The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-08-09
Poor People Not as Saving OF
Food Supply as the Best
People of Europe.
CLEANLINESS DEMANDED.
NOT TOO MUCH CAN BE DONE TO
ENCOURAGE THIS IN AMERICAN
PEOPLE, SAYS MRS. JOHN A.
LOGAN.
BY Mrs. John A. Logan.


Washington, D. c., Aug. S.-Equally
important with the system Washington
has put into operation for thorough
inspection of hotels, restaurants,
lunch counters, bakeries, markets, al
leys, cellars, and every place where
food is kept or served, or where gar
bage is deposited, with a view to i'm
proving the sanitary conditions of the
city, is movement which has for its
object the instilling into minds of the
people the Importance of cultivating
habits of economy and cleanliness
with regard to food products.
AS an instance of the absolute fail
ure on the part of some people of av-
erage Intelligence to appreciate the
value of clean living l shall recite
an incident that camesunder my obser-
walton.
l once had colored man in my en-
ploye who had wife and two chill
dren. The man had been employed by
the garbage contractor at Atlantic City
During the winter he lost his place
and came to me to work on the farm.
I retained him as one of the farm
hands as they express it.
One day he came to me and said he
was going to leave. Supposfng he had
had some trouble with the foreman, l
said: 81 am very sorry to have you
go away and by the way, where are
you going?"
He said: Atlantic City,
"You are very foolish" I said'I
give you house and you have your
vegetables off of the farm. If you go
there you will have to pay rent and
buy everything you eat, and even IT
you should get more wages, you
would not be any better off than you
are now"
ut doesn't cost me a cent to sup
port my family" was the astonishing
reply, "'cause the garbage is the fin
est you ever saw"
He said his wife sorted the garbage
and they found mighty fine things
the quality folks threw away.
In European cities they practice
such strict economy that they have
nothing like the waste that we have
in this country. For ages their popu-
lation has been so great and their re-
sources so limited that the people
have been permitted to indulge in ex-
travagance lest famine should tnsue.
The abundance of everything in the
United States has made us the most
wasteful nation on the globe. Our
poor people waste more than well-to-
L. To-, 70
comfortably. Americans, as a rule,
have so much contempt for economy
that they are wont to call economy
meanness and allude to thrifty, pru-
dent persons as niggardly and stingy.
1t is to be hoped that through unre-
lenting inspections and execution of
the law under which they are made.
healthful conditions Will follow and
that our people will be taught right
principles of economy and that the
future will show less wastefulness
greater cleanliness and economy in the
preparation of food and much less &C
emulation Of spoiled food every
where
It is a matter of education in the
line of economies that with our false
notions of eating and drinking to ex-
cess, everyone contributes more OF
less to the spirit of destructiveness OF
good things. Almost every one eats
and drinks too much. In this country
many more persons die from eating
too much than from starvation. If we
would think more of quality and less
of the quantity we consume, we would
be a wiser and longer lived people.
It may be a long time before the
masses are converted to habits Of
strict cleanliness and wisdom in theil
manner Of living. but 1t Is n good sign
to see moves made in that direction
and say God speed the good work
When the commissioners have
caused a general cleaning up of n
tcriors, they will do well to attack
the unsightly and not infrequently dis.
gusting advertisements that ere plas
tered over every exterior available IL
the city.
Persons owning unimproved lots bu
lacking In civic pride have erected
board fences about their propert,
and have sold every inch Of space OF
these fences for advertisements tina
are emblazoned in all the colcrs of tn,
rainbow, offending good taste and dc
cency
II the commissioners have not tn,
power to remove the billboard nui
sance and to prohibit oisfiguring ad
vertisements they should ask congress:
to pass a law giving them such au
thorfty so that Washington. the mos
beautiful city in the United States
may keep pace with smaller cities O
the union, who have by persistent ef
fort, eliminated offensive billboard
and other advertising mediums lie
vendors of all wares confine them
selves to legitimate channels. such a
newspapers. magazines and circulars.