The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-06-26
EXPLANATION OF 81. C. L.
Why is the Cost of Food So High?
IL, Where We Get Our Food.

- Where we GeC Our FOOU.
Washington, June 11.-Why is the
cost of food so high?
Most answers to that question, ac'
cording to a bulletin from the Ma
tional Geographic Society, 60 on far
ther than the grocer, the wholesaler
or perhaps the cost of farm labor.
But to trace to their sources many
staple edibles found on the American
dinner table one must go beyond
State or national lines and frequently
across the ocean, it is pointed out
The bulletin quotes from a communi-
cation to the society from William
Joseph Showalter:
tsCould we turn loose our fancy as
we dine, we could see a great army
of men and women working that we
might eat. The appetites of men now
levy tribute on all the continents
and all the seas, and where once all
roads led to Rome, now they come di-
rectly to our dinner tables.
''Let us sit down to dinner and 90
over the menu and try to list those
who have assisted in the preparation
of our meal.
eat the top of the list come olives
and salted nuts. The olives mayhap
are from Spain, the almonds from
California, and the pecans from
Texas. The salt on the nuts was pre-
pared in New York State. Also we
have celery that came from Michigan.
sThen comes the soup. Without a
cookbook at hand, this writer will not
pose as an authority on the ingredi-
ents of soup, but it may be Chesa-
speake Bay clam chowder, which GER
tainly has some pepper from Africa
IN it and other ingredients from far
and wide.
tsour fish is salmon from Alaska,
and our prime ribs of beef came to
our table through the Kansas City
packing town. Our potatoes came
from Maine, our boiled rice from
China, our string beans from Florida,
and our tomatoes from Maryland.
-. Next comes our salad, and it con-
Stains if a man may guess at the con-
tents of salads and dressings-Mexi-
can peppers, Hawaiian pineapple, ST.
sciIian cherries, Pennsylvania lettuce,
Iowa eggs, Spanish olive oil. Ohio
vinegar, California mustard, and
Guiana red pepper.
tsWhen we get down to the ice
cream, we eat Virginia cream, Cuba
sugar, Ecuadorean vanilla, and Mexi-
can chocolate. The cake that goes
with it is made of butter from Illinois,
-four grown in North Dakota; baking
powder from Pennsylvania, and other
ingredients.
seWhen it comes to coffee, if we are
fastidious we will have issued draft
on both Turkish Arabia and Dutch
Java, or if we are only folk Of every
day taste we will content ourselves
with the Brazilian product.
"And so, when we come to reckon
up those who have helped produce
,the raw materials of which our foods
are made, we find the clouted African
savage and the American stock grow
ser; the South American Indian and
the California truck farmer, the Java
nese coffee picker and the Virginia
dairy man; the turbaned Arabian and
the New York orchardist; the Chi
nese coolie and the Dakota wheat
farmer; the Mexican peon and the
Chesapeake Bay fisherman; the Puer-
to Rican. planter and the Hawaiian
sugar grower; the Spanish olive pack
er. and the Alaskan Eskimo fisherman.
SsYet all these neglect the matter
of transportation. Our food comes to
us on the heads of Indians, on the
backs of donkeys, drawn in carts by
huge water buffaloes aboard the ship
of the DESERT on wheelbarrows pro-
PEELED by Chinese coolies. Steamships,
railroad trains, auto trucks, and de-
livery cars have all played their part
In the great work of catering to dis
terminating appetites.
"Truly the man who dimes well
ought to be deep student of geog-
raphy, for all races, all nationali-
ties, all types of peoples, all points
of the compass, all latitudes -copti-
nent, island, river, and sea-an must
come to him as he looks over the bill
of fare and tries to find those things
that delight his appetite"
"a
Too Hard for Yankee Tongue.