Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-09-23
SCHOOL LUNCH PLAN
MEETS WITH SUCCESS


The real point of this story might
be more wildly illustrated by photo
graphs, not of public school lunches,
but of the children who go home and
don't get any lunch.
That little army of Americans in
the making, marching in, heads up,
two by two, with their own band
splintering the air with Row! Row!
Row." or "Waitin' for the Robert Il.
Lee"-this school is in the heart OF
the Italian quarter, on New YORK S
East Side. The fathers of these chill
oren were, of course, away at work
often the mother is away too or IL
not, hard at work, perhaps, on piece
work at home. You can imagine some
of the smallest, like the little girls on
the right-hand end of the front row,
toddling home on a cold winters day,
or through the rain, climbing the
dark tenement stairs to shift for
themselves. Even if the mother is at
home and there is enough to eat she
may have neither the time nor I'M
Outstanding to prepare a proper meal,
and the chances are that there Is
nothing but bread and coffee or tea
The majority of such children. as
these have tea or coffee once uay'
and probably a third OF them-to
Judge from the figures OF the Volun-
teer committee, which has taken lne
matter I'D in New York city ana
served experimental lunches in sew
eral schools-have tea or coffee more
than once. If they are fortunate
enough to have a few pennies "lunch
often means nothing more nourisnlns
than the "tawbreakers" or ncorice
sticks sold by pushcarts and cheap
candy shops A very considerable
portion of them come back unit Tor
work in the afternoon.
Necessity Proved.
Such conditions are so typical that
experiments in public school luncnes
are now being tried in some rorty-
five cities In this country-ln many
European cities such ventures nave
passed the experimental stage long
since. In high schools such lunches
are, of course, no novelty. In many
small cities where there Is no danger
of insufficient food, the gain in tiIne'
discipline and general efficiency from
having a warm meal served at noon
has led to the establishment OF d
more or less elaborate school lunch:
Women's clubs often take charge OF
the work. contributing their services
and selling the food, generaily at
slight profit or the lunch contract Is
let to a caterer. There are lunches
of the latter sort in some of the New
York City high schools.
The lunches started by the volun-
teer committee mentioned here are OF
a different kind. They are INTENDED
to combine a maximum OF nourlsn-
ment with a minimum of cost-to
give a sufficient meal to those VINO
have only a few pennies, instead OF
10 or Is cents generally spent LOT
high school lunches. The committee 3
purpose was merely to demonstrate
the need and the practicability of the
public school lunch in such neighoor-
hoods as it picked out, with the nope
that, having SO demonstrated 1t, the
city would take over the WORK Inc
demonstration is complete IN the
Judgment of the volunteer workers
and of the teachers in whose schoois
it has been tried and the city, al
although declining as yet to take
over the work, has given the commit
tee enough money to start four CEN
trail kitchens from which sixteen
schools can be served.
Marked Mental Improvement.
Tn 1911-12 the volunteer committee
served 174,199 lunches to an average
of 1900 children a day. IN seven
schools. For these lunches, where
each dish cost a penny, the children
paid s5.73036. This covered the cost
of the food itself, but the cost OF
service and administration made
deficit of slightly over cent on each
lunch.
The principal dish at these lunches
do nj g.
beans, macaroni lentils or meat and
vegetables-and the soup has to be
carefully adapted to the nationality
of the school, for these children, not
having enjoyed very wide expert
ence in the matter of food, are likely
to consider inedible things they have
not encountered at home. This soup
costs a cent, and everyone is sup
posed to take it. Two slices of bread
or three graham crackers are also a
cent. These made the piece de re-
sistance. Then there is hot cocoa at
a cent a cup, and a penny table"
where a bit of salad, fancy cakes and
cookies sweet chocolate like that
found in slot machines and sugar
coated apples on a stick Ga curious,
but vastly popular, desserD may also
be bought for a cent Three cents,
judiciously applied. will buy toler-
able luncheon-and an excellent one
when children bring their own bread
from homeland five cents invested in
soup, bread, cocoa and cakes-enough
for a man. Indeed the lunches are
sufficiently attractive to be taken by
the teachers, generally, in the schools
where they have been tried.
Providing for children who cannot
afford to pay for lunches is one of
the embarrassments encountered.
Anything like visible discrimination