The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1919-07-11

apartments and residential hotels,
buying cooked food at the delicates-
shops eating at restaurants Why?
Well, largely because they have to- The old
fashioned home in dwelling, with servants and
horne cooking is still an American IDEAL But the
increasing lack OF servants, especially OF cooks,
makes the od-fashioned home burden to people
Of moderate means and to women who want to
do something besides keep house. 1t Is fast coming
to the time when only two
! !
classes can keep house with n W.,
any satisfaction: the very II II nm
rich, who can hire profession II W.
al servants at high wages; /E\I~\ *
the poor, who do without II IN ~ -
servants The moderately WI
well-to-do must ZL%X
choose between housework --A|% 4
and all other activities. She =
cannot get servants because
we have servant class In
this country. Working wom- DIi
will not do domestic work (GH
when they get other N|II
work, though the other VII
work pays less ~H(
These conditions have *,
raised widespread interest 7>%e
In the proposition of
munity cooking Notwithstanding the high
prices of food and the scarcity Of cooks.
the American people like good things to eat just
we'll ever The question Is where can these
good things be had? large proportion OF twen-
ably and would not cook II they could. A modern
city woman who cook hardly be blamed
for unwillingness to spend all her time in home
work. 1t Is an age OF ineffciency In restaurant
cooking in most other things and menu prices
are even higher in proportion than raw material
prices.
Iva Lowther Peters, Phi. D.. of he 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
1t then believed that II the war continued COM
munity kitchens would have to be established IN
our larger cities to 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
the time it was born In the eighteenth century.
AS 1t happened, the signing Of the armistice came
Just in time to make the survey useless to the
United States food administration, but it Is going
to be Of great assistance to those individual Amer
leans who 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. 1t was To-
Gated in a private residence and the various FAINT
lies of the neighborhood to for their meals.
Each family furnished it's own table, chairs, dishes,
linen, silver thus maintaining Its own tastes and
standards. To provide the original equipment for
the kitchen assessment of So per adult and $1.50
per child made. In the beginning there were
90 members, including 10 IL children. For the
first three months the price of meals was So for an
adult and $3.50 for q child per week. After the
third month several families stopped coming.
When the number decreased to 80 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
veyed 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 1t 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
igan. 1t has about 30 coo ieople. 1t is a city Of
homes Many Of the do business In Chicago
Evanston is called the City OF Churches" Is tht
seat Of Northwestern university and is what MAJ
be called hgh-cass American small city.
Yes Evanston is city of homes. There arr
streets OF dwellings and comparatively few fats
are in evidence. There are trees and lawns Thu
houses look as II they had kitchens-good, big
roomy oldfashioned kitchens, where things wer
cooked-"pies like mother used to make" an,
doughnuts to compare even with those of the Sal
walton Army
But the Imagination that sets you to shifting Il
the hope of catching delectable cdors from thes
old-fashioned kitchens In these od-fashone
homes Is deluson and a snare The kitchens ar
there but they idle as painted ship on
painted ocean. Cause why-there are cooks
There was time not long ago. when an occf
sional cook could be enticed out to Evanston an
pampered into cooking. But even that time
past
So Evanston Ii going to have community kitcf
en- and has made beginning. That's why Chicaa
and Illinois are ws>ching her With interest,"