The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-19
Gan You Live On 25 Gents A Day?

In q lecture at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences the statement was made recently that sufficient raw food materid for the production of health and energy could be purchased anywhere In the United States within reach of a railroad for 20 cents per day per person. This has given rise to much comment.
 In order to understand the main point, 1t Is necessary to consider the definition of food as that which when taken Into the system builds up or repairs tissue or pro yldes energy in the form of heat or mus cular power. It Is important that food should please both eye and palate, especially the latter but pleasure or sensation Is not the purpose of food. We eat to live is terse way of saying that primarily the ob- ject of food Is that of the fuel in the steam engine.
 The cheapest fuel will be that which sup piles the most heat for the least money, as the cheapest food Is that which supplies the most nutriment for the least money. There Is. however, a distinction 10 be made be- tween the cheap and the economical In most commodities. It Is possible to conceive of a thing cheap in price, yet not economical. The most economical fuel for the engine Is 1 that which supplies the most energy with the least waste and for the least money. So the most economical food Is that which at the least price is best adapted to the needs of the eater. Whatever view ls taken of the pleasures of the table 1t remains an lrrefutabe fact that the primary need ot the eater Is nourishment. The dangers of overlooking are no less in result or fire | ouency than those Of malnurrltion. This must be comprehended in order to make the arguments for the 25-eent dietary quite plain.
 The scarcity of desired article raises US l price; therefore, those food materials VIII oe | cheapest which are most easily anu apun dantly produced, as wheat, corn, beans, l peas. etc Cost of transportation naturally | affects market price, and closely allied with this is the higher price of perishable food. J That oranges should cost less in the midst of orange groves than 300 miles away rom them, and that the grocer or fruitseief must guard against loss by freezing or decay in his margin of profit are self-eyident. In buying the raw material there IS waste fin certain foodstuffs-that is, quart or whole, good milk represents the entire amount of nourishment quart of milk can 1 furnish, but pound of meat, Including both meat and bone, will furnish only the nour- ishment of the available part. Thus, In ! buvtne the waste of material has to be con | sidered as a factor of cost. Hothouse or l out-of- sea son foods cost more than those 1 in, season, while fads or fashions often dc tate price
 Enough Food Can He Fought for
 25 Cents.
 1 If probably would be granted wherever the wages of workmen were known that l there are many persons living in different l narts of this country who live on a dietary costing from eight, nine or ten to fifteen l cents per day per person. There are many l more living on twenty, twenty-five and l thirty cents per day per person. In the first case the number of available food materials l is limited, and palatability, flavor and the desirable variation of diet lie In the hands of A probable wage earner who Is far too apt to he deticient ln both skill and ingenuity in l cooking The German woman, who knew and used eight different kinds of dumplings l with which she varied her stews, thereby reducing the meat bill to minimum, was an l arttst The actual fact Is that sufficient raw | food material to nour rish human machines | can he purchased for the amounts given. This being granted, the point is, "can any | one do itf
 Perhaps 1t Is too sweeping to say that any l one cannot do 1t, but 1t Is safe to say that | there are cases where It would be unwise to trv Where more can be used for food-that is where the family exehequer ailows--it depends for the most part on the attitude one assumes toward food. If you regard