The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-03-10
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director.
washington, ID. c.
BISCUITS AND BARGAINS.
washington, d. c.

dinners, and bad bargains can be- leg
islated out of existence is a question
which the last congress smiled and
frowned over and finally passed to its
successor. The committee that inves-
tigated the need for federal assistance
to train housewives was readily con-
WINGED of the worthineSS OF the cause.
But the bill providing government
fund for home economies courses got
pushed aside in the final rush OF I'M
peratively important legislation. -
The bill is not lost, however. 1t is
sure to come up in the next congress;
possibly at the extra session which is
expected in April. 1t is not an expen-
congress, but it is a bill of far-reach-
ing Importance and one that offers an
opportunity to every state, and 1t IS
being urged by dozen big national
womens organizations and any num-
Der of state organizations.
The foundation for the home eco
Monies bill is the old story-or sew
eral of them:
Twenty-six million of the $4,000, 600
women and girls in the United States
keep house, and as homemakers these
&c, 100000 women constitute the larg-
est class of workers in the country. 1t
is further estimated that more than
nine-tenths OF women keep house at
some time in their lives.
More than 80 per cent of the buy
ing for the home is done by women.
Nutritive food in the proper pro-
portions, sanitary home conditions,
economy in the home, are the basis of
Americas. or any country's health,
wealth and happiness.
But there is negative fact of equal
Importance: The housewife who is so
largely responsible for the American
digestion and bank account is for the
most nart an unskilled laborer, where
as with training she might properly
h,
Homes Badly Run.
The home has been called the most
costly institution in America, and it
might equally well be called the most
Inefficient. 1t is largely because of un-
fortunate home conditions that we
have with us juvenile delinquency,
malnutrition, indigestion, the grouchy
business man, and other problems"
Up to now it has been taken for
granted that the home-maker got ade-
quate training as a girl in her parents
home, or, failing that, she picked up
housekeeping naturally, by experience.
If a girl elected to delve into the tech
meal business of calories and budgets
at school, well and good. She was
merely rounding out her education
with extra accomplishments.
This idea of how housekeepers
should be made is losing credence,
partly because housekeeping has be-
come a recognized field for science,
and partly because the home school of
household training is practically ex-
tinct.
Rarely is girl given the thoro
training in household affairs by her
mother. like the daughter of the house
a generation or two back Mother is
generally too busy getting thru with
Homework so as to make time for
clubs and politics and daughters we'll
meaning offers to help make the pies
are apt to be met with a distracted
Il can do 1t while showing you how"
more interested in home economics
now than they have been for several
years. Girls by the thousands have de-
serted the kitchen range for the fac
tory bench, and if they have to keep
the home fires burning too, they pick
up something sketchy on the way
home and exc out the meal with can
ned goods and raw fruits.
Women Want to Learn.
The greater concern over house
keeping. now being displayed, is at
tributed to the wave of economy and
the reduction of wages. 1t is not,
however, a return to the old house
keepers viewpoint of before the war.
Women are beginning to accept what
home economics experts have SO long
and patiently explainedTthat house
work need not be drudgery. that the
principles of balanced meals can be
grasped by any woman who will take
time to study them, and in general,
that home economics is not a subject
limited tA college text books, but that
it is simply homework by methods
tested by experts.
The bill which extends the oppor-
tunity for women and girls to become
competent housekeepers provides
| 100000 at the start to be divided
a mr. n
| lation. To receive its share of the
money, whatever it may be, each state
| has to put up a similar sum to be used
for the same purpose. With the
money teachers are to be engaged to
| take charge of classes, and girls are
| to be trained as home economics
teachers. The bill stipulates that these
| student teachers must be given four
year course. This is intended to in
| sure a high standard in teachers pro-
vided for the vocational classes.
| The classes which the states would
establish under the home economics
bill would be for girls and women who
I expect to take up housekeeping or are
already engaged in it.. This includes
girls who are in school; women who
| work in, the day and still keep house
or plan to de so; domestic paid work.
ers who want more training; and
housekeepers who feel that they can
still learn something about their work.
The bill definitely states that at
| least one-third of the sum allotted to
any state must be applied to part
| time schools or evening classes for
girls and women over II years of age.
Each state or school would plan its
own course, according to teachers
available, and the demand for sub
| jects. In such courses there is prac-
| tically always class in the art of
cooking. Another important subject
| for the courses would be dietetics,
which deals with the food require
ments and how to satisfy them,
making allowances for the differences
| in individuals
| Teach Women Buying.
Every complete course in home eco
nomics nowadays includes a study of
| buying-clothes, food, house furnish
ings. 1t is estimated that women buy
| practically all of the dry goods and
women's and children's clothing re-