The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-09-30
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HAGxIN, Ddrsseas.
waShlngtsA, .. G.
UNCLE SAINTS BEST SELLER.
wAah,aEtsa, d C.

Washington. d. c.. Sept 27!-Of all
the admonitions which our embattled
government laid upon US during the
war. the enc that impressed US most
deeply was the admonition: CAM"
/ We saved daylight and money and
liberty bonds, we swatted flies and
pro-Germans. we gave up Sunday
motoring and candy. We were
gouged. robbed and bamboozled, but
we stood II because the government
said we had to. We proved beyond
lean people are not only the freest
in the world, but also the easiest in
the world to lead by the nose.
But Of all these tricks we learned
during the war, there is only one that
has in any considerable degree staid
with us That is the trick of canning.
| This idea of having a large supply
| of fruits and vegetables stored away
| in the cupboard against the coming
! of winter, somehow appeals to us
Maybe it is just the ancient animal
| instinct to lay UP something against
| the coming cold weather. Maybe 1T is
a recrudescence of the forethought
/ that our pioneering ancestors had to
use. Maybe it is a desire to get even
with that Greek on the corner who
! soaks us dime for an apple. And
/ maybe the impulse comes from our in
| nards, which are, and long have been.
| sadly in need of more garden sass and
fresh fruit than most of us can afford
to buy.
Anyway, we not only canned in war
because we had to, but now we are
canning in peace because we can.
The story Of the canning campaign
Is told concretely in the record of the
distribution of its textbook. Two years
ago the Department of Agriculture
got out Farmers Bulletin sac, which
has come to be recognized as the
standard publication of the govern
ment on canning. 1t has printed, I'M
der the stimulus of constant demand,
2.900.O 900 copies of this bulletin. The
demand is such that II is sure that it
will have to print hundreds of thou
sands more. The call for this bulletin
is greater than that for anything that
the department or any other agency
of the government has ever printed.
' 1t is the governments one best seller.
Upon it have been based five separate
books privately published and sold.
The material that it offers has been
Incorporated as departments in at
least twelve other household books.
Because the government has not been
able 70 meet the public demand. state
colleges and other such institutions
have printed and distributed three mil
lion copies of the instructions it con-
tains. There IL hardly a magazine or
newspaper in the nation that has not
borrowed copy freely from its pages
o. II. Benson. specialist in charge of
club work for the Department of Agri-
culture. recently attended the Eastern
states Exposition at Springfield, Mass.
The department had an exhibit there
placard suggested that anybody in
terested in any Of the branches of gov
eminent work represented might get a
bulletin on 1t for the asking. Seven
people asked for the canning bulletin
IN - IL
most popular publication. A wire was
sent for 5000 of these bulletins and
they were distributed to individuals in
a single day.
Last year the government provided.
in the interests of war economy, half
a million dollars to be used in teaching
the public to conserve its food supply
by canning and drying. That fund
made it possible to train a great corps
OF experts and send them forth to
carry the message to the masses. The
department at Washington trained a
canning corps and sent representa-
tives to every state. These trained
subsidiary state corps. These in turn
sent their trained people into every
county.
This year. the war being over. ade-
quate funds have not been available
to continue the work on this scale
But the advertising has been done and
the canning idea has been established
The people are converted to II. They
want more definite information. And
so. in state and interstate fairs of the
present summer and fali-such fairs
as that at Sioux City where twelve
states gathered, or that at Spokane
which represented all the northwest
the great demand has been for can
ming information. Tho exhibits of
canned products have been leading at
flown the borders of our country into
Canada. The provinces of Ontario
and Manitoba have borrowed Farm
er's Bulletin SAG, and have reprinted
1t, and broadcasted it.
In addition to the handicap of re-
stricted appropriations this year. the
advocates of canning have faced the
added difficulty of a national shortage
Of sugar. The big Gamers have had
no trouble in getting all the sugar
they want. The price is controlled
and therefore not particularly high.
They buy direct from the refiners.
But the individual householder has
had trouble over the sugar question.
This has largely been due to the In
difference of the grocer. He has been
allowed only a certain margin of
profit on sugar. That margin OF profit
is less than he makes on the other
articles he handles He therefore
possible-wants to drive this less
profitable trade to his competitor He
often causes the customer who wants
sugar all the inconvenience he can.
He has made it so difficult for the
customer that he has discouraged the
putting up of fruit.
But Il IS possible TO put up fruit
without sugar. Farmers Bulletin $50
has told hundreds of thousands of
housewives how to de this. Altogether
the canning for the season Just passed
Is estimated to have amounted to go
per cent of that of the summer of
1918, accomplished under the stimulus
Of actual war. That is regarded as
pretty fair and as holding out a good
promise for the future when the sugar
supply gets back to normal.
Fruit crops, this year, as a general
proposition, have been excellent. par
ticsllarly in the east. The peach crop
has been a record breaker. Under
normal conditions canned fruit would
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