davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The New York herald., 1921-09-25

limited that at meal times there would be a
full roll call to the rooms capacity.
In the first cot by the door there was a
little withered up Chinaman, propped up by
several pillows. with only his arms and
shoulders outside of the covers He was ly-
ing quite still. You might have thought at
first that he was sound asleep. Then you
noticed between his thin hands a small strip
OF board with some yarn Up and down
the board his hands travelled slowly. ap-
parently making movement at all He
was so intent on his work that he didn't
look up until we spoke to him.
Making a sweater" he murmured in a
small, feminine voice. Then he waved to-
The New York herald., 1921-09-25
Columbia Professor Predicts Vast Economic Advantages Will
Outweigh Aversion New Tangled Notions in Diet

Actually, food drying is not a novelty. AS
a means of food preservation 1t has been
employed for hundreds of years. Both for
vegetable and animal foods, early colonists
resorted to drying from necessity. Along
the New England coast the drying Of fish
became an important industry. But most
of the methods in use were quite crude. The
food was exposed to the SUN and wind until
the excess moisture had been removed. While
successful in preserving the food. there was
O certain loss of color and taste that invari-
ably accompanied the process.
Approximately 100 years ago the canning
industry was introduced from England and
drying fell into the discard The newer
method could be applied to greater variety
of food materials, and the canned products
could be transported into any climate Later,
with the development of cold storage, pas
teurization. sailing and smoking. drying was
practically forgotten.
During the gold rush In the Klondke the
demand for foods which could be easily
transported brought about the Importation
OF dried potatoes from Germany Some ef
fort was made to dry potatoes in Washing
ton and Oregon, but the result was not pleas
ing to the gold miners. Even in the Klon-
dixie they preferred potatoes that didn't taste
OF sulphur, and they were particular about
having white potatoes white and not black.
Throughout the great war there was
continual speculation concerning the food
situation in Germany. How long could the
German larder hold out? How could she go
on feeding her armies and civilians. Isolated
as she was from the rest of the world? Re-
cent figures on Germanys dehydrating in
dustry uncover some Of these secrets
BY Means of Dehydratfon
Germany Held Out So Long
I'm 1898 there were three small drying
plants In Germany says a Government
folder. Five years later there were still
three plants there with an output large
enough to be worth mentioning. This
method of preservation may be regarded as
apparently successful, for in 1906 the num-
ber of plants in operation had increased to
thirty-nine. in 1909 to 1919, in 1914 to 4ss
and In 1915 to Sal. In addition to this 1000
breweries were utilizing some portion OF
their equipment in the drying OF food ma
terials. 1t is stated that in 1917 about
1000 plants were in operation or under
construction and the total quantity of pota-
toes alone dried in Germany was more than
The New York herald., 1921-09-25

three times the total crop of the United
States. These facts will explain one OF the
reasons why Germany was able to maintain
her food supplies during the war;"
Canada, too, did some war dehydrating.
During 1915. 1916 and 1917 Canada prepared
for the British army 100000 pounds of
mixed dried vegetables. One pound of the
preparation was sufficient to give a nutri-
tious soup ration to sixty men for one meal
In 1918 the United States Army followed
along with many thousands of tons of dried
vegetables. At present there are in the
country less than thirty vegetable and fruit
dehydrating plants, most Of them small.
At the request of the Army Medical De-
partment three years ago the Hartman
Research Laboratory at Roosevelt Hospital
took up the study OF improving methods OF
preserving meats. After some months Drs.
Falk and Frankel developed new labora-
tory method of dehydratng, using method
OF mild heat in vacuum. The work on the
process was then transferred to the depart
ment Of chemical engineering Of Columbia
University, where Prof. Mckee took an ac-
tive hand in the work.
"The process as finally developed" ex-
planned Prof. Mckee, "is applicable to meats
and fish as well as to vegetables and fruit
A vacuum shelf drier Is used, the shelves
of which are heated by means OF steam or
hot water. The food is placed on trays and
these placed on the heated shelves, the
door closed and the vacuum pump started
This type of apparatus is made by num-
ber of firms in this country and abroad.
I'm some cases the new method gives
products of no apparent Improvement over
the old type process, but in other cases the
product Is better than has hitherto been
produced. The drying is completed In
shorter time permitting the handling of
products sensitive to spoilage, such as meat
and fish. Potatoes and apples are not dis
colored by oxidation, carrots show fewer
changes and fruit keeps its original color.
THE process is not Applicable to rossts
and other thick pieces of feeat. Steaks can
be dehydrated, but the trouble comes In
getting them to take up waty in sufficient
amount and Il would seem than the process
should not be considered for STEAKS unless
they are cut exceptionally thin. \We have
been surprised that the fat in the meat docs
not become rancid The fat of dehNdrated
meat seems to keep sweet indefnitely'\
Prof Mckee exhibited several sampNs -
The New York herald., 1921-09-25
Unwilling to Do Women's Work
Even if You Are Wounded

