Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-11-30
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING

The -price-of-eggs problem may he
solved. in part, at least, by a little de-
| vice which has been in
Egg Shock vented In the Phila-
pa, delphia food research
laboratory of DR.. Mary
! f. Pennington of the United states bu-
reau of chemistry, and which. it is ex-
pected, will assist the governments ex-
perts in determining the causes for the
| breakage of large quantities of eggs in
shipment Contrary to general opinion,
many food authorities claim that the
high price of eggs is not caused nearly
as much by the boarding of them in
cold storage as it is by the excessive
| loss caused by breakage and deteriora-
ton because of bad handling.
In the food research laboratory of the
United States bureau of chemistry at
Philadelphia DR.. Mary E. Pennington
and her assistants have devised .shock
recorder which will record the time and
the kind Of shock which is received by
crate of eggs when breakage is caused.
The little machine records whether the
eggs were broken by perpendicular, hori-
zonIal or tangentia shock. 1t is expect
ed that this device will help shippers
and railroads to obtain sufficient data to
investigate the various causes of break
age and to check the excessive waste
which is going on over the country every
year.
When the railroads and shippers are
able to get information on how and why
eggs are broken it is expected that fully
10 per cent OF the country's egg supply.
which has probable total value of
$500, 100000, will be saved to the people
OF this country every year. To the per-
son who has not made a study of the
methods of handling eggs in transit the
breakage problem may seem unimpor-
tant. but inquiry will develop the fact
that large percentage of eggs are
broken in almost every large Shipment.
which means, of course. a decrease in
the supply and higher prices to the con-
sumers.
The problem of overcoming the loss of
eggs through breakage and by handling
is similar to the one which was faced
Dy the California citrus fruit growers
some years ago, when excessive, quaint
ties OF citrus fruits, particularly oranges.
were lost through deterioration in transit
Tor reasons which at the time were not
definitely known. G. Harold Powell. for
merly assistant chief of the bureau of
plant Industry and citrus fruit expert Of the
Department of Agriculture undertook a
series of investigations and found out
that the losses of the fruit were due to
many simple causes. In the clipping of
oranges from the trees, for instance. un-
der the system practiced in some or
chards. slight injury was caused to the
skin. These small punctures in the skin
caused the orange to break down." as
the fruit men say. in the course of ship
ment and deteriorate greatly. In the
handling of oranges in the orchards a
number of other means of injury to them
were discovered. and finally. through the
cooperative efforts of the citrus fruit
growers better systems of handling were
perfected. and vast sums of money were
thus saved to the growers and ultimately
to the consumers, who always have to
pay higher prices. of course, when the
supply of any food product is lessened.
The investigations which DR.. Penning-
ton is carrying on with the shock re-
corder will bring out many facts on how
and why eggs are broken in shipment,
and authorities will then be able to work
ping the excessive breakage At the
present time the breakage Of eggs is
taken as matter of course. and farmers
have to stand the loss and consumers
have to pay higher prices for the good
eggs which are obtained.
DR.. Pennington has already found out
that eggs are smashed more at some
times of the day than at others. For in
stance, shipment arriving at its desa
tination in the middle Of the night may
be so carelessly handled i'm trucking and
unloading from the car that far greater
damage is done than the same quantity
of eggs handled during the day. One
case investigated by Dr. Pennington and
her assistants in Philadelphia recently
disclosed the fact that the excessively
large amount Of breakage was found in
several consignments of eggs which had
been shipped into Philadelphia on a train
which arrived at o'clock in the morn
ing. She investigated carefully the rea-
sons for this heavy breakage and found
out that this early morning hour was
just about the time for the change of the
crew of men who unloaded the product.
and that in their hurry to get away they
smashed many crates unnecessarily
The bureau of chemistry experts have
also found that. good many eggs are
smashed in cars because of what is
known as "accumulative notion" The
constant jar of the train gradually draws
the crates together and the pressure
finally becomes SO great that at times
even whole row Of crates may be
smashed.
When the data obtained by means of
the little shock recorder, which IS placed
in test crates of eggs have been gath
cred. experts believe that means will be
soon discovered that will check such ex-
cessive breakage. and that millions of dol
lars thereby will be saved to the people
OF the country each year.
Government educational experts have
oeen carrying on a careIul study or the
work in cooperative In
Industrial dustrial education undo,
the so-called Fitchburg
plan at Fftchburg, Mass.
In this industrial city, which is about
fifty miles from Boston, the school au-
thorities have worked out an educational
plan which is based on the theory that
industrial training is apt to be successful
| in the proportion that it is adapted to
real conditions.