Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-11-30
WHY TO SAVE FOOD, AND HOW
The Waste of Fats
BY DR.. Ray Lyman Wilbur

THE stout, self-centered man leaned back in his
chair at the table and gave a sigh or salts
- faction. He had just eaten several slices OF
wheat bread, each covered with a thick layer Oh
butter. But another slice of bread still lay before
him. He smeared that also with deep covering
of butter, and whistled to his dog. That animal
like his master, was stout from over-eating. But
he took the bread and butter at one gulp.
In this everyday drama, the dog cuts the pet
ter figure. He couldn't know that wasting butter
was inexcusable; the man should have known and
acted on his knowledge
If you had pointed out TO this complacent gen
tleman that he might just well have sneaked
of the rations destined for soldiers or our
allies soldiers and fed them to his dog, he would
have glared at you in semi-apoplectic rage Yet
that is precisely what he doing 1t is just what
every person is doing who wastes wheat and fats
nowadays.
Careful estimates indicate that in the house
holds of this country over 100000 tons of fat are
wasted every year. Just stop to think what that
means-1 900 900, 900 pounds of fats lost mainly
through carelessness For it is carelessness rather
than any sort of culpable negligence that is re-
sponsible for that parade of ciphers. Most peo-
pie who waste fat simply do not take the trouble
to think. They have let their minds get into the
groove of considering fat a sort of refuse. AS
result they throw it away automatically
And this "they" is altogether too likely to
mean YOU.
You let it go from the dinner plates into the
garbage pail.
You let the butcher where you buy your meat
trim off the fats and keep them to dispose he
sees fit Yet you have paid for that fat It's
rightly yours If you do not care to make use OF
it in your cooking, nevertheless why not take
it home and shoulder the responsibility of seeing
that it is not wasted?
You employ animal fats in cooking when you
could easily enough vegetable fats.
You use butter in the kitchen when you are
every day throwing away scraps of meat fat which
could be made to serve the same ends.
You are preparing more fried foods than your
system demands, for no other earth than
you have been in the habit of having about so
much fried food in the past.
Go h. hx md
by pound, ton by ton until that half million tons
is gone forever
And these fats are needed today, every penny
weight of them, needed never before.
The saving of even portion of the butter now
used in cooking will go far toward solving present
day milk problems. Children must have milk They
need it tor their health at the moment, and their
growth and development in the future. Yet during
the last fifteen years the per capita supply of milk
in this country has dropped from ninety to seventy
five gallons yearly Beside this place the fact that
almost two-thirds of the milk produced in the
United States is used for making butter and cheese
The conclusion is obvious: If less butter is
used in cooking and less Is wasted, less butter will
have to be made. If less has to be made, there will
be greater amount of milk released for other
purposes
And nowadays these ''other purposes" are max
ing peremptory demands. ..-n 81.
Not only is milk for the children needed but
also much milk in condensed form has been ship
ped to the soldiers in the trenches.
Why don't our allies get it from their former
sources OF supply? The answers varied, but
not to be escaped. England has been killing many
of her cattle for food in order to release pas
turage land for tillage. In France and Belgium the
Germans have laid waste, or are occupying much
of the land formerly used for dairy cattle And
Switzerland is having plenty to do to take care OF
herself without being able to help supply the allies
For the allies boys in the trenches (includng
our own to get the milk products they need is
no easy matter. And every time you waste butter
you make it less easy.
The glycerine used in explosives also requires
fats in vast quantities. The demand there is
steady, insistent. 1t constitutes one more reason
why we must all help fats in the households
of the land.
To- aid in this work the United States food adj
ministration has been taking special pains in work
Ing out adequate advice for the housekeeper
In forthcoming article | shall outline some
of the most important of this advice
The glory of the United States navy is none
the less brilliant because for the time being it is
more or less anonymous