Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-10-23
copyright. 1914. by A S. Gray)
FOOD SELECTION.

press that the average length of life
is increasing, and this leads many of
us to go very complacently about our
business, feeling that in some way a
paternal power will watch over, care
for and guard US. This dangerous de-
fusion is entertained by very large
majority of our people, and the result
is shown in the steadily climbing NOR
tally percentage for ages above forty
years.
Because the infants are so helpless,
the heart of humanity has been
stirred by the slaughter among the
little ones, and vast amount OF or
ganized work has resulted, producing
an enormous reduction in mortality at
the infantile end Of the scale, and this
has had material effect in showing
an average life extension; but as yet
society has not reached the point of
development where it guards the ma
turing individual against the results
of errors in diet.
II we were living life that even
Appropriated the normal there would
be little danger to be apprehended
from our food supplies. But under
the highly artificial conditions Of mod
ern urban life so many of our foods
are now distributed in original sterile
packages, ''predigested" and otherwise
processed in order to preserve them,
and we are so far removed from the
point of origin of our food matter
that increasing numbers are losing
all idea of the normal appearance of
natural foods, and the ability to meas
ure and judge intelligently the value
of the claims made by manufacturers.
According to Bunge, the census
taken December 1, 1900, showed that
of the 1882 children born alive in
Berlin 1888, more than 25 per cent,
and this mortality was distributed in
the proportion of only one in every
10 among the breast-fed children, as
compared to one out of every two
among the handled children. Ger
many undoubtedly leads the world In
painstaking investigation of food ques-
tons and for military reasons the gov
eminent exercises quite a strong pa
ternalistic supervision over public
food supplies. Undoubtedly this will
account for the fact that statistics
seem to prove that Germany, among
all the great nations, is the only one
whose army recruits appear to show
an average increase in stature and
weight.
If we observe carefully how nature
has adapted the composition of milk
to the needs of every species of nam
NAL, and then consider how ignorant
we are concerning the nature of food
stuffs and Of the process of digestion
in general it is not a matter of won
der that in spite Of the greatest eff
forts of our experts the natural diet
of infants has not so far been sue
cessfully replaced by artificial food.
On the other hand, in view of all the
data available we should not be sur
t prised to find that wherever, through
physical necessity or as the result of
Indifference on the part of mothers,
children are reared artificially, they
tend to show evidence of racial degen-
Grafton and disease and crime" OBJ
viously, the same principles apply to
youth and maturity as they do to in
fancy, and therefore 1t becomes. the
personal duty of each individual to
know what to eat, how to eat it and
why he eats it.
Bulletin No. %, United States de-
partment of agriculture, being "The
Chemical Composition of American
Food Materials" should hang in the
kitchen of every home in the United
States. The bulletin can be bought
from the superintendent of documents,
government printing office, Washing
ton, D. c., postage prepaid, for ten
cents.
The document gives a brief history
Of the investigation of the chemistry
of foods since the first steps made by
Liebig some fifty years ago; 1t shows
the various cuts of beef, veal, lamb,
mutton and pork, and then gives ia
bles showing the composition in
water, refuse, protein, fat, carbohy-
drate and ash Of various meats, ce-
reals, vegetables, fruits, dairy prod
ucts and nuts, and the food value of
all as measured by the calories per
pound. From these data it is very
easy to figure out and arrange varied
and balanced ration that will go far
toward solving both the high cost of
living and the problem of good health
and happiness.
Much of the published data on the
subject OF diet is not readily available
to people IN general, for the reason
that so much is compiled from foreign
writer's, who use a different system
of weights and measures, and it is
both tedious and confusing to figure
out and transpose the values. In the
tables in bulletin No. % the values
are given in calories per pound, and
1t Is quite easy to harmonic them
with foreign data by remembering
that one pound is equal to 1896