Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1922-02-10
Facts About Meat
By William D. Richardson Chairman of the Committee on

The spirit ot pefVefSlty WHICH sometimes holds sway over human af- fairs has attempted during the last generation to distort our ideas as to what foods we ought to eat. It seems that almost every food of mediocre quality and little worth has been eX- tolled to the skies and lauded and recommended in advertisement and tract until one is led to believe that such food constitutes the long, sought panacea for all human nutritional ills. At the same time comparatively little has been said and comparatively little work has been done on more essen- tial and valuable foods. Indeed, really important and indispensable foods have either received no favorable mentio nor have actually been put on the defensive. This is particularly true of meat which has always occu- pied the central place in the diet, and to a less extent also of fruits which next to meat occupy a position of great importance. Instead of giving meat the prominence which it de- serves, dietitians, physicians, domes- tic science experts and chemists have on the one hand, passed it by as though it were matter of no import ance and, on the other hand, criti- cised the consumption of it as though it were harmful thing in the diet.
 But it has been ordained by nature that man is spared the consequences of his rash and half developed ideas. His actions are ever wiser than his intellect, his instincts more intelligent than his reason, and so, in spite ot the adverse propaganda against meat products, in response to the inward craving for this most satisfying of all foods, in spite of doctrinaires and their teachings, he has always and ev- erywhere, with a few minor eXcep- tions, insisted on making meat the chief item in his daily menu. He has an instictive craving for meat and like all primary instincts this one has deep significance. Furthermore, his experience teaches him that on lib- eral diet of meat he can accomplish his days work easier and with less fatigue than without it.
 It is perhaps not astonishing that commercial interests having for thelr principal product a relatively unlm- portant article of food should have joined in attacks on that which is to be considered the most important of all, if any single article of varied diet is to be marked for distinction in this way, but it is astonishing to the point of unbelief that these attacks directed by self-interest should have been taken so seriously by the gener- al public and even by some physicians and dietitians. Meanwhile we have remained silent as though conscious of the strength of our position.
 Facts Which Prove the Superiority
 of Meat
 That position as see it and the platform on which we should stand before the public presents itself to my mind somewhat as follows:
 1. When we sell meat we are sell ing a natural food containing the highest form of protein for human consumption, in the most palaeable, stimulating and digestible form.
 2. At the same time we are sell ing fats of the highest type along with the protein and other meat con stituents.
 8. We are also selling vitamines in sufficient quantity of nutritional requirements, particularly if moder- ate proportion of fat and the internal organs, such as liver, kidney, sweet breads and heart are consumed rom time to time in place of the ordinary steak, roast or chop.
 4. Meat is by far the most import ant single item in the diet, winch 1act has been recognized by mankind gen erally from time immemorial. Ills daily menu has been built around meat as the central item.
 5. Vitamines have their primary source in the vegetable kingdom, Tn fruits, greens and fresh vegetables. A liberal proportion of such vegetable products along with meat will fur- nish an ample supply of these acces, sories for growth, development and protection against disease.
 6. We are purveyors of hlgn grace animal fats and we recommend these as energy foods. We regard proteins and calories still as the two funda- mentals in dietetics. Carbohydrates such as the starches found in cereals are also valuable as energy foods anu should be consumed in fair proportion for the sake of variety.
 '. The vegetable protelns are gen, erallv inferior to meat protelns ana cannot be considered as true suosu- tutes for meat. A few Of them' found in small proportion in r1ce' m peanuts, in wheat and in maize are z ., od b,,t arc not truly eQulV-