Evening star., 1898-09-10

8 :: {" ! ::
MINI KkWXD few cents repre-
v n SsNSN, sented the combined
s E&5I>ENl labors of hundreds
/WsEA nssW of thousands of
~ EM&W ! workers and brought
wv 0 into capital ag-
gregating thousands
OF millions of dollars. The oatmeal was
prepared from oats raised on a western
bonanza farm and ground in a million-dol-
lar mill. The cream came from cows pas
tured forty miles back in the country 1t
was collected in cans from scores of farms,
| then whirled over the rails at thirty-five
miles an hour After being skiIlfully
mixed by the local dealer it was deliy-
cred at your door in the early morning.
Ihe juicy beefsteak came from a steer
raised by cowboys a big Montana ranch
| The animal was transported 20O0 miles TO
Chicago, there to be converted into beef
| by the most approved modern processes in
| millon-dollar slaughter house Re-
| friSerator cars brought the fresh meat to
| your city butcher to be delivered AT
| your door. Your bread grew as wheat on
Dakota prairie farm, was turned into
Hour in an immense Minneapolis Touring
mill, then brought east to be fashioned to
| your use by the elaborate machinery of the
| pread trust The sugar was grown on Ger
man beet farlns, converted into the raw
product in million-dollar factory then
| brought $500 miles across the ocean and
made ready for table use in a huge Brook
| lyn refinery. the up-country farmer sup
piled your potatoes, village Creamery
| your butter. The salt came from immense
works at Syracuse, the pepper from the
indies. Your coffee was brought from Bra
zil and your fruit from Florida, California
or the tropics.
Such III,
cents, is easily within the reach of four
nfths of the American families. Yet it rep
resents a combination of men and money
possible only in the highly complex social
organism of today. Materials like these
with few others equally simple, such as
eggs, fish, cheese and common vegetables,
constitute the larger part of the nations
food.
Value of the Food.
II the strength OF 4 country be measured
by the abua1 dance and nEtritive value of its
food then the United States stands easily
a. the head of the dominant nations of the
world. Not only can the farms the mead
ows and the orchards supply the needs of
our own citizens, but there is left an i'm
nlense surplus TO be slipped to other coun-
tries.
Take wheat. for example, one of the lead
inG staples. During the past ten years the
nations wheat crop has averaged about
100 100000 bushels in 1898 to over 6Dp.0JO. .UuD
two years earlier. The average yearly ex-
ports of this ' heat for the same decade
were 140,o0ONoo bushels, leaving 323.Hb0.oDo
for home consumption. Excluding the
wheat used for seed ard for purposes other
than human food, the present consumption
is estimated to be a little less than one bar
rel of flour per capita, or I0,000,G00 barrels
for the nearly 100000 population. That
means an annual consumption of 1900
100000 pounds of floGr-a bulk which, put
into single receptacle, would require
barrel twice the height of Washington
monument and correspondingly big of cir
cumference. Were all this -four made into
bread it would yield 20oO1oo0, 900 poun,;
leaves. Reversing the metaphor Of the
Sermon on the Mount and giving bread
for stoue,'' these leaves would pave Il
roadway thirty-siX feet wide and extending
around the world. If bakery wagons We're
loaded each with 1000 of the loaves, 20
600, 900 would be needed to move the bread.
They would make a procession over 6D,0D
miles long or eighteen abreast from ocean
to ocean. OF course, not all the flour IS
made into bread. since millions of pies,
cakes and other products of the cook s art
come from these 7o000,100 flour barrels.
Exporting Wheat.
Last year the farms of the country raised
wheat sufficient to supply this enormous
demand at lone, besides sending 143 0eo. 600
bushels to other countries. OF this export
two-thirds went to Great Britain and less
than tenth to the rest of Europe. Six
bushels in hundred went to our nei5hbor
on the north and nine more to the other
American countries. Australia and Asia
tcek 10,00O, 600 bushels and Africa 40e0,000
bushels. But unless the nations farms
yield a larger wheat crop, less Will be ex-
ported in the future. At the present rate
of consumption the increased population
will demand the entire product in another
decade
Wheat, however, is far from being the
Only grain used for food by the American
people. The corn crop is about four times
as large as that of wheat and some Loo
900, 900 bushels remain for consumption in
our own country. But only fraction Of
this reaches the stomach of man direct.
For the most part 1t is taken in the pork,
beef milk, butter, eggs and other products
of animals that fatten on its substance. In
recent years apparently the direct use of
corn for mans food is increasing with the
mixed flour, the patent food prepara-
tions, the brown bread, corn dodgers and
like cookery. Whole sections of the south
use corn almost exclusively in preference
to wheat -four.
Then, there is the oat crop, averaging
700 100000 bushels. most of which remains
in this country. Americans are rapidly fol-
lowing the Scotch in the use of oats
table food; still only small fraction of
the total crop is consumed in the home.
The average barley crop is 70OO0,000 BUSH
els. all but 100000 bushels of which re-
mains within the country. The usual yield
of rye is 2s.00o000 bushels, very little OF
which is exported. But the barley and rye
are largely reduced to fluid form before
the American consents to take them into
his stomach. Some 100000 bushels Of
buckwheat enter each year into the COM
position of Our pancakes.
For Human Needs.
The exact amount of these various grains
used directly for human food cannot be de-
termined. but probably another 5000, ,0O0.OoO
pounds must be added to the wheat flour,
making a total of 10000. 100000 pounds
used each year as food. Large as this
seems, in the aggregate it is less than
three-quarters of a pound day to each
person-not a very ample meal in itself.
but fully sufficient when taken with the
abundant varieties of other foods.
Another favorite food Of the Americans
is the potato. Its average crop in recent
years has been about 225.00o, coo bushels.
The export and import trade in this vege-
table is insignificant. To supply his fam
lily with the average quantity the head Of
the house needs to purchase for each men,
ber about half pound day, or three
bushels a year. Sweet potatoes are also a