall.
Beside it would stand pie as large
around as a gasholder. From saucer the
size of a ferryboat he would sip his oat-
meal with spoon whose bowl could hold
| a trolley car. A smoking piece of beef
steak would be twenty-five feet thick and
extend over an area equal to ten city lots
a covered dish contains three mammoth
white potatoes and a sweet potato, each
100 feet long. His pat of butter would
measure a hundred feet in diameter. BY
his side a glass of milk as large as a
water service tower, an egg 100 feet long
an apple of equal height, and a 600-foot
cube of sugar, making up most of the
days food.
But the giant does not forget to ask
for drink. Besides two or three glasses
of water, each the height of a modern
office building, he drinks half the beer
| from a bottle which towers above a
twenty-story building, takes a sip of wine
and two (gianD fingers of whisky. A
mammoth cup of coffee and another
| nearly as large of tea are disposed OF
| during the day. Yet all this food and
drink represents only the quantities OF
these articles that disappear down the
| throats of the American people every
twenty-four hours.
ACTED TTTuEN vEADc