The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-02-16
Waste the Important Thing To
Be Avoided.
Eat Not Less, but With Greater
Care.
THE GOSPEL OF CLEAN PLATE
Food Left at One Meal, First
Course at Next.
The Enormous Aggregate of
Small, Easy Economies.

Altho the voice of the food con-
servationist is heard in the land.
pleading for the elimination of waste
that the armies of America and her
allies may be provided with sufficient
sustenance, it cannot be said that the
commend of the Eighty-ninth division
is unmindful of the fact that economy
may be p-acticed to good advantage
at Camp Funston. Brigadier General
Winn, commanding this camp. has
made the matter the subject of spe-
cial bulletin in which the contents Of
circular letter from the bakery
branch. office of the quartermaster
general. are quoted in full. Consider
this saving:
In time of peace many food econo-
mics were so small in their returns
that the end did not justify the means
But at present with one million and a
half men assembled in the various
cantonments and willing to give their
aid, there is almost no economy too
small to be worth while. Even a half
cent day saved by a million and
half men amounts to $500 day and
at this rate $2.737.5o0 could be saved
in a year. The saving in a. company
amount ITO s1.25 day. No mean
amount, especially if added to the
company fund
The circular takes cognizance of
certain American extravaganza and
carelessness. bu. it is not too much
to expect that thousands of soldiers
will be returned to civilian life with
new ideas of the advantages of econ
omy. In this connection-it is said:
Most of the men of the new army
have been living in homes where the
small savings that now amount to SO
much. not only in money value. but in
actual conservation of food were not
considered worth bother:ng with; for
this reason these men cannot be ex-
pected to realize the necessity for be-
ing careful with food, or to view the
! question from an angle of real
economy"
In the future it is to be considered
bad form fo1an enlisted man to leave
food upon his plate. The circular puts
1t this way: With the cost of rauons
at Al u per day for each man, a man
who leaves on his plate even one
eighty-third of the food served to him
| causes a waste of n cent per day
Attention is called to this not with a
view of having the men eat less, that
would be highly undesirable, but to
have them realize the great import
ance of avoiding waste. At one of the
environments the commanding officer
found that the habit of the wasteful
plate was SO prevalent that a regula-
ton was enforced requiring food left
on mans plate be served to him as
the first course of his next meal"
The practice of economy in the
army may be carried still further
than discouraging the leaving of food
upon the plate. Take for instance
this advice to mess sergeants and
cooks: The prevailing practice of
| cutting cans with a cleaver may save
time, but how much of the contents
of the can is left clinging to the inside
under the uneven edges? 1t is safe
to say there is loss of 1 per cent of
the contents of each can. or a loss of
ten cans in every thousand"
And gra 1dmother slices of bread are
in bad too. THE thin slice is the
economical slice" we are told, and
these are to be halved. $50 that a man
who desires more than one slice of
| bread but is not hungry enough to
eat two whole slices may satisfy his
appetite without wasting half of the
extra slice. Bacon and ham should be
carefully sliced in order to avoid I'M