The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-11-09
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKTN. DirecaOr,
Washington, D. @.
RICE DOPE.

creates food in the world, accord
ing to the department Of agriculture,
is being neglected by the American
people.
You will probably be surprised to
learn that this food is rice. 1t de-
serves the title of greatness in that it
is the staple food of about one-half of
the human race, and that more people
depend almost exclusively on rice for
their food than depend on any other
one thing.
It's wide use is justified by the fact
that II contains about as much nour-
ishment as any of the other cereals,
and is one Of the most easily digesI-
Bile of all foods. In the southern part
of this country, rice is appreciated
at its true value, appears on almost
every dinner table, and is prepared
in a dozen appetizing ways. But in
the rest of the county it is used only
sparingly, and too often 1t is prepared
in ways that are not calculated to
make it attractive.
Rice therefore, deserves to be
boosted, and especially unpublished or
brown rice, which has made its ap
pearance in a few grocery stores only
recently, but would be obtainable
everywhere if there were a demand
for it.
Rice shares the fate common to all
milled in such a way that some of its
most important food elements are cut
away from it and fed to cattle The
things in which our diet is apt to be
deficient are minerals, roughaga and
the recently discovered elements
known as vitamines. These are the
very things which the milling process
takes away, not only from rice. but
from wheat, corn and barley. Ex-
peEts contend that many of our char
acferistie civilized diseases are due to
the shortage of these elements The
outer coatfngs and the germs Of grain
contain these necessary elements They
are removed by the mills primarily be-
cause they impair the keeping quality
of the product, and so make them
harder to handle in trade. Further
more, the people have become ac-
customed to these highly miiled
cereals, SO that there is little demand
for the Whole-grain products. Much
has been written about how the manu-
facturers and retailers are\starVing US
by selling us these highly milied foods.
AS a matter of fact, they are merely
giving us what we demand. If the
people could be made to understand
the value of whole grains, and to like
them, so that a demand could be
created. they would be supplied by the
trade. This is already taking place to
some extent in the case of rice. which
is an instructive example in many
ways.
What Rice Is.
The whole rice grain contains pro-
tein, fat, starch, sugar, mineral matter,
fiber and one of the most important
OF the Vitamines BY removing the
bran coat and the germ in milling, part
of the protein, fat and mineral matter,
and practically all of the vitamines are
lost. What remain is mostly starch.
Experiments in the tropics have shown
that persons fed almost wholly on poll
ished rice contract the dread disease
of this fact has caused some people
to fear polished rice as a food. AS a
matter of fact, polished rice is an ex-
cellent food to furnish the starchy ele-
ment in a mixed diet. 1t is no more
dangerous to eat than wheat flour, as
long as other foods are eaten with it.
The point is simply that brown rice,
from which only the husk has been
removed, leaving the germ with it's
vitamine content, the mineral sub
stances and the fat, is a vastly more
valuable food than polished rice. It
would tend to supplement many of
the characteristic deficiencies of our
diet. It would be a great thing, there
fore, if the use of brown rice could
be made popular.
The trade seems to be ready 10 sup
ply any demand there may be. There
arc t4ICE 6AQCNly SAQICS dI 46doL al
Washington where brown rice may be
bought from fall until spring. 1t is not
kept in the summer, because, as one
grocer puts it, it becomes ''weevilly."
1t can be bought in this city, however,
at least eight months in the year.
grocery stores in other cities. In
smaller places it is not obtainable SIM
ply because there is little or no de-
mand> for it.
Wild Rice NowsSoId.
1t is a surprise to find that the re-
tail stores here also have for sale the
wild rice of North America. This is a
grain, somewhat distantly related to
the true rice, which grows in many of
favorite food of wild fowl. Tt was
staple of the American Indians, who
used to paddle thru the marshes in
their canoes and shatter the grain into
the boat with their paddles. Some of
the pioneers used it, too. 1t is a tasty.
in this country could gather an abun-
dant supply of this valuable grain
without cost if they knew it when they
saw it. 1t is SAID that the cultivation
of the wild rice is almost impossible
because of the ease with which it
skaters
The growing OF rice has had an in
teresting history in this country. AL
tho rice has been grown in the tropics
since before written history began, 1t
did lot reach this country until about
1900. A bag of rice was then brought
10 Charleston, S. c. on a ship, and the
cultivation of it began in a small way.
It soon became Fhe staple crop Of that
region and was grown on the tidal
marshes by the use of much hand la
Dor, for machinery could not be used
in the deep mud. Rice growing was
$50 r.V- rFf Q q hrTf haa If
the presence of slave labor. The in
dustry had the honor of supporting
the most aristocratic society which
America has ever knewn-that of
South Carolina before the war The
owners of the great rice plantations of
that state were the cream of the old
southern society, and most of the le-
gend and story about old plantation
days is based upon them.
This fegime collapsed completely
when the Sivil war took its slaves
from it. The rice fields reverted to
jungle and for time rice culture was