The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-05-21
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM A TON
BURE AU
FREDERIC J. f1ASKIN, Director.
washfu~fop n q
THE VISITING HoUsEKEEPER.
Washington. D. C.

THE VISITING HOUSEKEEPER.
| Washington. D. c., May 1S.-The
latest thing in food conservation is
the visiting housekeeper. She is an
important feature of the war program
| of Missouri women, who recommend
| her as the most efficient method they
have found tor teaching Iood econ
omy. The women war workers OF
that state, being true Missourians.
recognize the popular desire to be
shown-even in matters of house
| I.eeping. Twenty lectures on food con-
servation will not teach as much as
one actual demonstration, they assert,
! especially when that demonstration is
made in a persons own kitchen, with
his own materials anu cooking uten-
| sis.
| The visiting housekeeper has been
needed for a long time, just much
| as the visiting nurse, but it took the
war to show that need Last winter
| it became apparent 10 the women OF
Missouri in touch with charitable or
CARNATIONS that the high prices OF
food were playing havoc with the
health of many communities Ihe
! mortality rate from starvation rose
alarmingly. and an epidemic of under
nourishment swept the whole state.
An investigation was made by the
woman's central committee of Mis-
souri, affiliated with the national wo-
mans committee of the council OF ma
Itional defense, the results of winch
showed that it was Impossible, at cur
rent food prices, to feed family OF
six with a balanced healthful diet on
a dollar a day-which is all that can
be spent on food when the weekly IN
come is fifteen dollars. There were
many families of four whose income
is much less than this.
| But it was also discovered that fami-
lies with incomes large enough 70
provide a balanced healthful diet
were not getting it, because they
were ignorant of food values. One
investigator discovered that an in
credible number of families were
keeping themselves alive largely on
stimulants such as tea and coiIee.
eating only a small quantity OF preao
and cheap vegetables besides. Thls'
| the Investigator found, was an alb
normal condition partly due to the
| scarcity of many types OF foodstu1fs
to which these families had been ac-
/ customed before the war. Bread. for
example. which used to be the most
| important item in the poor mans
| diet, has now become his principal
| luxury.
To meet this problem of under
| nourishment thru ignorance rather
than thru Lack of income. the visiting
housekeeper was instituted. Six ex-
pert dieticians were selected and put
| in the field to work in cooperation
| with charitable organizations, Armed
with a kit containing the necessary
cooking utensils and Hoover uni
| FORM which she wears when at
homes and shows women how to get
the most for their money.
One of the most important features
of this visiting housekeeper's service
is that it reaches out a protecting
hand to children. Since the war, the
children Of poorer families have been
living a precarious existence. The in
crease in the price of milk has made
that commodities essential to the
growing child-a prohibitive luxury in
many homes, while bread, potatoes
and eggs, those nutritious staples
which were formerly within the reach
of even small incomes. must now be
bought in extremely scant quantities.
| The first experimental kitchen was
opened in ST. Louis last winter, bear
ing the sign: "Neighborhood Kitchen.
This is your kitchen. We do your
cooking for you" The object of this
kitchen was to serve at>the lowest
possible cost a healthy, wel1-balanced
the population unable to feed itself
adequately.
There was a great deal of public in
terest in this kitchen, and various city
firms contributed to it's furnishings
A railroad company donated its china /:
a dry goods company donated shelves
for the supply room; a furniture house
Isupplied the serving counter, chairs,
tables and other odd pieces at cost;
while local gas company furnished
free of charge all fixtures, a washing
machine, a water heater. gas lamps,
outside arc lights and gas steam heat
ers for use during the winter months.
This kitchen has been a remarkable
success from the start, and the women
are now running several like it. Be
tween $50 and $3.50 in the morning
the community kitchen serves a
for ten cents. which the people come
and get and take home. At noon, the
kitchens cafeteria opens. and a COM
plete meal in a single dish of soup Is
served with a roll and coffee. while
lsoup wagonnettes, containing soup and
rolls, are rolled into the factory dis
itricts, where a pint of soup and a roll
are sold for five cents. In the after
: noon the kitchen is used for cooking
demonstrations and lectures on food
; conservation which are largely attend
ed by the women of the poorer dis
tricts who can afford to give the time
Ito them. Then, from 4:30 to O'Clock,
the kitchen cafeteria is again open
this time for the evening meal. which
consists of meat. a vegeta BILE, starch
| and a dessert. Those who desire to
take their meals home are requested
to call for it with three buckets-one
for the meat and vegetable; one for
the starch, and one for the dessert
, This meal is served in two portions. a
whole portion costing ten cents. and a
| half portion five cents.
One of the greatest beneficiaries OF
the community kitchen is the working
woman employed in the nearby fac
tories. Since>the war, large num-
Der of married women have entered
: industry. among them mothers of large
families These women. especially
are in need of good wholesome food
il they are to survive at all because
their responsibilities are greater thar
those of the working man. They no
only must work in the factory. hui