Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-14
A WICKED FOOD WASTE

A WICKED FOOD WASTE
THE CHRISTIAN HERALD i.
l very much shocked over the
report that the growers Of melon.
had left eight million melons to 70,
on the ground in California, in or.
der to raise prices. The greed Of
humanity is bad enough at any time
or for any reason, says The Chris.
tian Herald, but when it is Sc
great that men are willing to de.
troy good wholesome food in order
to make money or keep up prices i,
seems to be a more extreme form
of greed than some other kinds"
In contemplating these r~ottins
melons The Herald visualizes the
millions of children in the famine
stricken countries and the half
starved in American tenements.
But supposing that the growers OF
foodstuffs were anxious in case of
an over production to ave every
ounce, even if it had to be given
away, how, wonders The Herald,
could it be transported to those
who were in need of it? Unfor-
tunately, we are told,
The combination Of greed and
stupidity reminds US that we have
not come very far along the track
of conserving some of humanity's
most beautiful and necessary
things. We can measure the dis
tances of the stars and resolve
them into their physical makeup
with the aid of that marvellous in
strument, the spectroscope. We
are able to talk to another through
space, and harness the lightning to
cook our meals. But we are not
great enough nor good enough to
prevent 100000 fruits of Gods
wonderful earth from rotting on
the ground, while little children
in Europe also rot OF the ground
because there is no food for their
little bodies. What sharper con-
trast could be found than the 3an
ton and deliberate destruction Of
Gods food for Gods children than
this commercial transaction, perpe-
trated in cold blood, for the ex-
press purpose of keeping up the
price?
ut would seem as if some
wholesome law could prevent the
destruction Of food in a world
where millions of hungry mouths
60 without even the plainest sort
of n%ourishment required to keep
body and soul together. Is it not
an ironical comment on our civil
cation that at a time when the
Christian conscience of the nation
is confronted with the appeal to
send food to Europe and the near
east, to the starving millions of
China or of Armenia, the growers
of food in the very country that is
besought by Europe for food,
throws it away to the extent of
5000. 900 melons? The possible re-
ply that this sort of food is perish
able and can not be sent abroad,
or that the cost of transporting
it to market is prohibitive of any
profit for the producers, does not
answer the fact of food destruc-
ton. Either wickedly or waste
fully Gods food is destroyed. In
the economy of His plan for man
kind such a course, no matter from
what motive, is an illustration Of
selfishness or of stupid
ity. We have not learned how to
curb human greed, neither have we
learned how to make a supply meet
a want"
The Christian Herald proves too
much. We would call its atten-
ton to the fact that millions and
billions of cords of wood are rot
ting in our national forests while
many poor families in the United
States will go without fuel. If the
fact that the cost Of transportation
of food is prohibitive of profit to
the producers is no good defense
for wasting Gods food, it is no
defense for wasting Gods fuel.
But who is going to carry our
dead and down timber to the fire
side of the poor who sadly need it?
FROM ABSENTEE VOTERS
to The Tribune.
Lewistown, Aug. 13.-County Clerk
and Recorder l.. J. Lehman has re-
the first application for absent
ballots. They come from Rev. |
and Mrs. Albert Pfaus, the former be-
ing the postmaster Of the Virgin is