The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-09
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
ORMAT TON
BUREAU
FREDERIC J, HAsKIN. Director,
DINNER DELIVERED TO DOOR.
washington. d. c


Washington, D. c. oct. 5.-A COM
munity kitchen which will cook food.
pack it in therrnos containers and de-
liver it hot and ready to serve in the
home, is soon to be established here.
With the food. fuel and servant prob
| lens growing constantly more acute
such a kitchen would be welcome, in
almost any American city, but Yin
Washington, under present conditions,
it is nothing less than a rescue.
This Washington cooked food ser
vice is an enterprise on tkei part of
certain war workers to help>out their
fellows. Mrs. Arthur Woods, wife of
the former New York police commits
siener. is given credit for the initiative,
and Mrs. Robert Lansing wife of the
secretary of state, is a backer of the
project. The experiment is being
watched with interest, for if it sue
ceeds in Washington, lit should prove
a solution of the war time food prob
lem in many other cities.
The government has recently under
taken a. house-to-house canvass thru
out the city in onasr to obtain Lodge
ings for it's employees, but lodgings
are only one item in a narrowing sit
uation. For it often HAPPENS that when
the war worker has secured a place
to live, he has hard time to get food.
The restaurants are so crowded that
there is usually large overflow which
blocks the entrances and waits i'm
patiently for the opportunity for/the
first empty chair. And inside. the1pro-
prietors cannot help being influenced
by the fact that they will have plenty
OF customers. no matter what is served
to them. =
In the boarding houses 1t is even
worse, for here the servant problem
has reached crisis. The work in a
+, l.
coming increasingly difficult to get
colored women to do it. AS one land
lady frankly admitted, You can't
blame a coiored woman for preferring
to clean offices for the government
for a larger salary than she>can make
cooking-for housefuf of boarders."
Furthermore, the boarding houses are
not the only institutions suffering
from the scarcity of servants. The
same calamity is creating .a><1ong list
of abandoned homes" F6r the num-
Der of married women. engaged in
war work is now prodigious. and when
woman dAes mans work. she does
mot enjoy doing a woman's work at
the home, too. She prefers to- join
the ranks of the diners-out.
Thus. to the woman war worker
the community kitchen will be ire
mendous boon. That the male war
worker Will also be prepared to ap-
preciate its service is attested by Capt.
julius I. Peyser OF the housing and
health division Of the war depart
ment, who calls attention to the fact
that hundreds of army, officers and
business men brought to- Washington
for war work are having. as much diff
hculty in procuring meals as they are
IN discovering a place to live. eff
the civilian employe is dissatisfed>w with
conditions here" said Captain /Peyser,
at meeting of the community
kitchen Thea other day, The can re-
sign and so home. but the army and
| naval officer and the government Off
clal must remain and struggle along
with wartime conditions In the ma
tional capital. To these newcomers.
the esta bla5hment of this cooked food
service, station would be a real pa
triotic service
The first community kitchen of this
type was opened last February on
west Seventy-ninth. street in New
York City, and has been in successful
operation ever since. If you live in
New York. all you have to do is to tel
ephone this kitchen. known as the
Schuyler Station, that you would like
to have one of its dinners, and within
half hour motor truck is at your
door and your dinner Is brought in,
much as the ice, cream is brought in
from the confectioners. At the. kitch-
en- the food is placed in containers
that keep it steaming 9hot, ready to
serve. and preserve its original flavor
for several hours. Salads, breads and
cold desserts are pfeced in separate
cold containers. If you are a regular
customer, these containers are deliv-
cred daily shortly before meal time,
and called forSat specified times dur
ing the week. -
AS an aid to food and fuel conser-
walton the cooked food service station
IS one of the happiest measures yet
the operation of one large kitchen in
the place of two hundred private
ones. 1t is operated, moreover, by
1000 experts, who plan the meals by
calories; who practice the most rigid
economy In the use of wheat flour and
sugar, and who utilize materials that
are wasted in the individual kitchen.
The service corns : it's own beef. for
example. and makes its own soap.
Two grades of regular service are
furnished by the New York Station.
The first includes dinners at so csnts
and luncheons at SIS cents: the second
includes dinners at 81 and luncheons
at 30 cents. The economy of this
service. of course. depends upon the
inolviduars standard of living. For
the majority of its patrons, the lsitch-
en- delivers cooked meals at the nome
Tor approximately the price that
would buy raw materials from a re-
tall grocer. The saying thru whole
sale buying goes to pay for the motor
delivery and other operating expenses
or the Kitchen. The patron saves the
cost Of maid service, OF fuel, and OF
Kitchen oodi
! A sample menu of a 5o-cent dinner
turnished by the cooked food service
station includes: Consomme, roast
chicken or boiled ham, mashed pota :
| toes, fresh asparagus or boiled onions,
dressed lettuce and strawberry short
cake or molasses cake and cred IT
Is doubtful if even the raw materials
Tor this dinner could be obtained at the
price of SO cents by the average house
keeper today.
The New York cooked food service
station describes itself as sdesiened to
| meet the needs of the rraa+ xnaAr. af