Again you shake your head. Even If you
are a bed patient, you are still all male, way
out to the finger tips
The girl in the blue uniform passes on to
the next bed. You overhear the same con-
ference repeated and you wait eagerly for
your fellow patient to shake his head At
length he does. Hurrah for both of you!
Even If your mentalities are stale and your
bodies listless you still want the general
public TO realize that you are soldiers-not
inmates OF an old ladies' home
Finally. far down the aisle Of cots, you
that the girl in blue has cornered n
victim. You watch her set up that curious
wooden device and give preliminary instruc-
tions TO the poor chap who didn't have the
strength to resist her. You feel sorry for
him, but still you watch with some interest
as he begins to weave the yarn in and out
and shift various levers. You don't really
believe that he will make anything.
The strange nurse passes your cot with
smile the next day and continues on dowr
TO her victim" There is, more weaving Of
yarn and shifting of levers Gradually every
one In the place becomes interested i'm the
ultimate product.
You inspect the finished scarf at first with
a certain scorn. II has bright enough colors,
but the design is too simple. Two days
later when he gives it TO his girl. you sec
her pleasure in receiving the gift and his
pride In producing II. You experience
brief sensation of envy
AS the days go by you note that he is
making more scarfs. and even branching
out in the runner business Anyway, he is
always busy now, and work along vita
The New York herald., 1921-09-25

best at 1t in the ward. There was one man
who could make bag In day.
We asked him If he made much money
out Of his bags. He didn't make any. He
wouldn't sell a bag. He bought The ma
terials and gave the bags to his lady friends.
He had promises for four now. Probably he
is popular man in Harlem. But he has
never heard of occupational therapy-hes a
bead bag specialist.
To preserve the international spirit in an
American hospital we found young Italian
in the very next cot. He had his face
pressed against saucer of beads.
Must be hard on the eyes," we offered.
The New York herald., 1921-09-25
Vast Variety of Objects Made
And Many of Them Are Sold

One room is devoted to the salable prod
ucts. Mostly there are rugs, hand woven
ones OF both intricate and simple design
There are also electric lamps, cigar boxes,
scarfs, table runners, baskets, leather goods
and scattering of odd contributions. Occa-
sionally, the things are sent up to New York
for sale, but, ordinarily, they depend on a
chance sale there at the hospital
In the workshop there is room devoted
to looms; another is the basket factory and
the third is the toy shop for cutouts and
painting.
apparently. the loom room is frequently
visited by curious strangers. One of the
workers at a small loom was forced to put
up sign, "Hands off, AS this didn't make
his working conditions quite ideal, he added
This is a runner NOT a bath towel, nor
rug" And then in final note of exasper-
alton he inscribed these words: II am dumb:
get an interpreter"
There are a few men in the hospital so
have taken up occupational therapy with
out any assistance from the official aids.
One man, who has been in the hospital so
long he knows every turning of the corri-
The New York herald., 1921-09-25

doris builds model boats He christens each
boat with the name of some p rominent man
and carves the name on the stern Then he
shrinks the boat in bottle and dispatches
II to it's namesake. He prizes the letters he
gets in response to his unexpected gift.
Another who served in the Engineers
Corps Is reported to have built a complete
engine with discarded safety razor blades
Phe average disabled veteran of the great
war isn't worrying much about how the ma
ton is going to reward him for his sacri-
fees. What he wants is something to kill
time in the hospital. He'll even accept 1t
In the name of occupational therapy.
Which, when all is said and done, is rather
generous of him.
The New York herald., 1921-09-25
N \ y y

begins to wear off, After the fifteenth opera
ton on the same old spot in the same old
leg you are apt to lose your enthusiasm
for the ceremony. Hanging around a hos
pital also begins to pale on YOU
When you first landed between the sheets
1t was a different story. 1t seemed more
comfortable than the trenches and there was
a certain feeling of relief in being out of 1t
all alive. And it was something of a luxury
to have your meals brought on a tray. For
a time hospital life wasn't so bad. Into
whatever base hospital they carried you on
a stretcher you were pretty certain to find
a congenial bunch with at least one common
bond-all wounded in the same OF war
Usually there was considerable merriment
in the ward. Whether you were the
eighth or eighteenth day after an operation,
some one would hobble over to your bed
you could hobble over to some ones bed for
a game of chess or checkers. And if there
was any money in the crowd a seven handed
game of stud might help to pass a long
afternoon.
But after the first year even these
diversions fail to rouse you from a growing
discomfort. After you have beaten at chess
or checkers every one in the hospital who
could be beaten, after the money in the
crowd has all concentrated itself in certain
hands and game of stud is impossible after
you have written to every one whose name
and address you can remember, after the
220th Red Cross lady has dropped the 220th
carnation on your bed and murmured sym
pathy In gushing tones, after two years of
this and nothing more but talk of tempera-
lures and diet and dressings, you begin to
long for something different.
Then one day. in the dullest part of the
afternoon, a nurse in a light blue uniform,
a stranger to the ward, approaches you. She
has quantity of weird looking parapher
MALTA tucked under her arm. She asks you
IL you wouldn't like to make a reed basket
or a bead bag. You shake your head no.
Then she suggests a lady's scarf or a bureau
runner anything you may have your
mind.
The New York herald., 1921-09-25

