Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-07-30
u. S. TEACHES
WOMEN HOW TO
SAVE MINUTES
Department of Agriculture
Starts Out to Help Over
Worked Wives.
MAKES FARM SURVEY
by FREDERICK j. HAsKIN.

OF the department of agriculture.
The woman who makes only one IN
necessary trip a day-say journey
outdoors to a woodbox that might be
close at hand-takes probably 100 steps
That means $1,000 unnecessary steps
II year, or more than six miles.
Of course, everybody wastes more en-
ergy than that
These figures merely show how 1t
counts up.
Year after year, women. especially
those on farms, go on mechanically US
ing badly arranged kitchens, cooking
with crude utensils, carrying heavy tubs
and buckets. II is taken for granted
that tractors or anything to advance the
= real business interests of the establish
nlent should be purchased.
But we still scarcely realize that a
half hour a day saved by the cook Is
just as much a matter of dollars and
cents as the same time saved by paid
employee.
While the laboring man is demanding
a six-hour day and a fve-day week,
the average country housewife puts in
a thirteen-hour day in the summer and
a ten-hour day in the winter, and Sun
cay Is almost as strenuous as any other
day for her.
Practically all Of her thirteen hour
day is spent in actual labor-sOme Of 1t
ia managing two or three Jobs at once.
A survey of typical farming counties
of thirty three northern and western
states showed that as a rule the women
not only cook, but do the sewing, churn-
ing, washing and cleaning, and some
help with the live stock and IN the fields
as well.
Only 10 per cent reported that they
ever take vacation.
With such an intensive domestic pro-
gram the rule In the country, and with
more housewives doing their own work
IN the city, it is easy to see how ire
mendoUsly important it is for women to
save steps.
The extension workers Of the depart
ment Of agriculture figure that the house
wife should try to cut down her work
ing day. with eight hours as a goal
This would leave eight hours for her
to read, visit and spend with her hus-
band and children.
The eight-hour day, 1t il explained, can
be approached by saving every unneces-
sary step.
, 1t means planning and organization
WOMEN STAND
TOO MUCH.
One way in which women are prodigal
Of their energies IS that they stand too
much
When the cook stands before q work
table it is apparently a slight effort to
walk across the floor a dozen times to get
a kniSe or some ingredient.
But If a high stool is kept by the
table. she soon becomes accustomed to
sitting while she mixes dish, and at
the same time she finds 1t advisable to
collect things before sitting down, be-
cause it really is an effort TO get up for
them.
even ironing can be managed from
a stool Of the proper height.
And IN connection with ironing the
extension agent suggests that a special
laundry room is great convenience
and step saver
It should be as cool as possible.
The board should be kept IN a definite
place. preferably hinged to the wall
Then it does not have to be hunted
for or carried around.
In their travels around the country
the agents find that the old proverb,
"A place for everything, and everything
IN its place is more quoted than prac-
ticed-
A great many housekeepers have their
kitchens fitted out with a single set Of
shelves where everything used in their
cooking is dumped, with more or less
pretense at order.
An improvement on this system is to
have separate shelves for cooking equip
lnent, ingredients and cleaning ma
terials
Still more energy Is saved for bet
ter use If the different shelves are near
the place where their contents are used.
Thus a shelf close TO the stove would
hold things needed in the process Of
cooking, such as seasoning, -four, fat
salt and pepper shakers.
The government investigators find that
not one woman in a thousand keeps
more than one set Of salt and pepper
shakers in her kitchen.
Whenever possible shelves should be
high enough so that STOPPING is unneces-
Eary.
This is most desirable as regards
shelves where heavy equipment is kept
This does not exactly save steps, but
1t helps in conserving energy, for every
time she stoops the housekeeper has to
lift the weight Of the upper part Of her
body on coming up.
This is excellent exercise in modern
ton, but most women get quite enough
of it without their equipment making
It a part Of tbs kitchen routine.
TEA WAGON
SAVES STEPS.
A really potent step-saving device is
the wheel trap called the tea wagon
when company is present
This rolling tray can, If economy de-
mands it, be made at home ont Of some
wood and set Of casters.
The idea is that instead of making in
Vulnerable trips into the dining room to
set the table or bring in the dinner. you
load up the tray and move everything at
once.
This is possible, because the trap top,
when lifted, reveals a eontainer for the
family plates, and there is a drawer be-
low that for the silver.
A shelf below that and the top are
used to hold the food
The tray again comes into use when the
meal is clared away.
The extension agents say they have
often seen women wipe one or two dishes
and then walk twenty feet to put them
away and come back to do two more and
so on throughout the dishwashing for a
family.
A rolling tray has only two limita-
tions.
1t is not needed in a very small apart
ment. and it can not be used where there
are steps between the dining room and
kitchen.
But this is the one place in the house
where it is most important that steps
should not be.
The department of agriculture feels so
strongly on this matter that it suggests
that where steps have to be mounted in
ssible be removed.
oIraiFfod that fbfa ia oil