Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-15
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

after the war that he was merely seek
ing income enough to maintain his for
mer standard Of living, while In Eng
land the champions Of Labor openly
demanded a higher standard of living
although not daring to emulate Amer
lean standards. Ask Prime Minister
Macdonald If that Is not correct.
Certain statements appearing in the
report OF the committee on recent eco
nomic changes, Of the Presidents con-
ference on unemployment Q929), give
a vivid picture Of what is taking place
In our Industrial situation:
We do not need to eat such quanti-
ties Of food as formerly, according to
this analysis. II we are enlightened
Wen reduce.
The report says: "For many years
there has been significant and prac-
tically continuous trend toward smaller
food requirements, per capita, In a
physiological sense, not the economic. {"
(Should not our Secretary of Labor
warn us all against gluttony? We
should baconize-a streak Of fat and a
streak of lean is about right.)
"This has been especially the case In
the United States" say the experts I'm
the report, land the tendency has been
more pronounced in recent years. This
decline has occurred largely in energy
pkOOuCnlS 4OOCS dk1O Chiefly III QuanGl-
ties needed to maintain bodily heat and
furnish energy for active work There
are no indications of appreciable
change in the individual requirements
for mineral salts, vitamins and proteines
for tissue displacement, or in the energy
requirements for carrying on the sim
pie bodily functions. The physiological
requirements for growing children have
not changed, except as they may be af-
fected by increased activity In sports
and by changes in clothing.
Some change In the national per
capita requirements for maintenance
and growth may have occurred through
alterations In the age and sex distribu-
ton Of the population. Declining rates
of infant and child mortality tend prox-
imately to increase the proportion Of
growing children, and increasing aver
ages of longevity of adults tends to
increase the proportion Of more elderly
persons.
1.-THE net effect of these and other
factors may be to decrease the proper
ton of persons in the ge-groups cover
IL and under 45) which require more
than the average amount of food for
purposes other than for purposes Of
heat and activity"
Modern food Is better balanced and
more attractively prepared, so a little
goes farther. Raymond Pearl, the
famous statistician of the Food Admins
tration, computed the annual average
consumption of the United States for
six Years-1911-12 to 1916-17-as ap-
proximately 100 trillion calories-4, 200
calories per day per adult, or, after al
lowance for edible waste, it was 3,424
calorieS per day. Yet the reduction
faddists would put us on a 1,200-calory
basis, on the ground that nobody loves
fat man."
What does the Secretary of Labor
propose-continual overlooking, or the
''boyish figure" for American labor? Oh
the shame of his statistics! All that
meat and everything!
No wonder our European enemies
gloat over us: Would he were fatter!
Yet I fear him not" The fatter we
get, the more readily will Europe re-
duce ornaments.
(Copyrisht, 1929, by Paul v. Collins.)