The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-05-21
HYGIENE CONGRESS- TO
 TAKE UP THE PROBLEM
 OF SCHOOL LUNCHEONS

seneraI program of the Fourth Inter national Congress on School Hygiene, which is to be held at Buffalo the last week Tn August. will be the special dis cussion devoted to the problem: What does little Johnnie and little Susie eat for their school luncheon: And what effect does it have upon their general feeling, as well as upon their ability to learn their lessons!
 One of the arguments now being urged in behalf of the school luncheon is that by having something to eat in the school itself Johnnie and Susie are kept in closer touch with their class room interests. They are less likely, in other words, to play hockey in the afternoon, according to their school teacher. A light school lunch also gives them greater energy for their work in geography, arithmetic, spelling, reading and history At the school luncheon they are more likely to become good friends with the other boys and girls and with their teacher as we'll If they go out on the street to pick up a lunch from the side walk vendors, Johnnie and Susie swallow such indigestible delicacies as sausage, pretzels and ice cakes. On the other hand for a nominal sum at the school counter they are given such nourish- ing eatabIes as bean soup, rice pud- ding, cocoa, milk graham crackers, dates, sweet chocolate and stick can dy.
 Up to date while attending the e1e- mentary schools, Johnnie and Susie are enabled to get a school lunchen i'll only Al cities in the United States, while in England alone there are 2Oo cities in which they might satisfy their little appetites with a properly prepar- ed luncheon inside the school building. In case Johnnie and Susie are of Ger man parentage or if they happen to be attending a school in Germany, they would find school luncheon being served in 150 cities. In Italy John nie and Susie would come upon 55 cit fes serving school 1uncheops, while across the border they would find some 1900 French Communities in which they might satisfy their hun ger in the school building.
 Johnnie and Susie might have had a school luncheon in Germany as far back as the. year 1790- In France school feeding was taken up for them in 1s4s, while Great Britain followed in the year 1886 and United States in the year 1895. Some idea of the amount of money spent on the school luncheon may be shown by the state ment that each school year in Phi1a- delphia Johnnie and Susie and their 10000 fellow pupils pay out some thing like s20o,OO0 for food.
 Those teachers and educators who have been looking into the subject of feeding Johnnie and Susie and the1r fellow pupils have recently been get ting together some information about the results of this work. They say;
 1. NOurishing food increases the mental efficiency of the children.
 g. Lunches prepared and served under school supervision make for the formation of good habits of diet
 B. Supervised meals eaten in the group cultivate between teachers and children, and among the children themselves, a spirit of friendliness, of courtesy, and of democracy.
 4 The school lunch forms a nat ural basis for the study of hygiene and physiology It furnishes a work classes. and for general instruction concerning the pure food movement, food costs. food values, and the rela- ton of food to working efficiency.
 5. The establishment of the school lunch leads to increased interests in school-activfties among the parents. Mothers seek to adapt the school menu to their household needs, come into close contact with the school die titian. and the resultant friendship makes for cooperation between the school and the community.
 The serious Importance of this prob lem, not only to Johnnie and to Susie but to educators in general, may be seen from the fact that a large num- Der of delegates, not only from this Y, of Europe will furnish speakers on this topic at the Fourth International Congress at Buffalo.
 Special invitations have been issued to the superintendents of schools and the committees on school luncheons in the forty-one American cities now having the elementary school lunch. Among the other delegates invited to furnish papers are: pr. Dufestel and Dr. Courgey of France; pr. Gastpar. Anna von Gierke, Dr. Kaup and Hell ena Simone of Germany; pr. Ralph Crowley, Marion Cuff, Margaret Mo Milan, Donald Peppler, Phyllis D. Wfnder and British Institute of Social Service of England; Dr. A1lesandro Schiavi and Dr. C. Tonzig of Italy; Dr. Erfsman of Switzerland; Dr. Leo Bur gerstein of Austria; Aida Jackobson of Scandinavia.
 Among those invited to cooperate from the United States are the fol- lowing: Alice c. Boughton, pr. Will liam H BurnhaTn, Kate Carman, Eliz- abeth E. Farrell, Alice M. Hotchkin, Caroline Hunt, Dr. Woods yHutchin- son. Isabel Hyams, Mabel Kittredgs, Dr. Charles F. Langwortlny, Mary H. Moran, Mary c. Small, pr. Mary Schwartz Rose, Emma Smed1ey, Dr. Ira s. Vile and the Superintendents of Schools and Committees on School Lunches in the forty-onef American cities having school lunches.
 The entire discussion on the subject of School Feeding Is now being ar ranged by Louise Stevens Bryant of the Psychological Clinic, University of Pennsylvania.
 In the School Feeding Congress it is proposed to discuss School Feeding in two general groups of papers; first these dealing with a nutrition of chill dren as an educational and national interest; second, those dealing with the practical problem arising in ad- ninistering school lunches in differ ent places:
 Nutrition and Malnutrftion of School
 Children.
 f. Historical Summary and Pres snt Status of the School Feeding