The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1914-08-21
FOOD FOR LONDON
The Worlds Largest City Is Ever
on the Verge Of Famine.
COULD BE EASILY STARVED.

If Supplies From Abroad Were Cut OF
For a Few Weeks Death Would
Ravage the Great and Wealthy Me-
tropoIis-Sources of Its Provisions.
London is city and Il county, but 1t
is 50 immense and 50 diverse that it
one OF the most striking things about
London is its utter inability to feed
itself IN the matter of food its very
immensely is the cause OF It's utter de
pendpnre II supplies were cut OF
from without it would starve TO death
in few weeks.
1t is the richest city in the world
1t has palatial shops, thousands of
stores and countless warehouses;, but
it produces practically nothing in the
shape of foodStutf 1t is like a great
baby that has to be fed by its mother
the world, and the produce of the world
fills the mouths of its 100000 inhab-
itantS.
BY the rail- the river and the road
all that LOndoners eat and drink is
brought to them, and three-quarters of
it all is conveyed in ships from abroad
Until the beginning of the nineteenth
century London had no docks. Today
they cover an area of twenty-five miles,
and wheat from the United States,
| Russia. Canada and the Argentine Is
disgorged into their granaries from the
holds Of ships like so much sand.
Many Londoners have never seen the
docks. but two Ioaves out of every
three that they eat are made from the
grain that comes to them through those
docks.
Most of the grain ships berth In the
Victoria docks, but since they are SO
necessary to the city's welfare they
have the right to moor at any quay in
the port Of London. IA privilege no 9th
err vessels possess.
The London butchers never cease to
sound the praise of English beef and
mutton, but they sell little that is real
ly English All the cattle that are
shipped to London alive pass ashore
at Deptford into the market which
| stands on the site of the dockyard
where Peter the Great learned ship
| building. Every animal Is inspected
by a government official. and those that
are in any way diseased are killed and
cremated straightway
Cattle come by train from all parts
of the kingdom TO the Metropolitan
cattle market at lslingtOn. travelling
through the night and on Mondays
and Thursdays the market opens at
dawn and continues iii 3 O'Clock in
the afternoon The cattle that are
sold are driven to the slaughter houses
and killed. and the meat Is ON sale at
Smithtield early next morning
At 2 O'Clock in the morning this
market is abaze with light, and the
streets in the vicinity are blocked with
railway vans At o'clock the sales
men are in their places and soon aft
erward the buyers from the big shops
arrive, and the sawdust strewn ave
nues of red and yellow carcasses are
thrOnged
Smithfeld's daily supply of beef and
mutton Is about l6OO tons. but only g
fifth of this meat is British, and muct
of the mutton comes from New Zea
land via the Victoria docks,
The county of Kent is noted for Its
fruits and vegetables, but London
would be unable to satisfy its craving
for green stuff without the aid OF 9th
er countries The miscellaneous vege
tables annually brought into England
from abroad are worth close to $1,000,
900
There are several markets in thu
metropolis for such wares-Spitalhelds
the Great Northern potato market ant
the Farringdon fruit and vegetable
market-but the bulk of the apples
oranges. lemons. onions. potatoes ant
, other roots that are brought IRON
, France. Italy, Spain and Algiers fn'
their way from the docks of Coven
Garden In common with the hom
grown fruit and vegetables whic
reach London from all points OF tn
compass in boxes and baskets pile
high on numbering vans
< Most of the market gardeners SCI
their own wares 1T the Garden,
, while the foreign stuff Is sold at aut
. ton For 300 years this place ha
. been the premier market Of London 10
I vegetables. fruits and flowers, an
O there are firms who have traded on
@ meath its glass roof for generations.
n Some of the fish that feeds Londo
, Is landed on a floating pontoon at tn
v river front Of BillingSgntp market an
h mt very early nour in the mornln
q one may, If he chooses. gaze upon hsl
10 ing smacks from the North sea, hit
q open barges loaded with fish that haN
n been lightered from larger vessels
the docks and clumsy looking Dutc
% galiets loaded with cells which are Ell
IA titled under a charter granted I
NJ Queen Elizabeth to sail up the Thamt
and moor below London bridge.
,e The railway companies convey 4
10 600 tons of fish from different parts I
M the coast in the course of year. VIVA
pr the bOntS convey $1,000 tons, Fi
Of tolling OF II big bell announces II
II. openinc at th. market ut O'clock, NJ
ne thereafter the hShmun"erS are hu'
buying. aud the fish purtrr> III lht
" long SmuckS and fat topped hats Scu
cd nv from the stalls to the carts hehrll
lu 6cb bnNaS mn their heads
TX The provision business Is ii netwo
fl. of commerce In itself, but there is
~ big daily distribution throughout Lo
At. don, because without 1t London wou
have to live on dry bread. meat al
yegetabIes.-New York Press.