Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-08-01


conveniences attending public authorlza-
ton Of their plans for the expenditure OF
| publ,c money for their preponoefah'
| benefit.
Augusta. July slst. 1916
Editor Kennebec Journal:
On July 10, the State Depart nen.
published a report on the milk supply
| in Germany prepared by DR.. A. -
TAYLOR, temporarily assigned 10 Inc
American Embassy in Berlin. Inc re-
port closed with these words:
"For tho present, certainly. there Is no
evidence that the children OF the GERMAN 1l
Empire are suffering from atr,tlona, o in
tubanceS dependent upon uii~ 40
milk in the diet"
It was announced that the report
was published iii the United STATES
with the approval of the German Gov
eminent. and since DR.. Alonzo E. Tay-
lor enjoys the reputation Of being an
impartial and fearless" man. it was
natural that a large part of the Ameri-
can press should feel relieved at the
thought that the British "olocKade ala
not affect the health and the lives OF
babies. In some quarters even resent
ment was expressed against the Cit
zens' Committee for Food Shipments
for trying to arouse general interest
in this suestion, and endeaVorlns 10
induce our Government to secure the
unhampered shipment Of milk to the
babies and nursing mothers in the Cen
tral Empires. whom the Committee had
represented as suffering from short
age in milk.
Will you permit me to state succinct-
ly, for the benefit of your readers, why
the Citizens Committee remains un-
convinced by the Taylor report.
In the first place DR.. Taylors report
while purporting to portray present day
conditions, was written more than
three months ago, and the ''approval
of the German Government seems to
amount to this: that the German Gov
eminent did not object to the publica-
ton in the United States of report
by a member Of the American Empas-
sy, and it is difficult to see how the
German Government could have Cd
jected to this.
In the second place DR.. Taylors re-
port is faulty as scientific document
in several places.
DIR. TAYLOR discusses the number or
mich cows in Germany, their FODDER
and the supply of milk. He acXnowl-
edges that the number of cows mas
heen reduced. This reduction we es-
innate from evidence at our disposal
to be at least is, or 100000 COWS.
AS regards the fodder he speaks OF
the reduction due to the poor crops OF
1914. and even on this score says that
the rations of the mich cattle nave
been reduced to the physiological MN
imurn." He does not mention that dur
ing the past generation Germany mas
never been able to raise enough fodder
for her cattle, the country being COM
naratiyely small for the sixty -elght
million people that inhabit it. During
1914 therefore. Germany imported cot
tonseed meal and oilcake, largely from
the United States, and other mix pro-
ducing protein fodder to the enormous
extent Of 6,315,495 tons. MOST people
will agree with us that report on the
milk situation Of Germany when does
not take into account the huge denclt
in the fodder of the cattle created by
the cessation Of these imports cannot
be deemed scientifically accurate.
In discussing the milk supply Dr.
| TAYLOR states that "in time OF peace
the milk production of the German
Empire is very large" but he forgets
70 mention that it has not been large
enough for years to supply the needs
of the ever-growing population. IN
1913. Germany imported in addition TO
her enormous fodder imports. 2os.s51
tons of milk, cream, butter and cheese,
from the surrounding countries. These
imports have today practically ceased
owing to the pressure of the Allies:
In discussing the use of milk by
adults Dr. Taylor fails to state that
this use has for years been remarkably
small in Germany. According 70 the
figures compiled by the London Board
of Trade, only one person out OF
little more than seven had quart OF
milk a day on the average. The Bos-
ton figures are one out of less than
two persons The Cleveland hgures,
one out of two, and this seems to be
the general American average BEFORE
the war, one person out of every nine
in Germany was child under four
wears of age, needing a quart OF milk
per day. 1t will be seen by these ng-
ures how speedily shortage OF milk
in Germany must affect the babies even
if all adults give up using milk. while
tine more expensive use of milk by
adults in America creates a much
larger margin of safety.
DR.. Taylor reaches his satisfactory
conclusions Of the milk conditions in
Germany from study Of the mortality
figures Of Berlin. We believe. in the
first place, that he has misinterpreted
these figures, and secondly that the
mortality figures of a city or country
may be temporarily reduced by in
creased attention paid to the welfare
Of the infants. in spite Of the existence
of a shortage or the prevalence Of an
epidemic A prominent New Yorker
told me recently that he felt convinced
that the general attention mothers,
nurses and physicians were giving to
the babies at the present time to guard
against infantile paralysis would result
in a decreased death rate for New
York City. Our belief. therefore, is
that DR.. Taylor's report on the milk
situation in Germany is as misleading