The Washington herald., 1922-03-21

her sumptuousness and her squaor And now
We must pause and gasp at her appetite.
When the national, railroad strike threatened
in October, 1921, administrative committee was
appointed through the port authority and at the
request of the governors of the Empire State
and New Jersey 10 survey the port district
OF food supplies and lay plans against
transportation paralysis.
The strike fortunately did not cvcntuate, but
it resolved to keep the perfected organization
intact for pursuit of studies to foodstus. supply
and methods Of distribution. The data derived
undoubtedly would be of inestinablc value in such
crisis that against which Gotham sought to
prepare herself. 1t is not upon this we would
descant however, but upon the hunger OF o,24oooo
equivalent adult males" (There are reckoncd to
be 100000 persons in the port district, but the
little 'uns don't consume much as the big uns,
and so the equivalent male" figure is adopted)
Without making any bones about it, the COM
mittee sets forth that the annual consumption is
845s,2oo,ooo pounds of foodstuffs.. That, gentle
reader, exceeds the tonnage Of I3I post-Jutland
dreadnaughts. 1t is thus divided
Total meat (including meat, provisions
and poultry, o67,2oo.ooo; fish, I62,24o,ooo; milk
(wholc sweet), I,728,4So,ooo; cheese 57,44o,ooo;
eggs $4,000 900; total fats (incuding butter),
2y7I2o,ooo total cereals (including breadstuffs),
1879 100000; total vegetables, (fresh, dried
and canned), 2yo77,o7o.ooo; total fruits, 74s,-
100000; sugar, 34S2ooooo; tca anu Cohee'
o3,6oo,oo.
The above shows that New Workers, after
all, are perfectly normal persons and subsst
on balanced dict 1t is the visitors who con-
sumo the hectic connections OF the hotel belt.
The average Gothamite takes his bread and milk
very seriously.
Mere harping poundagc of supplies is
tedious. so let US turn to some OF the sources of
supply. The greater part OF the volume Of live
stock handled is received from Western yards,
Vegetables come chiefly from Long Island Nir-
gnia, New Jersey. Maine South Carolina, Florida,
New York (other than Long Island) and North
Carolina, in the order named. Practically all
-four is from Western States. and the wheat,
rye and barley, taking 1920 average acre production
figures demand the crop from 2,I4o,I42 acres
annually. Onions not only from many
States, but from Spain, Denmark and even the
banks OF the Nile. Lettuce and tomatoes arc
received all the year round the crop being taken
from States ranging from New York to Florida.
according to the season Bermuda and the Canary
Islands furnish some quantity OF the latter vege-
table. The huge total of I567o2,S6o dozen eggs
in 1920 was derived from more different States
OF the Union than any other commodity" and
from Canada, Denmark. China, Argentina and
Australia.
So it goes on. The aggregate is stupcndous,
the machinery of cultivation, harvesting trans
portation and distribution vast. The pressure
of life in this great center, any other OF size
approaching it, can be realized by consideration
of the figures.
In a grammar book of two decades ago ono
Of the interesting sentences printed for analysis
by budding minds this: at is said that
Paris consumes 100000 oysters day." This was
a startler then. But it is modest little whisper
compared to the committees hgurcs