New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-09-25
HOW NEW YORK is FED
COSTS CITIZENS MORE
THIN 81? .O00 .00O 4 WEEK.
Supply Of Eatables Is Enormous,
EreryfhinS Is Pure and
Best Of It's Kind.

Scarcely lad the ripplcs "a I'd b, tic drop
ii Z 90 tie Half Moons anchor In the waters
Of New York IIarbor died upon the shore when
Captain Henry Hudson began negotiations for
food with the Indians on Manhattan Island
HUdson's wants were modest and barter was
speedily established The Indians brought corn
venispn fish and fruit e. replenish the far farng
l-aVigator's depleted harder So in manner OF
speaking the first markets Of New York We're
then set up, and the beginnings Of its food
SUI IS blished.
What was vital. to Hudson three centuries
ag less OF important concern to him
than it is to-day TO the teendng millions who
daily demand and receive OF tie purvcyors o.
modern New York such vast quantities OF sup
Plies OF all that it is almost impossible for
the human mind to grasp the significance and
the enormity Of the figures in their aggregate.
New York's resources viii be tested to the ex-
treur during the progress Of the Hudson Fulton
celebration 10 furnish forth the tables of not
only the NAL sized population that depends
upon its markets. but 10 cater as well to the
throngs OF guests that viii bespeak the city's
hospitality. There will be no scarcity Of food
and no raising of prices to bouseholders on the
plea OF shortage. The city's commissary is too
well organized and its sources Of supply 50 firmly
established, far reaching and constant to en-
gender any apprehension that the fame of the
metropolis as a provdcr Will suffer.
Buy ~ SMALL QUANTITIES.
New York's dependence upon its food supply
IS absolute and. to a great extent, unthnking
when it comes to more than small 1.-THE of
persons giving individual consideration to the
problem in its complexity and magnitude The
average housekeoper in New York markets from
hand to mouth. SO to speak. Provisions. gro
Ceries and meats are purchased from day to
day. There is none of the generous provisioning
that used to be the delight OF the provdent
householder OF past generations. whose cellar
was packed with barrel and bushels of edibles
in the fall to carry him over the winter Cellars
at a premium in York, and in the
apartments and flats where a majority OF it's
residents have their homes there is no space for
storing eatables in quantities larger than are
required for the days consumption.
She who goes a-Inarketing seldom appreciates
much less gets in touch with, the main channels
OF New Yorks food supply. If the groceryman
IS out OF eggs. it is easy enough to fall back
upon the shop in the next block, or the grocer
himself will send out to a neighborng grocer
for eggs enough to tide him over until he can
get crate two from his wholesaler Some
old fashioned folk. with boarding house keepers
club. hotel and restaurant stewards, still act
ually ''gO to market" in the former acceptance
of the expression. That is, they eschew the
shops. and, in the case of the stickler for doing
things the way his father did. pay daily lists
to any OF the Zig city markets-Washingto
Jefferson, GansevoOrt or the others-and with
basket on arm purchase meats and vegetables
and bear them away. Those who market on a
larger scale have their goods dispatched by
wagons.
1t is they who frequent the markets that come
nearer than any one else to realizing what il
means to feed New York. They see concrete
examples of the bulk of the food that New
Workers swallow and of its diversified elements
They are wonted to the sight of scores of dressed