The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-08-17
MILK IS THE FOOD OF ALL THE Ma.
TONS TRULY GREAT.
Dairy Which Makes Possible Of Men
Nations.

You have looked upon milk as a
wholesome food. At times you have
thought 1t was expensive, and, economy
minded, you have perhaps lessened
consumption in your home. Between
the demands of producers for living
price and of dealers for distributing
costs you have felt that there was a
sort Of community of interest In ex-
istence to make you pay more for
milk, and you rebelled--by buying
less. The truth OF the matter Is, con-
sidering it's real value milk is the
cheapest foodstuff on the market, and
neither the farmer who produces 1t nor
the dealer who sells 1t has received
for his work and enterprise near the
reward TO which he is entitled.
Considering the investment, the
labor involved. the daily labor the
year round and the trying work with
It's long hours, the making and dis
tribution of milk are the least well
paid of any kind OF big business in the
world. The milk vendors have rather
the best end OF the milk traffic, be-
cause dealers are organized, they keep
books and demand income enough to
meet expenses and to make fair
profit besides. With the producer
different condition obtains. Unor-
ganized until recently. and organized
even now in little more than in name,
dairy producers the country over are
merely existing from their toll. and
receive scarcely enough to keep souls
and bodies together. Were 1t not for
little fruit or vegetables that they
sell, or for the old hen that yields
some eggs for trade at the country
store, the dairy farms would have to
go out Of existence. II angered at
milk prices. therefore. be tolerant
with the producers. because regardless
of your own income dairy farmers
have less to show at the end OF the
year for their work than have any
other class of workers in all the
world.
But this is not your funeral you say.
You have troubles Of your own. and
the perils Of the milk farmer, his hours
OF drudgery with its little pay, are OF
no concern to you. All. but they are!
And that is the story / want to tell.
or the distributor. but to you. the con-
sumner, to you the father or mother Of
children.
You have been giving milk to your
children because You thought 1t was
good for them. But you have also
been giving them bread and meat and
potatoes and other things. all good, all
wholesome, all nutritious: and because
your children grew and were healthy
you concluded that your varied ration
was making strong boys and girls from
the food you supplied. All true. very
true. But do you know that locked up
In your method OF feeding is a hidden
something that has not yet been re-
vealed? 1t is located, but not in the
juicy meat that you and your family
relish SO much, not in the bread that
is so crisp and good, nor yet in the
cakes and desserts and vegetables that
you think are SO important: not in
any Of these.
The hidden power in your food ra-
ton, in the health it gives and in the
growth II reveals. lies in the milk and
butter portion of the ration. So says
DIR. II. c. McCollunl, who has i6enti-
fed the growth stimulating factors OF
the human ration. He has demon
strated beyond any doubt whatsoever
that milk fed children grow as If
springs were in their joints-so do
milk fed pigs and calves--and that
milk fed people only have been re-
sponsible for the accomplishments of
the past. Neither pig nor calf nor
child ever reaches its full stature or
is sustained with full body protection
II fed on milkless diets. Milk promotes
growth--nOt primarily by means Of
the protein. fats and sugar it contains.
though these are important. but In a
peculiar something that neither the
test tube nor the cruc.ble of the chem
list nor the lens Of the microscopic
can detect.
Atwatcr and Armsby and Wiley and
many other chemists have left a
wealth of analyses and facts about
food - how much protein, starch,
sugar, fats and mineral salts they
contain. They have told us how much
energy is metabolized, how much
heat is given of and how much car
bon dioxide is breathed out by man or
animal in various states of activity.
They have mixed foods, fed them to
humans and beasts, but they have
never got beyond energy and protein
values and digestibility. Good nutri-
ton to them meant proper regard only
for these three factors. They taught
that good feeding meant nice ar
rangement or combination to turn the
trick of good growth, good health
and good response to whatever activi-
ties were in store for one to accom-
plish. And there the matter rested.
1t was the last word for animal feeder
or human doctor to consider In deal
ing with diet problems for growing
beast or human patient.
Then one day. out in Wisconsin. DR..
McCollum started to feed some rats.
He put them in cages in his laboratory.
lie first fed them on whole wheat, the
very wheat kernel we use in broad.
The rats did not grow. He fed them
on corn kernels alone, and the rats
diGnt grow. Then. remembering the
oatmeal gruel coats and milk OF
Bonnie Scotland, 30 highly priced for