Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-20
FOOD Being CANNED
BY 100000 WOMEN
U. S. Conservation Program
AWakenS Wide Interest
Over Nation.
More than 500, GOO women now are

More than 100000 women now are
engaged In the national flood conserva-
Zion" program sponsored by the FEEDER i
Government, storing up unmarketec
fruits and vegetables against Winter
according to reports received here by
governmental agencies from many
widely scattered communities.
Men can go without employment
but they cannot go without food" said
Mrs. George H Strawbridge, head oil
the Philadelphia Help Bureau, which
has the largest city organization, with
126 canning kitchens" at work.
1t Is this idea inspiring thousands OF
community groups now busy putting ur
cans Of fruit, barrels Of pickles and
kraut, storing away tons Of cabbage
potatoes, apples, carrots, turnips and
the like, and dehydrating corn and
beans, which ordinary apparatus.
handle with ordinary apparatus.
Nation Shows Interest.
Since the Agricultural Department
started mailing out instruction bulle-
tins there has been reported from al
over the country increasing activity
aimed at making the most of vegetable
and fruit surpluses which otherwise
would rot.
The Presidents Emergency Com
Imittee on Employment also is mailing
out mimeographed reports showing the
best plans" for organization of per-
sonnet and operation. Leaders in the
movement have been besieged with in
quiries from other towns and by visit
ang committees
Churches, schools, community CEN
tiers and vacant storeroors are being
donated for the canning bees. -
Farmers bring gifts of fruit, vegetables
and grains Business men donate trucks
TO collect offerings and transport
screws" of unemployed who pick and
pack them. Corporations donate sugar
by the barrel and glass jars by the
gross. Volunteer workers, after being
organized and instructed, then con-
serve or preserve the surplus foods.
Capital Is Organized.
Charity and volunteer organizations
are accommodating tons of foodstuffs in
the hope that no one need go hungry
next Winter. In nearly every city and
town, warehouse space has been found
for the canned goods, special storage Is
being arranged for items which need
dry, well-regulated bins.
Here in washington, Mrs. Harvey w
Wiley, whose husband led the national
pure food movement years ago, has or
gant1ed her headquarters and demon
strattng units in the building formerly
occupied by Harvey'S Restaurant, which
was donated for their use. More than
q score Of women's organizations have
lined up under her leadership to spread
canning activities to every district and
neighborhood. These district groups
come to headquarters for instructions
and materials, then spread the work IN
their local neighborhoods, using either
home kitchen, church or school equip
ment.
The Philadelphia plan is similar. The
Help Bureau, Of which Mrs. Straw
bridge is director, merely routes sup
plies Of foodstuffs to local kitchens,
together with sufficient, cans sugar
labels and labor" from the ranks of
unemployed. The local committees
later forward their product to central
warehouses. These stores viii be handed
over to regular charity organizations for
distribution.
Philadelphia Is the only large city
thus effectively organized.
Delaware Has same Plan.
In Delaware. the same policy has been
followed by Mrs. Irenee DUPONT, State
chairman. Mrs. Strawbridge explained
the routine to Delaware delegations.
In Birmingham, Ala, with a more
complicated "set-up," the Community
Chest organized and financed the plan.
a special Red Cross Committee was
named to do the work. Birmingham
made its principal appeal to house
wives. 1t urged that everybody put up
two dozen extra quarts for Winter re-
lief work. Churches and school chill
dren were organized. One high school
was set aside as q demonstrating CEN
ter" Girl Scouts and home demonstra-
ton agents held classes. Other high
school Kitchens were used by volunteer
and unemployed women.
OhiOans Take Up Work.
At Columbus, Ohio, the lead was
taken by the Council of Social Agen-
cies." Grange leaders were asked to
organize the farmer interest State and
city demonstration agents instructed
the city groups. Both city and country
cooperate in the same county.
At Muncie, Ind, the city organized
1000 kitchen gardens last Spring, Of
1ering prizes for the most productive.
Also. the city provided q 35-acre Com
munity garden" with seeds, fertilizer
and tools for unemployed.
Texans Care for Selves.
Down in Texas hundreds Of COM
1nunities have adopted the 'live-at-
home" policy and now raise kitchen
gardens as a measure of self-defense
Thus, If the profit crops fail, the fam
1ly has plenty of fresh food and plenty
OF chicken, pork, rabbit and beef
These meat supplies are being canned
this year by town committees. The
cheap cuts are used as well and costs
have been kept low.
Coal mining districts in West Viz
gina and Pennsylvania are being or
ganized-the miners wives beinp
grouped wherever conveniences can be
found, while trucks scour farms fol
4oodStuffs and local business men do
nate supplies. Many housewives who
could not spare cash from the family
purse give" handsomely with labor
and canned foods.
Mrs. Bernice Davis is in charge OF
the food conservation section of the
United States Committee on Unemploy-
ment and has helped thousands OF
communities TO organize. DR.. Louise
Stanley, chief Of the Home Economics
Bureau, Department Of Agriculture, ha,
been the expert most consulted on the
technique Of conservation, and she ha.
issued a bulletin giving practical adj
vice on what to do with foodstuffs nov
coming in.