The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-08-02
A NEW SAVING PLAN
THE ToPEKA STATE JOURNAL
IMPORTATION BUREAU
BY Frederic D. HasLir, Director.
Washington, ID. @.

market noticed several baskets OF
string beans standing in corner
How much are those? ?" she asked the
merchant. +" Oh, those are moldy,
explained the merchant. Il am not
selling them
The matron picked up Il handful OF
the beans. A damp gray mold COW
cred some of them. but f. every one
that was moldy there were five or SIX
perfect beans What are You going
to do with them?" she inquired fin
ally Throw them away" said the
truck merchant; At which the laoy
walked thoughtfully away. bordering
the country's lack of system. The DAY
before she had been in quarter of
Washington where even moldy beans
would have been greeted with the ut
! most enthusiasm.
Suddenly, she retraced her steps to
the truck merchants stall. why
don't you give those beans to some
poor people?" she asked That gem
tleman was busy putting up the days
orders Cant afford to bother with
them" he asserted briefly, grabbing
up "a paper bag and thrusiing head
of lettuce in it. IF 1 stared distrfb-
uting waste products among the poor
/ wouldn't have time fo- any other
business
The matron of this Incident was
Mrs P. p. Claxton, wife o. the United
States Commissioner of Education.
Mrs Claxton, who has been serving
on numerous food preservation COM
mittees for war relief, had an idea
which amounted to nothing less than
an inspiration. According to Assist
ant Secretary of Agriculture, Carl
Vrooman and other conservation ex-
perts, it is the most practical idea
that has yet been evolved concerning
this problem. Here it is:
In the first place, the question of
food preservation is something which
should be undertaken by each mu-
nicipality rather than by scattered
committees of women, who, however
energetic and efficient, are hamper
ed by the lack of authority and Or
ganization. The work that they are
doing in encouraging women to pre-
serve food i'll their own homes could
not be done any better, but expert
ence has shown that this alone does
not solve the problem. Grocers will
not give away or sell at small cost
waste products to women who would
otherwise buy better goods at higher
prices; many women have not the
time to can food, and others attempt
the task only to meet with failure.
The idea is to esta blish a central
food preservation station in each and
every municipality, preferably IN
a public school or some empty build
| ing near a market. 1t should not be
difficult to get people to donate the
ment must be installed for preserving
food on a large scale-canning and
drying apparatus, glass jars, stout
paper bags and kitchen tools for the
workers. These stations will be in
charge of paid domestic science teach
ers, who will supervise the work of
volunteer assistants. A motor truck
will be needed to collect the produce
and carry it to the station.
OF course, in order to start an
1 E., III III
money will be needed, SO perhaps the
first act of the municipal food preser-
walton committee should be to estab-
| lish a finance committee. The money
will have to be raised by subscription.
| There must be funds with which to
buy at a small cost the food which
merchants refuse to give away;
money to buy the working equipment,
to pay the domestic science teachers
and to pay for gas, and for gasoline
| with which to run the delivery end
, of the business
The second committee in line of i'm
portance is the food-gathering COM
mittee. 1t will be the duty OF the
members of this committee to make
a daily canvass of stores, small truck
patches and farms where they will
| solicit food for the station. In Mary
| land in spite of a vigorous conserva-
ton campaign, thousands of bushels of
strawberries rotted on the ground be-
cause the farmers could not get hands
| to pick them and the price of straw
berries in the city market did not pay
for the labor and rate of transporta-
ton. Next year, it is planned to send
gangs of volunteer strawberry pickers
and other harvesters from the food
preservation stations to the surround
! ing farms, which will be glad to sell
their produce at a minimum cost
rather than to see it wasted.
That this waste was not confined to
Maryland but took place in other
states this year is proved by reports
received by the department of agri-
culture. One man in Virginia wrote
to the bureau of farm management not
long ago, and said that his truck patch
was producing five times as much as
gladly give the stuff to the government
| If it would send someone to get it.
Then there was the case recently of
dairy farmer on the outskirts OF New
1 York who was severely rebuked by a
food conservation committee of that
city for dumping gallons of buttermilk
/ into his pastures. The dairyman wrote
to the committee and explained that 1t
did not pay him to ship buttermilk to
New York because there was not Suffl-
cient demand for it. He would gladly
give it away to anyone who called for
/ it, he asserted, but in the meantime
he intended to use it for fertilizing his
land.
/ Hne SQUEEZING anu COtleClihS CUM
mittee of a food conservation center
would have little difficulty in obtain
ing produce for canning and drying
| either free of charge or at a very
small cost In addition to the large
/ farms, there are many small truck
patches and gardens that have been
started this year for patriotic motives.
For example. on vacant lot in WASH
ington there is a neat little truck
patch which is yielding bushels of
string beans and cabbages 1t Is
worked by young girl who is a gov
| eminent clerk and her brother, an
automobile agent. For the past month
! they have raised so much more than
| they can use that every morning they
get up early, load a large quantity of
string beans and cabbages into the
automobile and take it to the various
| settlement houses.