The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1915-01-07
FOOD FOR LONDON
The Worlds Largest City Is Ever
on the Verge of Famine.
COULD BE EASILY STARVED.


Ravase the Great and Wealthy Me-
tropoIis-Sources of Its Provisions.
London is city and COUNTY, but II
is so immense and 50 diverse that 1t
might almost be said to be country.
One of the most striking things about
London is it's utter inability to feed
itself In the matter Of food its very
immensely is the cause of its utter de-
pendence If 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
1t produces practically nothing In the
shape Of foodstuff. 1t is like a great
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 loaves 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. a privilege no 9th
er 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 Islington. travelling
through the night, and on Mondays
and Thursdays the market opens at
dawn and continues till 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
Smithfield early next morning.
At 2 o'clock in the morning this
market is ablaze 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 1000 tons, but only a
fifth Of this meat is British, and much
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 $780,
600.
There are several markets in the
metropolis for such wares-Spitalfelds
| the Great Northern potato market and
the harrington fruit and vegetable
market-but the bulk of the apples,
oranges, lemons, onions. potatoes and
other roots that are brought from
France, Italy, Spain and Algiers find
their way from the docks Of Covent
Garden In common with the home
grown fruit and vegetables which
reach London from all points of the
compass in boxes and baskets piled
high on numbering vans.
Most Of the market gardeners sell
their own wares at ''the Garden. >
while the foreign stuff Is sold at auc-
ton. For 300 years this place has
been the premier market of London for
vegetables, fruits and flowers, and
there are firms who have traded be-
meath its glass roof for generations.
Some of the fish that feeds London
is landed on floating pontoon at the
river front Of Billingsgate market, and
at a very early hour in the morning
| one may, If he chooses, gaze upon fish
| ing smacks from the North sea. little
open barges loaded with fish that have
been hgbtered from larger vessels In
the docks and clumsy looking Dutch
titled under a charter granted by
| Queen Elizabeth to sail up the Thames
| and moor below London bridge.
The railway companies convey 79,.
600 tons of fish from different parts OF
the coast in the course of year, while
the boats convey $1,000 tons. The
tolling of big bell announces the
opening Of the market at o'clock, and
| thereafter the fishmongers are busy
buying. and the fish porters in their
long smocks and fat topped hats sour.
| ~ from the stalls to the carts bearing
fish boxes on their heads.
| The provision business is a network
of commerce in itself, but there is q
big daily distribution throughout Lon.
| don, because without it London would
have to live on dry bread. meat and
1etahleS--New York Press.