The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-03-03
HOME HEALTH CLUB

edited by DR.. David H. Reeder, chi
cago, Ill.
PREPAREDNESS Just at this time
the subject of self defense is para
mount. It is quite probable that not
one man or woman in ten thousand
wants war. The unanimous cry is for
continued peace, at the same time So
per cent. of us know in our inmost
hearts that Gen. Washington was
right and that the only way to re-
main at peace is to be prepared for
war be able to maintain our honor
and our property.
Life itself, as I have said before, q,
continuous battle from the first cry
of the struggling infant to the last of
old age and he that is best equipped
with pure blood, good ancestry, ply
steal training and practical temper
fight.
In the battle of life the diet Of the
individual has much to do with his
success or failure and that leads me
to ask your cooperation in preparing
yourselves as well as the nation in the
one element of vital Importance in
sustaining ourselves if defence OF the
nation should ever call us to arms.
In reading accounts of the terrible
struggle going on in Europe, a letter
from a soldier in the trenches tells OF
continuous fighting for five days and
nights without food. The writer for
merly. worked in the stock yards OF
Chicago and like the rest of us, would
have thought it a great hardship II ne
should have been deprived of a single
meal. Guns and bullets and men and
ships, airships, submarines, torpedoes
and any other death dealing 1nstru-
ments are of no greater, If as great
Importance as food. The kind of food
is also of Importance If our defenders
are to retain strength and vigor.
of will ~.
Enense potato crop harvested in this
country a few years ago. Train loads
of them were sent to this market that
could not be sold for enough to pay
the freight charges. No attempt was
made to save this product of the far
mers' toll for a future time of need.
Dessicated potatoes could under the
proper conditions be kept almost indie
finiteIy. Every year we see many
thousand tons of good go to waste in
various parts of the country, while
in other parts people may be starving.
Last summer an effort was made to
save some Of the waste and several
car loads were gathered by Sunday
school children to be distributed
among the poor.
While 1 admire the loving spirit In
which this was done, it does not solve
the problem. The department of agri-
culture at Washington appears to be
doing it's best and at an enormous ex-
pense has gathered statistics and sent
them out in the form Of monthly crop
reports, special reports, ETC., but mat
ters appear to be even worse than be
fore. The information given out has
helped the Spectator, the storage men
and the dealers, but the farmers, the
producers and the consumers are even
worse off than before.
To illustrate: On January 1, this
year there were in the storage ware
houses Is per cent. more apples than
a year ago and although the farmers
received less for them than a year ago
the wholesalers are getting % pei
cent. more than a. year ago. In many
parts of the country potatoes were
sold a few months ago for 35 cents
per bushe1. AT present the poor of
Chicago must pay 35 cents per peck.
A few years ago there was a great
amount of talk and bluster about CIV
ing the farmers the right to work up
refuse and surplus produce into de-
natured alcohol, the talk as far as the
political effect was concerned was
fine but when the farmers wanted to
and cobs from the canneries he found
so much red tape and so many hun
cry inspectors to be employed that
the surplus again had to be thrown
into the discard.
Enough waste is produced annually
to supply denatured alcohol as fuel
for large percentage of the gas con-
Stunning engines of the country and if
the department would give more prac-
teal plans and less statistics it might
help the people to prepare food for
years and years of war, thus helping
producer as we'll as consumer.