The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-06-02
CONTROLLING NATIONS FOOD
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
BY Frederic j. Haskin. Director
Washington. ID. @.
IA New Science

Will furnish basis TOT the IeCOA
struction of Europe upon more eff
cient plan. 1t is the first effective
and scientific measure that has beer
taken against the high cost of living
These facts are made clear by
study of the methods of food admin
istrat ton used in Europe, which are
the models of the measures now be-
fore our congress. This new science
is by no means complete or perfect,
! but it is worthy of the name because
principles governing the distribution
and consumption of food have been
discovered. which are the same for all
nations, end upon which sound meth
DDS may be based.
One of the most important of these
principles is that the distribution of a
nations food cannot be controlled by
laws, but must be placed in the hands
of an administrative authority with
broad powers. Germany has a food
dictator. In England food admins
tration is in the hands of one man;
| in France and Italy small committees
| hold this enormous power. Owing to
the need for prompt action, and for
constantly changing regulations to
meet changing conditions, this con-
centration of power is recognized by
experts as absolutely necessary. And
the one-man administration, in cases
of emergency, is almost always more
Colonel Goethals says, nearly all
| boards are narrow and wooden. That
| is why the United States is to have
a food dictator, deriving the very
| highest powers from congress thru
the president. Farmers and other
| citizens testifying before the house
committee on agriculture asked that
the food administration should be in
| the hands of a commission upon which
producers middle men and consumers
would all be represented. That would
| undoubtedly be more in accordance
with American traditions. 1t might
| be hazarded that if the new and eff
cient methods of feeding the nation
which have been evolved should be
made permanent part of the ma
! tiona1 government, some such board
would administer them. But during
| the emergency of war, a less cumber-
some method is a necessity.
Having established this central
power, The methods of increasing the
nations food supply are to stimulate
production, lower the cost of distri-
button. and keep the unit of consump-
| ton as nearly as possible at the physi-
/ illogical norm. In the United States,
all three of these things entail the
elimination of waste-Waste land.
wasteful transportation methods,
waste in homes.
The necessary preliminary to the
application of any of these methods is
| a food survey. This, which is the
| least comprehensive of the adminis-
tration food measures to the layman,
is the most valuable of all to the food
| expert. The survey will cost millions
! of dollars and it will take at least six
months to complete it. But when it
has been made, the food administra-
| ton Will know just exactly how much
| each DrOdnCf ntrU
the sources of it, and how and where
it is moving. This information is nee
essary for all three of it's methods. 1t
Will show what lines of production
should be most stimulated, where the
! loss comes in distribution, what per-
| centage of waste there is, and how
much of it occurs on the farm. how
much on the road and how much in
homes. 1t will show these things. not
to the pound, but with sufficient ac-
curacy for the purpose. For the food
survey is no experiment. 1t is an es-
tab1shed part of the science of food
conservation. Germany, France and
England have all made such SURVEYS.
they have found them Indispensable
ana the greatest value of these food
statistics will be after the war. when
the civilized world will have more
need than ever to use it's resources
| with the utmost care and efficiency.
The survey having been completed,
then, the next step will be to deter
mine how much of our national food
supply we are wasting, and how. Get
ting the percentage of waste is a sim
pl Mathematical operation From
the food survey the crop statistics, and
slaughter house reports, the import
and export figures, the estimate of
amounts stored in houses, will be COM
puted the amount of food consumed
in day in the United States, and this
will be converted into calo1ics, which
are the accepted rutritiotial units. This
result will be divided by the whole
population, giving the average num-
Der of Galleries used Ter day per per-
son. Now an estimate will be made
of the number of ca1ories the average
American actually consumes in a day.
The difference between this and the
first figure will be the amount that Is
wasted daily. For example in Great
Britain the food survey showed that
for each individual 800 calories a
day were being used. This amount
would be heavy eating for working
man. The average consumption was
found to be only about 2,400 calories.
Therefore the average daily waste pei
person in Great Britain was 200
calories day. Even in a country SO
famed for its economies as Germany,
it was, found that 80 per cent of the
food production was being wasted, and
Germany has kept alive largely by
cutting that waste down to mini
mum.
The survey will not only determine
the amount of this waste, but will
show where it occurs-whether in
|. production, distribution or consump-
| | ton. Nearly all foods are wasted to
some extent in the home, but it has
been found that the waste differs for
different products and classes OF
products. For example, the greatest
waste of potatoes is blamed upon the
producer, for the incorrect methods
of storage used by farmers are re-
sponSible for an immense loss. Green
vegetables are wasted chiefly in the
channels of trade; they rot in cars and
in retail stores and city markets.
In these ways the new science OF
food conservation determines the
| amount of a nations needs, of its sup
plies and of its wastes and losses. Il