Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-01-11
Nine. de la RuelIe Also Con-
tends French Foods
Are Purer.
CONDEMNS COLD STORAGE
GOODS AS UNWHOLESOME
Paris Inspector Of Labor Says Our
Women Are Spoiled, But Pays
Tribute to Men.

| MINE de Ia Aueile .oI FarlS, govern
ment inspector of labor in the Paris dis
trict, has arrived in Washington. in the
| course of tour of the United States
which she is making at the direction of
| the French government, for the purpose
of studying methods Of vocational train
| ing in schools and factories in this coun-
| try.
| Nine. de Ia Ruelle, who enjoys the dis
tinction of being one Of the few woman
attorneys of France. although her duties
| as labor inspector prevent her from prac-
ticing her profession, is at the Powhatan
Hotel, where she will remain for several
days, while here to see the French am
| bassador and go through one or two in
situations in Washington. She comment
ed yesterday to- reporter for The Star
on a number of important differences be-
tween the French and American people
as she has found them. She had, partic-
ularly, some striking observations to
make on the subject of food and cooking.
In factories. you see," Nine. de la
Ruelle said, you do not teach children
as much as we do, and in some respects l
do not think you do in the homes. So far
as the factories are concerned, your IN
dustries are more mechanical than ours.
We make an important point of teach
ing children dressmaking. millinery and
the domestic arts, particularly cooking.
French Are More Artistic.
You know, we are more artistic. in
France, than you are over here. You
are, so to speak, in the beginning of home
economies You must learn, think, how
not to waste SO much, and to make bet
ter food Your food is not all pure. For
instance, your bread is not good. 1 have
gathered the impression that your bread
is made only with starch, and that the
gluten has been taken out to make &C.
reals.
In France, even among our children,
our sense Of taste is quite strong. II
is by the sense of taste that l gather
the impression mention. l should say
it is wrong to give the children of a
nation the sort Of bread I have tasted
and eaten here, and
At this point Nine de la Ruelle recoi-
lected the American homes at which
she pointed out she had been hos
pitably entertained, and she began to
question the propriety of allowing
herself to be interviewed on the sub
ject Of the bread she had broken in
her friends homes. So she talked of
the bread in the restaurants.
After ALL" she said, lit is factory
question, and the real subject is the
manufacture of flour, isn't it? You see.
L
sequence of my work as inspector of
labor in Paris, and these things strike
me, that's all. 1t seems SO useless for
travellers to come here to this great
to say about 1t. I am not sure that 1t
is courteous. and that will not be
misunderstood"
Children Here Not Well Fed.
She was assured that her Impressions
were just what were wanted, and re-
sumed her comment upon the food of
children.
I'm France, you see, we give the chill
dren wholesome bread" she said, land
| with it some cheese and a little wine.
That makes wholesome meal. But 1
am not sure that American children
are so well fed. and am sure your
grown people are not. Sometimes the
'putter served here Is not pure. frankly;
that Is, none except the most expen-
sive. The average, medium priced but
ter is not good. In France It always is.
Then, again, in Paris there is only
one place in the big market where cold
| storage meats are sold. And there is a
big, prominent sign up over that to in
dicate the fact. Only the cheap restau-
rants in Paris buy cold storage meats.
meat to cold storage beef. and they de-
| clare 1t Is much more wholesome. A
horse is hurt in Paris; there has been an
accident, perhaps. and the animal is i'm
mediately killed and the flesh sold. That
meat is very good, really.
| 1T must be very unwholesome for you
here. to eat SO much cold storage fowl
and canned goods We don't eat canned
goods in France. 1 might buy a can. ed
pineapple, perhaps, occasionally, because
at home fresh pineapples cost from 81 to
81 each. and occasionally we buy canned
green peas in winter. But as a RUE all
our foods are eaten fresh and mature
and pure. Here your vegetables very
often are gathered when green. imma-
ture. in the south, for consumption at
distances, and in consequence they lack
flavor when they come on the table.
All Frenchwomen Good Cooks.
ALSO, in France every woman is a
good cook. I mean 1t, literally every
| woman. That is not true in this coun-
| try. Now, I am lawyer, and a gov
eminent inspector of laobr. yet 1 assure
you l can cook anything and every
thing Here you teach your girls to be
doctors and lawyers, and what not, in
| the professions, but you do not teach
great dearth Of cooks in this country
Cooking is not science, to be ac-
qu!red from books. 1t is the thing YOU
should teach your children when they
are little ana near their mothers and
near the stove"
Nine. de la Ruelle laughed away the
fear she said came to hear that she was
| creating the impression she had not had
| anything fit to eat In the United States.
Fortunately" she said. Il have visited
| in homes here where the cooking has
been very good. but, as a rule. you do
consider too much that cooking is SCI
ence and you do not enough consider that
1t Is really an art
Speaking of her first impressions upon
| arriving in the United States, Nine. de
| la Ruelle declared that the one made
upon her by New York was appalling. 1T
is such frightfully rushing place. she
| said, land the people are SO busy, and
| the people SO absorbed in their own af-
fairs. apparently, that l don't wonder
that 1t stuns visitors at first.
American Man Is Fine.
II think. on the whole, that one must
understand the American people to get
the best out Of a trip to this country
And that understanding does come as the