Evening star., 1923-06-20
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS

How much does breakfast costo
This question does not apply to the
epicure's breakfast, beginning with
the juice Of two oranges, followed by
bacon and eggs, with rolls and cof-
fee, and a tip to the waiter 1t
/ means just breakfast-cornmeal
mush.
4 scientist, Samuel s. wyer has
been working in collaboration with
the bureau of technology, United
States National Museum. in investiga-
tions in the fuel cost of cooking, and
specializing in gas, both natural and
artificial. He reports that the cheap
est and most "flling" breakfast is
cornmeal mush. Enough to satisfy
anybody costs one fifth of a cent for
| the meal, and l cent for the gas
to cook it. Oatmeal is more expen-
siye. but some people can afford it.
cent for gas. The scientist fails to
| tell us that another cent might be
| added for sugar and 10 cents for
cream. In soldier hospitals, however.
the patients are forbidden to have
J Thrift, Horatio! Thrift"
] - = y
| DIR. Wyer shows that cooking by
! gas is the cheapest method now In
use, though he recommends a COM
bination of gas and coke. Electricity
consumes six pounds Of coal, gas one
pound, to create the same units of
| heat.
l rrt T. T,;t Gt 80
annually a total of 64o,000,000 tons
| of coal. If everybody cooked with
! electricity it would require $50. .000.-
/ 600 tons for the cooking alone, but
the 100000 cooking kitchens Of
American homes is only S2,oo9ooo
/ tons.
/ The beehive coke ovens, says DR..
Wyer, waste annually 240 billion cubic
| feet Of gas. The natural query arises
j (although DR.. Wyer does not discuss
it,, as to why all that gas fuel is
| wasted by the coke ovens, instead of
being converted into electricity and
distributed in a, radius of hundreds
! of miles for both domestic and manu-
| featuring purposes.
Il Hx
In further pursuit of the investi-
CATION of the high cost of living,
he says. it is found that full dinner
for six persons amounts to s1.4S
3cents. The items are as follows:
iGas. 33 cents. Swiss steak, so cents;
|escalloped potatoes. 19 cents; spin
ZACH. 12 cents; bread or rolls, cents;
butter cents; rice pudding, 20 cents
cream, 10 cents; sugar, cents. NO
allowance Is made for coffee or any
other drink.
| why Swiss steak? Would ham, :
burger answer the same purpose?
Swiss steak" Is Swiss for "round."
AS the late JamesJ. Hill remarked
it is not the high cost of living that
! crushes, but the cost of high living.
That meal costs Is cents person.
| six persons" is unscientifically vague.
Six day labofeFs, working outdoors,
demand twice as many calories as six
indoor idiers or brain workers.
! x** x
| DR.. Wyer does not compute the
whole days ration, but has taken
single meals, as compiled by the
bureau of home economics, Depart
| r1ent of Agriculture. Hence no hun
l grV read6f ne6u bc ulSIids GU a.
! finding the simple dinner costing 2S
cents a person. The best Army ra-
ton costs only 80 cents, and that
| means all that a husky man in active
exercise requires In a day. In fact,
| the OuaFtermaster Corps reports that
| i'm many camps the cost of the ration
| is only 27 cents. Officers are allowed
| 50 cents a ration, when they supply
| their own rations, in lieu of get
ting supplies from the subsistence
| In the several encampments Pre-
Iared for training camps 1t Is neces-
sary to depend on local markets for
! supplies and buy in comparatively
| small Quantities. This includes fresh
vegetables and fresh meats. The
| duarterEHaster department has made
a scientific study Of that special sub
! sistence problem and. even under
| those conditions, more nearly paral-
| leling house economics. the ration.
! with an astonishingly attractive and
| varied menu and quantity for active
men, costs IS cents q day. A ration"
| means what a man eats In day
| -hree meals.
During the war, rations delivered
It the front. In France, cost the
! american Army between So and SO
.ents- and -nnAl-ihe cost is-enlX half
that. While ths Army has been able