The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-01-11
CuO1uD FOOD BE COOKED?
Upton Sinclair Gives His Experience
Living Upon Nuts and Fruit and NO

threw the salt-box at my mo'iei :
head.
There were times in our Struggling
days-many years, IN 1acI-"HeA W
could not afford a servant; aha =
nv wife had to be it. AND When slio
was i'll. which was about nan me
time. the role fell to me. SO ! hho"
.ust what I am talking ABOUT when
discuss this question OF cookins' "nu
What it means to human beings.
have known what 1t is 10 puiiu tilo
fire and broil the beef-steak and Try
he bacon and eggs and peel the po-
1atoes and shell the peas II Don 1he
coffee and make the toast: and 10 sl
down and stuff it all IN quick before
it got cold, and spoiled, ana tnen ~
crumb the table and put the thinSS
in the icebox and sweep the floor ana
wash and dry the dishes and III the
kettle and carry out the aShes anu
tring in more wood: and then hltch
IN the horse and drive to town TO
get more stuff from the butcher anu
the baker and the grocer and the
| druggist, and then hurry back nome
because it was time for the next meal.
For a long time it was worse even
than that, for we had q SICK BABY,
| and the doctor had laid out an elabo-
rate schedule for him, which included
such trifes as broiled chopped meat
and chicken broth and gruei ana
cream six or eight times q day. we
have gone through with this sort of
lhlng for weeks and months and even
years; and now, as / look back upon
it. it seems to me q miracle that we
ever missed committing suicide, as we
so often thought of doing.
And now will you stop and reflect
that there are five million farms IN
this ountry and an even larger num-
Der Of workingmen's homes; and that
~ nynr,- ono nf them there Is some
wretched slave, shut up to toll III just
such a tread-nill, h hope OF re-
spite for life; the men spending ali
their energies in earning food. and the
women in cooking it: and all tor no
rpo save to supply occupation
tor an army of doctors. and another
army of dentists and another army of
druggists, and another army Of .nose
who manufacture and advertise ana
sell and transport patent medicines.
[ have an account of the drug indus
try Of the city Of Detroit, in which 1t
is set forth that in that city alone
there are manufactured nine billion
pills a year. And now bring yourself
to realize hat every single one OF
those pills represents a meal which
somebody ought not to have eaten;
the appalling total Of a hundred meals
a ear for each man, woman ana IN
FAINT in the country!
Il have come out from all that, as
from a charnel-house into the bright
sunlight and fresh air. / am spend
ing the winter in the South with my
little boy; and we have q big house,
but we should nc more know what TO
do with a servant in it than we
should know what to do with a white
rhinoeeros, If President Roosevelt
should send us one from East Africa.
We have a barrel of Walnuts IN the
pantry. and one Of pecans; and a
sack of figs and one Of prune and
one of %raisins; and once a week the
l grocer-boy brings a big bunch OF
bananas and a box of oranges and a
basket Of persimmons; and there we
{ are. Three times every day we put
some Of these things into a bowl. and
, pump water over them till they are
E fresh and shiny, and then carry them
I out onto the lawn; and there WE
: spread a newspaper into which W.
throw the nut shells and the banana
Feelings; and when we are al
' hrough h chuck the paper into tn
!. stove n put the bowls back in the
kitchen, and our homework is al
. done We have no fires and no dirt
no smells and no grease. no soiIeC
0 dishes and no ice-box and no garbage.
: can and no medicine chest.