Evening star., 1917-05-27

the day. Food dictatorships have
|N been the order of the war in Eu-
q rope for two years past. ihey
may be necessary in the United STATES
as military measure of temporary
character. but they never will be popular.
The American prizes the privilege OF
wasting food as dearly as the Englshman
prizes the political liberty which makes
his house his castle. Yet, under the ors-
Ing of the Department Of Agriculture,
there is a prospect that the American
people will waste less food That is the
first step in national economies.
< x
The next step is the wider use Of nu-
tritious cereals, such as corn. Ihe snort
age in the wheat crop enforces the need
of using other sustaining foods. Wheal
is the aristocrat among cereals, ana al
ways will retain that place. But since
the war that the United States is wag1ng
on the side of the entente allies Is TOT
democracy it may be that the democratic
ha bit will become prevalent as to the con-
sumption of the cereals.
In the existing world shortage OF "hea5'
corn is the life-Saver. Rye Is very goou'
and in Germany rye bread serves the
same purpose as wheat bread. Germany
raises large crops of rye. In England and
France there is less cultivation OF this
cereal, and it's use is not common
Germany produces, in normal circum-
stances, above 4O0.000.O00 bushels Of rye,
as against 35,000,00O bushels IN france
and few million in the United Kingdom.
Austria -Hungary's production averages
about 125. 600. coo bushels. So 1t may be
assumed that even under war conditions
the central powers between them have
not far from 500. 100000 bushels OF rye
l.. lion
European Russia alone produces more
than double the amount of the German
rye crop. Probably 1T equals the total
production of both Germany and Austria
Hungary, but while the Russian rye is
available for food purposes in the land
of it's production, there is no chance OF
Transporting it to other countries of the
allies even if they were educated to its
use as food
The United States is not a large pro-
ducer of rye The crop for the last three
or four years has averaged somewhat
under 5OOoO,O00 bushels annually. and
much of the product is distilled into liquid
form for seasoned drinkers. who prefer
it to corn distilled in the same manner
Should Congress pass laws forbiddlng the
use of grain for alcoholic beverages our
ing war time this would make some mil
lion bushels available for bread. But even
as the situation now stands. there is
plenty of rye in the country which can
be converted into bread. and there are
some big wheat flour mills in the west
which also manufacture large quantities
of rye flour.
Yet all the cereals sink into insignifi..
canoe when it comes to the quantity OF
corn produced. The world produces on an
average above 4.o0O,000,00o bushels OF
corn annually. In some years IS per cent
States The hree-billion-bushel mark was
almost reached in 1915. when the actual
production was 2.s95,0oo,ooo bushels.
That was pretty good year for the
American farmer, for it was the year OF
the bumper wheat crop. The farm value
of the corn that year was S1.723,0 ,0O0,0 900.
but in the following year. although the
crop had dropped to less than 2.600.000.-
600 bushels the value on the farm was
$2,296,000.000. This year the experts say
there will be dollar corn, but nobody can
yet guess what the amount of the crop
will be- Whatever 1t is, it will be worth
taking into consideration in its relation
to food economy.
Notwithstanding the comparative cheap
ness of corn and its value as human food.
the estimated consumption for this pur-
pose in the United States is about 2OO,-
900 600 bushels annually Not more than
5c.O00.000 bushels are exported, and in
some years a much smaller quantity The
bulk of the crop is used for feeding stock.
Before he became Secretary Of Agricul-
turo "Tama Jim" Wilson had begun TO
educate the farmers of his own state on
the economic value of feeding corn to
their live stock, and particularly to hogs.
He continued it during his long term as
head of the Department of Agriculture.
The Iowa farmers profted by this advice.
until substantially the whole corn crop
was turned into pork and Iowa, IN the
census return. usually shows up with
100000 swine.
With hog products at their soaring
prices, it might seem that there would
hn No
corn crop for human consumption. but
the fact is patent that the United
States can raise plenty OF corn for
live stock. and still be able to provide
more than 200, 100000 bushels for hu-
man consumption.
Food experts IN educating the Amer
lean people to the great variety of
uses of corn as food are doing an i'm
mense public service. There are large
sections of the country where the value
of corn meal mush and milk as diet
is unknown, but there are other sec
tions where very sturdy people have
been nourished on it, The same is
true of hominy and other corn products
which have homely names. Nor are
hoe cake. corn pone and the dozen 9TH
corn breads limited to the south.
They are just as nutritious and taste
Just as good north Of Mason and Dix
on's line.
ne uSs VI corn loou 10 a
most unknown in European countries.
When jeremiah Rusk was Secretary of
Agriculture he undertook to educate
the European public to the value Of
corn as a diet. Congress made a small
appropriation, and an enthusiastic
champion, known as Corn Meal" Muir
ply, was sent abroad to advance the
movement. He gave dinners and ban
auets to the foreign officials and trade
bodies at which champagne was served
"as a side dish." one of the reports
said.
he mn or lka1v n