Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-01-31

CnlcaSO, H., Jan. 3O.--Bread was
lying in a box Of potatoes. A wo-
man came in and bought a loaf. 1t
was wrapped in a piece of dirty
newspaper picked up from the floor.
The woman st]orekeeper has blood
poisoning in her hand and goes to
the dispensary everyday"
This excerpt from a report on a
Boston grocery indicates conditions
which a be matched in every large
city and may small ones, says an ar
,ticle prepared by the Survey bureau.
insufficient number OF inspectors,
lack of information about the distri-
button of food supply, and general
apathy of consumers guarantee filth,
rottenness and disease as a sauce
for II meals. Men have swallowed
this seasoning unsuspeciingly and
and laid their troubles Ia the COOK.
But the WOmen-the cooks and the
to be blamed
without cause From Boston to San
Francisco they are IN the job, en-
listed in municipal leagues, house,
wives leagues, and consumers
leagues to get pure food, clean food,
safe food for themselves and their
families.
Inquiry in Boston
In Boston the Women's Municipal
has just completed an inves-
tigation which shows how the pro-
verbal "peck Of dirt" can be eaten
nobody bothers about food supplies.
The condition of the shop described
above is not an extreme example Of
Of shops in the Hub. The report,
just isued by the league, maintains
dirty conditions are to be found
in a large number Of stores.
IN fact, the investigation of city
markets conducted by the league re-
veals many horrors. OF which the
consuming public has long been in
blissful ignorance. During the year
systematic inquiry covering the
city of Boston was made into
the condition Of fish and meat mar
kets, provision shops, and groceries
green vegetables, meat, or
In all 2,447 such shops we're in
spected, GA in Boston proper.
Work Done by Professor.
The work done either by Thomas
McCracken, now assistant professor
of education at the University Of
Utah, or by the two regular inspectors
employed by the market committee
Of the Woman's. Municipal league.
the investigation the lea
que had the interest Of the Boston
board of health
The tables prepared from the data
collected s%ubstantiate the sensational
descriptions Of individual shops. In
he city proper, for example, 20 per
cent, or nearly one-third of the GA
hons, are rated as bad. Of the
,447 shops in all districts BIG az
Der cent? are listed as bad 1925
..46 per cent? as medium, and 9i5 80
ser cent? as good.
IN determining tho grades a system
# credits was used, suggested by re-
Of state boards Of health / n
western states. The sum to-
al of C"ed'- possible tnr any shop to
,Atain was 20, each question on the
ard covering a certain number Of
Any shop which failed to get
is rated bad, those with a rating
between ten and fifteen, inclusive,
re called medium and those with
and over good.
Map Show Good and Bad Shops.
All the shops have been marked up
IN maps of the city, with blue stick
rs for good shops, green for the
Medium, red for the bad. BY this gra-
,hic device it is possible to see at a
glance the characteristic quality of
markets in any neighborhood or in
Whole sections.
The larger shops maintain with few
EXCEPTIONS a standard of cleanliness
n cyces of any reasonable demand
can be made by customers. AS
he report states. if they alone were
concerned "the matter might proba-
Nv be left to the progressive spirit
nd high standards Of the majority Of
callers" But the health and econo-
mic usefulness of a large part of the