The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-03-25
GOOD CUTS OF MEAT
MANY IN FRANCE; FEW IN THIS
COUNTRY, SAYS LADY.
Mime. Jusserand Gives Washington Ladies
one Reason Why Cost of Living
Is so High in. America; Much Goes
to Waste; Society Women Likely
to Be Drawn Into the Senate In
quiry.
Especial to The Free Press.l

/ washington, March H3.-lhe VIE OF
the French ambassador Mime. Jusser-
and, asked for the solution of auvanc-
ing food prices in the United States,
answered unhesitatingiy: The French
people do not waste things, but they
do not stint themselves. French but
cheers have great skill in cutting up
meats and are far superior 10 yours
/ i'll America. In this country you have
so much goes to waste and most
OF the cuts are large. But in France
nothing is lost The pieces are cut
small and OF Il kind for each person ac.
cOrding to his means. Neither the but
cher nor the buyer in France wastes
Il thing. Our sauces are the keynote.
the wonder of French cooking: So
many flayors, so many dishes from the
same piece Of meat: Every chef or
housewife has many of them, and a
simple dish may be made to look and
to taste 50 eXcellently well. linen
there is the pot an feu' into which all
the bones and pieces of meat and pea
pods and other such things, that
.annot otherwise be used, are placed
by the French housewife. Many of our
fine salads are made from the bits OF
left over vegetables or fruit The
soups and salads appear on every table
even among the poorest of our people,
and give variety of diet and reduce The
expenses for food. In the average
working mans family, or the clerks,
say 81 900 or 81 200; the same sort of
Il man in France would get from 500
to 5000. But the French family would
live better. In his country you get so
little for your money. The French wom
an of the middle class would make
meal and Il good one where you would
not think to see anything"
Employees Under F':e.
The buffers, cooks ana other servants
Who receive commissions from trades
men of Washington are under fire. If,
as many suspect, the rake OFF, be
found to be as widespread as in-'New
port, Congress may be asked for special
measures to protect them. There are
any number of rumOrs, vague charges
and dark hints rs To the extent of
this practice which adds quite a bit TO
. the living costs. I'm New York, Phil
adelphia, Pittsburg and Chicago many
we'll tO-dO households Tor some time
have been Systematically forced to pay
more for their provisions than the
market price. In Newport many of the
wealthy people are open in their charges
/ that their domestic staff receive remu-
neration, in the form OF commissions,
from the tradespeople of the city,
which. of course, add to the size Of
their bills. When merchants complained
about slow payment of bins, The vie
Tins turned upon them. The merchants
who have been giving the secret com
missions TO servants profess to be
heartily in sympathy with the move
ment to do away with the practice.
There are laws against bribery in all
the states and against the giving and
taking of secret commissions in many.
but the difficulty in securing proof has
initiated against enforcement of the
laws.
Will Be Drawn Into Discussion.
4 Society and clubwomen of Washing
ton are to be drawn into the vortex of
| the discussion of the cost of living
problem as an indirect result of the
senate inquiry into that question. Re-
tail merchants of the capital, testifying
before the senate select committee, have
demand, especially for the more eXpen-
sive cuts of meat, and under production
of beef cattle. hogs and other food
stuffs, is the chief cause of high living
expenses. The hearing has brought
home to the women the fact that the
problem is to be solved by domestic
economy rather than by political econ
Omy. Several retail meat and provis-
! ion dealers, believing that the dispro-
pOrtiOnate demand for the more ex-
pensive cuts of meat is q big contribut-
ing cause for higher prices all along
the line. have decided to adopt the
plan of c. W. Foster, a retail deadler
of Chicago, who invited a number OF
prominent society and club women to
his store to receive practical lessons in
the various cheaper cuts of beef and
their uses. Mr.. Foster. in his invita-
ton to Mrs. Edward l.. Upton, presi
dent of the Chicago Woman's club, said
Il feel that a good deal of the criti-
cism regarding the price of beef is
based upon the price for the choicer
cuts for which there is an extensive
demand, and, as there is but 25 per
cent. of the meat which produces rib
and lOin cuts, the balance (15 per
cent?, is sold at much correspondingly
lower prices. Until some Luther Bur-
bank of animal husbandry devises
steer which shall be all porterhouse
steaks and rib roasts, a very careful
consideration of the subject of the use
of the cheaper cuts of meat am
sure will prove mutually beneficial TO
the retailer and to the consumer. The
advocates of the "back to the soil"
movement were given cause for rejoic-
/ ing when J. c.. Walker. one of the
l.. H. l. e. Il. IL