The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1919-08-16

of moderate means anu 10 WOHl6u VINO want TO
do something besides keep house 1t is fast coming
to the time when only two
!: ; !" M
classes can keep house with n a WzMs
any satisfaction the very III III INN
rich who can hire profession III III ~
al servants at high wages; N\IC\<
the poor who do without N IN ~ g
servants. The moderately III Y,
well-to-dO must ZI~%
choose between housewOrk AI%<
and all other activities. She
cannot get servants, because =<SR ~
we have no servant class In ~
this country. Working wom- @Eji
en- will not do domestic work OH
when they get other Viii
work, even though the other VIII
work pays less. Hl~7-
These conditions have -GSx
raised widespread interest
In the proposition Of COM
munity cooking Notwithstanding the high
prices of food and the scarcity of cooks,
the American people like good things to eat just
as well as ever The question is where can these
good things be had? A large proportion Of TWEEN
tieth century married women cannot cook accept
ably and would not cook if they could. A modern
city woman who can cook can hardly be blamed
for unwillingness to spend all her time in home
work It Is an age of inefficiency in restaurant
cooking as In most other things and menu prices
: are even higher in proportion than raw material
prices.
Iva Lowther Peters, Phi. D.. of The wOman's divi-
sion of the council Of national defense, made IN
1918 complete survey Of the various cooperative
and community food enterprises Of this country.
It was then believed that If the war continued COM
munity kitchens would have to be established IN
our larger cities to save food and fuel.
England was already running great many OF
them with encouraging results, and Doctor Peters
not only studied these, but undertook thorough
investigation Of the cooperative movement from
1.-THE time 1t was born in the eighteenth century.
AS II happened the signing Of the armistice came
1ust In time to make the survey useless to the
United States food administration but 1t Is going
to be OF great assistance to those individual Amer
leans who are thinking Of cooperating with other
individual Americans in bringing down the price OF
eating
An object lesson is community kitchen that
was opened In 1907 in Carthage Mo- It was To-
Gated in private residence and the various fami-
lies OF the neighborhood came to 1t for their meals
Each family furnished its table, chairs, dishes,
nen silver thus maintaining its own tastes and
standards. To provide the original equipment for
the kitchen an assessment Of So per adult and $1.5O
per child was made In the beginning there were
so members, including 10 II children. For the
first three months the price of meals was ~ Tor an
adult and $3.50 for child per week. After the
third month several families stopped coming.
When the number decreased tc 30 the price OF
board was advanced to $3.50 per week. AS the
kitchens patronage decreased and the cost OF food
increased the price Of board kept advancing until
finally, in 1911, four years after its opening, the
kitchen went quietly out Of existence.
Most Of the community cooking enterprises sur
viewed BY Doctor Peters for the council of national
defense tell practically the same story-a brief
popularity, a brief decline then extinction
But the community cooking enterprises tell one
other story and it Is this:
The only community cooking enterprises showing
unmistakable signs Of success are those where the
central kitchen delivers the cooked meals to the
homes These kitchens are now being established
In several cities
Chicago and many of its suburban cities have
their attention on Evanston ILL.,, just now. Evans
ton is few miles north Of Chicago on Lake Mich
iran It has about 10000 people. 1t Is city OF
homes Many of the men do business In Chicago
Evanston is called the City of Churches" is the
J, seat Of Northwestern university and is what may
be called a high-class American small city.
Yes. Evanston is city Of homes. There are
streets of dwellings and comparatively few flats
y are In evidence. There are trees ana lawns. !nt
houses look as IL they had kitc!ens-good big
roomy. old-fashioned kitchens. where things were
cooked-apies like mother used to make" an.
donrhnuts to compare even with those Of the Sal
walton Army
Rut the Imagination that sets you to smiling II
the hope Of catching delectable cdors from tnes'
old-fashioned kitchens in these old-fashiones
homes Is delusion and q snare Inc Kitcnens az
tbora hut they are as idle as painted ship on !
,aintad ocean, Cause why-there are no COOKS
u There was time, not long ago. when an occa
M sional cook could be enticed out to Evanston AM
&,ampered into cooking. But even that tune
Rst
Eo Evanston Is going to have community Kitten
HI And has made q beginning. That's why Cnicag
~ yulinois are watching her with interest