New-York tribune., 1918-02-03
Hotels Must Stop Waste
OF Food, Official Warns
Patience Exhausted and Drastic Measures
May Be Taken, Hoover's Representative Here Tells
Society Women-Associaton Head Replies
He Is Mistaken

New York's fashionable hotels and
restaurants arc Wasting so much food
ard are violating the meatless and
wheatless day food regulation order so
fiagrantly that the Federal government
may soon find it necessary to adopt
more drastic measures to control them,
according to F. G. Walcott, personal
representative of Food Administrator
Herbert c. Hoover.
Mr.. Walcott declared yesterday that
these places care offending terribly"
and that the patience of the food ad-
ministration "is completely exhausted" )"
He spoke before one hundred promi-
nent society women, who met in the
building occupied by the Federal Food
Board. 220 West Fifty-seventh Street,
to perfect plans for economizing in the
kitchens Of wealthy families.
Women Knit at Meeting
Before Mr.. Walcott spoke the wom-
en-, fifty of whom were deftly clicking
knitting needles, selected an advisory
committee to extend the work of the
newly organized "honor system for foor
saving by, volunteer rationing." Knit
ting as they rode up to the Food Board
Building in limousines, they continued
knitting when Mrs. f. Gray Griswold,
the chairman, raped for order.
"We are beginning to realize that
the firing line is in our Kitchens" said
Mrs. Griswold. at is time for us to
lay hand on wasteful servants"
She explained that the advisory COM
. mittee of 100 women was to be ap-
pointed to distribute pledges to 10000
wcll-to- do families in New York, COM
mitting them to adopt the "short ra-
tion" schedule. The pledges arc to be
distributed this week.
Mr.. Walcott said that the rest of the
country looked to New York for meth
DDS of conserving food, and that il this
city's wealthy women limited their con-
sumption Of foods needed to feed the
Allied armies wealthy women through
out the country certainly would follow
their example.
He said that food d-saving scheme
was being devised for the homes of
unskilled workers, but pointed out that
the bulk of the saving must be done
by the wealthy, because few poor peo-
pie now could afford to live wastefully.
225,00O in City Undcrfcd
cat least 125,ooo children and 100000
adults in this city arc underfed be-
cause they have not sufficient funds to
buy the necessities of life" said Mr..
Walcott. "The food administration
does not want any measures adopted
that would injurc the children, but we
feel that there are many wcll-to do
children who could get along better OH
less candy. 1t is not right that France
and Italy should be without sugar while
we waste it here"
Just then some of the knitting
needles ceased to click Half a dozen
women rose from their seats, and one
of them asked:
"Mr. Walcott, how about the hotels
and fashionable restaurants? If we
are willing to make sacrifices by
eliminating candy ana living on no
moro than quarters of a pound
of sugar a person week shouldn't
something be done TO prevent waste in
the hotels ?"
Mr.. Walcott cleared his throat and
raised his hand by way of emphasis
81 think q sort Of police system must
be brought into use for the hotels and
restaurants, which are offending great
ly," he said. "Hotels will have to be
put under special law, if they 60 on
much longer the way they have. Our
patience is completely exhausted I
am not speaking now of the more re-
sponsible hotels, with a few exceptions.
But even some of the better hotels are
offending terribly. They must be po-
Iced in some way. They must be regu-
lated"
Women Who Signed Pledges
Mrs. w. K. Vanderbilt, jr., was sec
rotary. Among the other women pres
ent who signed pledges to keep men,