his work fresh from the laboratory. quart
box of dried Strawberries contained all that
was left of four quarts of fresh Strawberries.
The cellular structure of the fruit had not
been disturbed by the dehydrating process
When soaked in water the berries would
regain their original bulk and serve most of
the purposes of the original product
bushel or so of potatoes appeared In
compact form, smuggling In an ordinary
cracker box. While boiled and baked DO
tatoes would have to be stricken from the
menu of the housekeeper using the product
In the dried form, Prof. Mckee SAID that a
very palatable dish of mashed, fried or
stewed In cream potatoes could be served
by handling the material In the proper sway
Says Dried Vegetables Will Keep
Indefinitely Under Favorable Conditions
When asked how long vegetables in the
dried form would keep, he said that under
favorable conditions he didn't see why they
shouldn't keep indefinitely. He cited the
instance of a Canadian manufacturer who
found himself with several tons of a dried
soup mixture left his hands at the con-
clusion of the Boer war; AS there was no
local sale in the domestic market for the
product the manufacturer rather than throw
the material away put II In barrels carefully
paraffined and stored 1t away. At the out
break OF the war in 1914 the barrels were
shipped to the British army and utilized in
the preparation of soup, just as the bulk Of
the lot had been used fifteen years before.
Possibly there are numerous ex-Tommies
who will exclaim over this fact and declare
Indignantly that they recognized the soup
all along as dating back at least to the Boer
war.
Invariably, as the market runs. when
there is a heavy crop prices fall well below
the average. This situation is usually fol-
lowed by n lean year with scanty crops and
high prices. 1t is a feast or famine for the
whole nation. With dehydration the bumper
crop of one year could be converted into
material to eke out the slender product OF
a poor year.
AS for the conservation OF food materials
Il is estimated by the Department Of Agri-
culture that over so per cent. OF the fruits
and vegetables grown In this country now
never reach the consumer as a result OF
poor transportation facilities, Irregularities
I'm marketing or other causes.
Summing up the advantages OF dehydra-
ton IL seems probable that there would be
a great economic saving. an equalization of
prices, a prevention of food shortages and
a greater variety of foods available through
out the year. II the dehydrated products can
be made palatable there appears no good
reason why the process should not take Its
place beside the canning industry.
The New York herald., 1921-09-25
5ENIOUS WORK is DONE BY WOUNDED VETERANS

We were ready to quit the tour right then.
II isn't pleasant to realize that you are maxi
ing man. twice as big as yourself. tremble
with dread and fear. But Miss Crolins said
tnat outside of the mental wards most of
the men were proud to show off what they
were making.
Eventually, she led us back to the main
shop, where men who are able to leave their
wards come to work morning and afternoon.
There isn't anything compulsory about the
hours When they feel like it they can come
In and do few turns. There are always a
few instructors on hand to show them the
way. The Government supplies the ma
terials. the machines and the instruction and
splits the profits with the worker on fifty
fifty basis.
The New York herald., 1921-09-25
Era of Deydraed Soon Be at Hand Says Scientist

