The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1917-10-26
FOOD ECONOMY
CAMPAIGN At HAND

This is a busy week for the various
committees which are preparing for
the food-pledge-card campaign to be
conducted next week. In all parts of
the country plans are being perfected
to visit every household
Medina county is doing it's full
share of preparation. The various To-
cal chairmen are assigning sections OF
each township or village to individual
workers who will see every housewife
before Nov. 4, when the drive closes.
This week the school boys and girls
are doing their part by distributing
the home cards, which explain quite
fully what the government hopes to
accomplish by this movement. People
who receive these cards are asked to
study them carefully, and keep them
hung up in the kitchen in conspicu-
Gus place as a constant reminder.
The signing of the pledge cards is
simply the closing act of great CAM
paign of public education, designed to
awake the whole people to the nee
essity for wise economy in the use Of
foods. It was never intended to ask
people to eat less than they needed,
but simply to apply common sense in
the matter of diet. Nor is it intended
to pry into the private affairs of any
family as to the amount of food stuffs
of canned or preserved fruits, vege-
tables, etc., there may be on hand.
The card is merely pledge to econo
mize, to make substitutions for meats
and milk products, whenever possible,
and apply the rules of wise economy
in the matter of sugar and wheat
foods.
Every hotel, restaurant and club,
where foods are served, is enlisted in
this movement. The former elaborate
bills of fare are no longer offered,
fewer kinds of meat and smaller help
ings the order of the day A less
amount of bread is served with each
order, and this is brought on with the
rest of the meal, not beforehand, as
was formerly the custom. Meatless
and wheatless meals will be observed.
From all this it will be seen that
all classes of people are being enlisted
in the movement. Rich and poor, far
mers and city-dweller, are all asked to
cooperate to enable an early and fav-
orable ending of the war now raging.
The wheat consumption in this
country offers very interesting set of
figures. We people of the United
States consume on an average five
pounds of wheat -four per individual
each week. This foots up to 523, ,772,-
900 pounds, or 2,672,306 barrels per
week.
If each person would consume but
! four pounds per week, it would cut the
consumption Of wheat 2096 or 534 .46z
barrels. In a years time this would
mean saving of 6,413,544 barrels,
enough to feed the whole nation three
months.
To replace the wheat, we are asked
to use corn meal, Oat meal rye and
buckwheat. By eating an extra po-
tato each meal, slice Of bread could
be saved and almost the same food
value obtained.
In this country we consume, on an
average, ounces of sugar per day,
for each person. In France the people
are on ration of less than one ounce
per day. If each of us will use three
ounces per day, instead of four, there
will be saved 100,000,000 ounces, g.
G66,666 pounds. or 1888 tons daily.
This means 100 600 tons monthly, the
amount asked fer by France for this
month.
Sugar can be saved by using more
honey, maple syrup, ETC., by oraitting
icings from cakes, by eating less
candy, and by cutting down on cakes
and cookies.
Housewives are requested to write
to the Home Economics Department of
Ohio State University, and to the Ma
tional government for pamphlets on
s. food conservation and substitutes.
The following is a copy of the pledge
card each housewife is asked to sign:
To the Food Administrator,
Washington, d. c.
l am glad to join you in the service
of food conservation for our nation;
and l hereby accept membership in the
United States Food Administrator,
pledging myself to carry out the di-
rections and advice of the Food Ad-
ministrator in the conduct of my
household, insofar as my circum-
stances permit.
-S-