Connecticut western news., 1917-03-01
NEEDLESS WASTE.

The extravagant wastefulness of the American people is without doubt conspicuous factor in the present alarm ing condition of affairs which is popu- larly called the high cost of living. If we knew as much as the French about preventing food waste there would be less worry iE this country over the scarcity of foodstuffs. Of course, enormous quantities of the good things produced ill this country have either gone to foreign lands or to the bottom of the ocean, and the latter is not only needless waste but downright wicked waste, a sinful destruction of the necessities of life, for the want of which thousands of innocent people are actually suffering, and in many cases literally dying.
 We call ourselves a civilized and en. frightened race and permit these awful wastes of foodstuffs, property, money aud human lives to continue. Con sistency, thou art a jewel" The lowest animals could not do worse. We waste a tremendous amount in this country because we do not know values. This waste is not all in the home; there is a waste of food on the farms, because the farmer is unable to market it for enough to pay the cost of transportation and selling. Waste in transit because of the lack of proper grading and packing and standardizing of the products as it leaves the farm. Waste in the city due to the delay in delivery because of the practice of pas. slug the food from ore dealer to an. other in speculation; and waste due to the total destruction in compliance with the law by the city inspectors in condemning whole packages of food, particularly fruits and vegetables and in some cases eggs. when only a small fraction of the article itself is damaged and the balance might we'll be pre-. served.
 The Meriden Journal has this to say of the wasteful and extravagant prac. tices ill the cities:
 Generally inefficient and extrava- gank methods of distribution are an important factor in the high cost of food in the city. Agents or drum. mers go to the country to solicit the shipments for a particular dealer. He has heavy expense and usually good salary. This comes out of the food. The produce is largely shipped in small lots at double the freight rates of carload shipments.
 When it reaches the city the con- mission dealer often buys it TOT his own account, or for the account of some company in which he is inter- ested. AS trustee of the producer he deals with himself. It then goes through the hands of several whole. .. salers and jobbers, frequently as many as seven in all, before it reaches the retailer. With it all is a duplication of carriage charges, first from the dock to the commission dealer, and then from one to another of the wholesalers and jobbers who speculate in it. When the house. wife buys her daily supply she pays her portion of the accumulated cost of wastes, commissions, extravaganza and profit.
 This system of sale and resale and speculation is encouraged, abetted, and maintained by system of cred. its extending all the way from tho commission dealer through to the re. taller. Losses are frequent and sometimes heavy. The loser is obliged to cover himself for these losses, and the producer and con. sumer bear the burden of the losses because the losing dealer is in posi- tion to shift the burden upon them.