r. ASHIONS in dress and fashions in
- food have almost nothing in COM
mon. When the stylsts indicate
that high crowned narrow brimmed straw
hat is being worn by the better people the
average man tosses his low crowned. mar
row brim into an ash can and makes dash
for the nearest hat store. There is no argu-
ment, no discussion. Whether IL is the pass
ing Of the trouser cuff or the introduction Of
the pocket lapel. he feels in honor bound to
conform with the edict of the taiors. Besides.
he takes a certain amount of personal pride
in stepping along briskly with the fashion
parade
Yet in the matter of food this same man
will throw a spasm Of protest before sub
mitting to the slightest change in his regu-
lar menu. He declares emphaticaly that he
wants everything like mother used to
make" That is the creed of his table and the
motto of his daily diet. Though he expects
progress and Improvement in every other
branch OF civilized living, he recognizes no
new tangled notions in the food line He
may be obstinate about 1t. but he positively
refuses to stand for any deviations from the
culinary ways of his maternal ancestors.
Confronted with this arbitrary situation
the food administrators are obliged to fight
their way every inch of the journey. As
rule they can bring in their innovations only
after a StruBgle tnal Ialriy tears open tHe
heart of the world.
1t took the civil to bring the nation
70 a point where the canning industry could
be mentioned in polite circles without start
ing a private revolution. 1t took a world
conflict before the scientists dared to utter
the word "dehydratlng" beyond the walls of
the research laboratory. Even to-day de-
MIGRATING has to be surrounded with all
manner of high sounding verbiage to evade
the general dlsapproval of the universe.
Columbia Professor Predicts
Dehydrates' Popularity
Thus gently and with all the diplomacy
at our command do we lead up TO the pre-
dction that the pantry shelves of the next
generation will hold cartons Of dehydrated
fish, meat, eggs. vegetables and fruit In
every bit as convenient form as the present
day can OF salmon or package of crackers.
Prof Ralph III. Mckee Of Columbia Uni
versity Is the author of the prediction, and
his opinion is corroboratcd by the few men
in the country who have devoted their time
to perfecting dehydrating processes. Prof.
Mckee has a working plant in operation
at Havemeyer Hall, on Morningside Heights.
where he Is daily adding to the store OF de-
hydrating information
"of course" said Prof Mckee. we should
The New York herald., 1921-09-25
Monotony of Hospital Life
Never Can Be Relieved Much

In most lines, they say that the first year
is the hardest. This astounding premise Is
reached by assuming that people can get
accustomed to any mode OF living II they
will only stick at 1t long enough. In the
case Of wounded soldiers the supposition Is
not so definite
When you still being operated on for
a shrapnel wound that was inflicted back In
The New York herald., 1921-09-25
By ToRREY FORD.

~ CCuPAT1ONAL therapy is a big word.
In rather colloquial terms you might
speak OF 1t as a mouthful-perhaps
even a mouthful and half. But at Fox
Hills II is very much in the vocabulary
Walking through the wards you come on
big husky. who before the war. worked In u
steel plant He could put in twelve hour
trick at the blast furnace ana think nothing
OF IT, IL necessary he could hang for
full twenty-four hours and grow huskier on
the diet. To-day he's leaning back the
pillows weaving n lady's silk scarf
That's occupational therapy.
You walk further along and come on other
young men with powerful big frames ex-
cept for a missing leg u twisted arm or
a hole in the neck Each one has his head
bent over the bed picking up little beads and
strnging them out endlessly into something
that looks though it was going to be a
shoppers purse.
That's occupational therapy, too. In fact
when you search the thing out. occupationai
therapy has range that reaches all the
way from making rag carpets big loom
in the main shop to painting doodangs on
a tin talcum powder box In "A wheel chair
next to the operating room. And when you
disabled veteran of the great war you
don't much care what they call 1t as long
as they give you something to do.
The New York herald., 1921-09-25

only an occasional suggestion from the girl
in blue. You begin to weaken on this whore
business of sex consciousness. If it's all
right for woman to work at mans job
(and you have seen plenty of them doing it),
why isn't it all right for man, temporarily
incapactated. to weave scarfs?
One afternoon, when the girl in blue passes
particularly close to your bed. you stop her
with weak gesture. What was that she
mentioned about reed baskets and bead
bags? What2 Well. If she really
doesn't mind. you'd like to try out little
of that occupational therapy.
The New York herald., 1921-09-25

The was of andw little
was him month"
Sketches Hills 1staten sand HOSPITAL
The New York herald., 1921-09-25

Picking up little beads and string
ing them out endlessly into something
that looks as though it was going to
be purse"
The New York herald., 1921-09-25
Regular Treatment at Fox Hills
With Staff to Teach the B

Down at the Fox Hills Base Hospital.
where nearly thousand veterans linger on
their beds or within easy falling distance of
them, occupational therapy is regular part
of the treatment. Miss Cornelia Crolins.
graduate of Boston school of fine arts, and
a score of blue uniformed aids carry on
the work. They go on the theory that No
matter how many splints and bandages a
patient is buried under there is some form
of craft that will occupy his spare" mo-
ments when he isn't being fed or nurs I'd
or doctored.
Last Wednesday afternoon Miss Crolins
took us on tour of inspection around Fox
Hills 1t was "a matinee afternoon" she
explained, and there might not be much go
ing on in the way of occupational therapy;
but what there was we were welcome to see
Stepping out briskly, she remarked that
there were five miles of corridor to the
place, not including side trips to the various
wards
Perhaps 1t wasn't the surgical ward that
she led us into first but that's the picture
that stands out clearest in looking back at
the tour. 1t was a long room. at least
hundred yard dash from one end to the
other, fanked each side by a straight
line of white cots Less than half the beds
were occupied at the moment. but bedside
tables, laden with personal possessions
The New York herald., 1921-09-25

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