Omaha daily bee., 1916-07-22
BY WOODS HUTCHINSON, M. D.

There is little actual reason for the
public to become wildly alarmed over
this 9oH per cent badness in the Of
fetal scoring of restaurants and
lunch counters because conditions in
public eating places have probably
always been just as bad as they are
now since the time when the men,
ory of man runneth not back to the
contrary-and we still survive in a
moderate state of preservation. The
only reason why we didn't know OF
them was that no private individual
had the stomach, and no public ofii-
cial took the trouble to penetrate
those steamy and smelly regions OF
mystery behind the battered and
sweat-marked swinging door at the
back Of the eating room. The occa-
sional whiffs which escaped from
there when the wind was in the right
quarter were. quite enough.
In the language of the hymn, there
are some things which "tis better not
to know" But now that their nauseat-
ing secrets have been discovered and
dragged out into the pitiless light of
day and published broadcast, there is
only one thing to be done, and that is,
wipe them out of existence, as the
restauranteurs have crestfallenly rec
ognized and are proceeding to do
with the best grace they may. OF
twenty-five, reinspected, over half
were found to have made marked i'm
provement. ,... qe.
Nor can it fairly be claimed that
this extraordinarily low rating of
great group of successful restaurants
is due to finicky and unattainable
standards of healthfulness. This was
the not unnatural conclusion sug-
gested in good many of the first
comments upon the findings. There
is nothing superhne or fantastic about
the shortcomings reported; nothing
that requires microscope to see or
chemical reaction to detect. Just an
ordinary eye and an unspoiied nose
and an average sense of decency and
cleanliness are all that is required.
No scrapings were made from
walls or refrigerators, or the cuffs
and lapels of waters jackets, no bac-
teriologic counts made of the plat
ings. no ANALYSES for tenths of per
cent of some adulterant, or for the
use of wood vinegar in place of cider
vinegar in the dressings. Every fault
found was perfectly visible to the
naked eye. Food was found standing
or stored on the floor. Cooks were
found preparing dishes with un-
washed hands and in filthy, ragged
clothing.
Scraps and leavings from the plates
were resurrected in the next days
soups and stews and minces. spot"
eggs and low grade, that is, rancid
butter, were used in the pastry and
puddings. Dishes and plates were only
half cleaned in greasy, reeking dish
water, or wiped upon Shiny, filthy
dishtowels. Dishwashers, scullery
men, and even cooks and walters,
were found at work with skin diseases
of the hands and face, catarrh, tuber-
culosis, even typhoid and other dis
gusting or communicable disorders.
Food which could not be sold upon
the delicatessen counter in open day.
light was sent back to the restaurant
and concocted into goulashes, and
ragouts and hamburger steaks. The
phrase "in the soup" has acquired a
new and sinister significance.
In fact, as Inspector Browne quiet
ly remarks, "The requirements for
scoring the grade good are only
such as any citizen would wish and
expect for the handling Of his own
food" They are nothing more than
would be expected as matter of
course in any decent private kitchen
Not that all home kitchens do come
up to those standards, but a good
many of them do. Fl.
One of the reasons why public
kitchens have got into this slipshod,
unhygenic custom of the trade way
of doing things is partly because they
are overcrowded and badly lighted,
and either on account of high rents
or of the desirability of using as much