The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-07-14
AMERICAS FOOD
SUPPLY is BEST
Finest In the World, Says Gov
eminent Investigator.
PLENTIFUL AND BALANCED.
This country's Success Is the Result,
Declares c. r. Laneworthy, Chief of
Nutrition lnVestieations-Food Sup
ply of Prehistoric Man and Nations.

ply OF TFSniSLOTIC iNdtiOuSs
That America has the finest food
supply of any country in the world
and that the plentiful and well bal
anced ration is responsible for much
of the success of the United States as
a nation Is the conclusion drawn by
O. r. Langworthy, chief of the nutri-
kion Investigations, in pamphlet is
sued by the department Of agriculture.
Mr.. Langworthy goes into the food
supply of prehistoric man and Of ma
tions Of which we know but little ex-
cept through popular writings and
states that many of the impressions
that these writers give are erroneous.
He says, for instance, that the idea
that the Chinese and Japanese are ma
tions of rice eaters is false. 1t is true
that both these people eat large guam
titles Of rice compared with western
nations, but that it is merely their
chief starchy food and that 1t would
be just as accurate to refer to the
United States as a nation Of wheat
eaters or to say that beans and brown
bread were the exclusive diet in New
England. He says it is surprising to
see what a well balanced ration is
common among all nations, though
some take their food in one form and
some in another.
The writer says that prehistoric man
probably took his food from any
source it could be obtained, just as
the modern family is governed largely
by circumstances and convenience in
the makeup of its dietary. The early
people who lived close to the water
ate largely of shellfish and other sea
foods, and those farther inland lived
on game animals, birds and their eggs
and such grains and fruits as grew
wild.
Australian Bushmen Examples.
In the cave dwellings Of ancient Eu-
rope there have been found charred
and cracked marrow bones, and in the
prehistoric lake dwellings of Europe
have been found the grains from which
were made the bread of that remote
period. If the primitive people of the
present day are taken to show how
the earlier races lived, the Australian
bushmen are an example of how seeds,
fruits, insects and animals and roots
are readily used.
OF the food used by the American
Indians before they were modified by
contact with the whites much infor-
nation is available. 1t Is known that
they extensively cultivated grain,
pumpkins, beans, maize and sunt1ow-
ers, besides hunting and fishing. Ami
mails and fish were extensively eaten,
and large quantities Of these were
dried and smoked for the winter. Spe-
cial arrangements were made to secure
fat, according to the early chroniclers,
and bear fat and other animal fats
were collected, as well as oil from sun
flower seed.
The diet of the Indians seems to have
been extensive and well balanced. The
remoter Indian tribes of Mexico show
the same conditions today, modified
somewhat by surroundings and cir
cumStances
Racial custom does not persist among
human beings. 1t has been found
among immigrants to the United States
that while old people, as a rule, cling to
food customs they brought with them
the second generation usually takes to
the more varied diet of the modern
community in which it lives.
Diets Suited to Climates.
Turning to the Eskimos, they are TAX
en- as the nearest representatives of
glacial man on the earth today, and
their diet, consisting largely of meat
fat and heat producing food, is suited
to their environment, as Is the easily
obtained vegetable diet to the inhabit
ants of the tropics,
In speaking of the peasants of Eu
rope and Ireland, Mr.. Langworthy
says that popular writer's who speak
of their almost exclusive potato diet"
fail, as a rule, to observe the skim
milk and bacon that go with the ra-
tion. In the same way, While rice
takes the place of wheat in the diet of
the japanese and Chinese, they do not
handful Of rice, as has been frequent
ly alleged. They always use large
variety of vegetables, fresh and pre-
served fruits, fish and beans and other
legumes. Both races use as large
amounts of pork and poultry as their
means will allow.
Attention is called also to the fact
that the amount OF energy and heat
forming food depends largely on the
size Of the person nourished. In this
way studies of the dietary of twenty
American professional men and sim
liar number of Japanese show that the
japanese get along with much fewer
"calories" of energy making material.
The fact was, however, that the Amer
leans averaged $50 pounds in weight
and the japanese 105 pounds. When
this difference in size was considered
1t brought the food figures much closer
together.
The popular idea of the natives of
India never eating meat is also said
to be erroneous, as little account is
bob 0T tha Ia -