The New York herald., 1922-03-12
CITY'S DAILY MENU
FROM WHOLE EARTH
$50 Carloads of Food Con-
sumed Every "a Hours in
M Port District.
APPETITEs ARE SIMILAR
Plans. to Care for 5000, 900 in
Case of Tieup Shown in
Authority Report.

We who dwell within the port of New
York district consun1e annually, $780,
100000 pounds of .foodstuffs. We get II
from every State. IN the Union and al
most every. section OF, the, earth. For
instance we eat fish from Norway. eggs
from Australia, tomatoes fron ,the Ba-
hama Islands and onions from the
banks of the Nile. s2r rs-
All this and all It's correlated features,
such as how 1t gets here. where 1t is
stored and how distributed. is set forth
in the latest report of the port of New
York authority issued yesterday and
based on information gathered since
October, 1921 when a national railroad
strike threatened to cut off the food
supply of the city of New York and
the 104 other municipalities. large and
small. included in the port district.
In discussing the food requirements
for the port district population. the re-
port says:
THE last census gives the total popu-
lation of the port district as 100000 in
habitants. New. York city comprises
nearly three-quarters of this total
obviously this figure is not a satisfac-
tory index of unit food consumption.
however, for it includes infants under
one year and grandfathers over rs.
Among these inhabitants may be
occupations. A person, then, means
little as an index Of food habits and
needs nor is there any certainty that
S.000.000.0 900 persons balance individual
variation and esta blish an average type.
Appetites More Similar.
'If we may believe the United States
Department of Agriculture. sectional
and racial differences in diet are fast
disappearing. At all events we may
agree that the reign of the chain store
and the quick lunch tends to foster a
homogeneous appetite.
THE first problem was to get the age
distribution of the population in the port
district which was obtained from the
last census. and then to multiply this
age distribution by the scales that make
the necessary adjustments for sex and
age. When this was done it was found
that there are approximately rs equiva-
lent adult males to every hundred popu-
lation. Multiplying the 100000 popula-
ton of the port district by rs per cent.
gives 6.A0.OO0 equivalent adult males.
THE Port of New York district re-
ceives annually for local consumption
about 539, 600 carloads of foodstuffs. This
means a daily receipt of $50 carloads by
rail, water and truck.
'"To show the gigantic nature of the
problem of supplying the port district
with its food, it may be mentioned that
977, ,5o2, 40 quarts of milk are annually re-
ceived, an average of 2,670,S26 quarts
daily.
Important Live stock Center.
Contrary to general knowledge, the
Port of New York district, considering
the total number of head slaughtered is
one of the most important live stock
centers OF the nation.
The amount of meat held in stora ge
in the port district is very small In COM
parison with the daily consumption.
There are only slight seasonal fluctua-
tions of amounts in storage, the smaller
holdings being from September to Feb
ruary and the larger holdings generally
in July and that Of minimum holdings
November. During the winter there was
only from six to eight days supply in
storage.
only small part of the gross re-
cefpts of wheat, rye, barley and flour
are consumed locally, owing to large ex-
portations from this port. The approxi-
mate consumption in 1920 was: Wheat
and flour dn pounds of flour, 1,4l1. 200.-
900 pounds: rye. 163, ,326 464 pounds; bar
amount of wheat, rye and barley. 2,140.-
142 acres of grain fields were required,
taking 1920 average production per acre
as a basis"
In discussing transportation of food
stuffs, the report dwells on the means
of transportation and how long the
100000 Of people could exist should
transportation facilities be suspended.
1t says:
THE first and most difficult prob
lem would be to keep up the mini
mum necessary daily supply Of fluid
milk. This would seem impossible ex-
cept by maintenance of the regular
milk trains, because of the compare
lively great distance of milk produc-
ing areas and the impracticability OF
attempting either motor truck or
water transportation for 1t on a large
scale.
'iStaple vegetables such as potatoes.
onions, cabbage and carrots would be
supplied to the port district by motor
truck from nearby sections from south
crn or foreign points at practically
all times of the year. A cessation OF
railroad transportation would immedi-
ately cut off the bulk of the supply
of live stock and live poultry. Such