Imperial Valley press., 1913-11-19
Haskin Letters
NV Frederic !. Haskin.)

| We are forced to believe that the
search for food was the first activ-
ity of man, and that the desire for
better food was the inspiration that
lied to the invention of cooking, upon
which all civilization is founded.
Throughout the succeeding centur-
les the chief business of the individ-
ual human being has been to find
food. In the beginning, man slew
wild beast and ate of its flesh; he
found a tree in the forest and ate of
its fruit. Slowly, slowly, as society
was developed, it became less and
less necessary for each man to be a
forager; a community delegated that
duty to one of its number; the vari-
ETY. of foods was increased, and there
developed the butcher and the baker
From the dawn of historic ages
down to the threshold of our own
times there was little change. Water
power had supplanted hand power for
grinding grain, but the butchers
business knew little change.
All of sudden, in the nineteenth
century, the manufacture of food was
transferred to the factory, just as
the manufacture of cloth had beer
taken away from the home in the
eighteenth century. By now, the sec
ond decade of the twentieth century
the transfer of the textile industry
from home to the factory is complete
There is no longer any home spin
ming or home weaving.
We still cook in our own homes
but we do it in diminishing degree
from day to day. In the cities we eat
bread from the bakery as matter
of course, and more and more we
depend upon canned goods for oul
food supply. In the country we still
bake our own bread supply, and here
also we are learning the value of
canned goods But here, mark the
difference, we are refusing to buy
canned goods from city factories. We
are recognizing the inadequacy of our
old-fashioned kitchens, and we know
we cannot put up vegetables for win
ter use by the old-fashioned meth
DDS, so we are installing canning fac
tories of our own so that in a few
years we who live on the farm, away
out in the country, will have vegeta-
bles on our table in winter just the
same as do you who dwell in the
city, with the grocery store at the
other end of the telephone wire.
1t is interesting to note that just
now more thought and more discus
sion are being devoted to the problem
of food than ever before, notwith-
standing the fact that this has been
the chief problem of all the ages
No little share of the credit for this
increased interest in discovering and
disseminating truths about food is
due to the canned goods industry.
in the beginning, as in the begin
ming of all other industries, there
were many experiments and some
failures. The failures of the packers
of canned foods proved that good may
flow out of evil, for they promoted
progress in two directions. They in
spired the Gamers to redouble eff
forts to "make good" and they in
spired the public to more insistent
demands for healthful pure foods.
The canning industry began with
the belief that the whole problem Of
preserving foods in tin cans was one
of mechanics; but in time it was dis
covered that the problem belonged to
chemistry and bacteriology. That
discovery made, failures were the
more readily discovered and the more
quickly corrected, until now we have
reached that stage where 80 per cent
of all the canned goods are purer.
more wholesome and more healthful
than foods not canned, and, therefore,
subject to the attack of chemical and
meteorological enemies.
There are several economic justifi
cations for the canned goods indus
try. In the first place, it enables peo
pie living far inland to eat seafoo6
and fish products in other than salt
ed and smoked condition.; in fact, il
was with the packing of salmon, oys
ters and lobster that the whole indus
try began. In the second place, can
ming preserves in approximately a
fresh condition vegetables and fruits
for use in the winter when they would
othedwise be absolutely unobtainable.
In the third place, canning removes
geographical barriers and permits
Maine TO eat California cherries while
California eats Maine Goldfish. These