Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-11-12


The magnitude of the job of feed
ing the Government employees is
indicated by the number of meals
served by each of the establish
ments in a one-month period. Here
are the figures: South Interior,
90, l48; North Interior, 26,358; SUI
preme Court, 1929; Internal Rev.
enue, 49,046: Procurement Ware
house, 42.857; Labor-I. c. c., 66,315;
Civil Service, 1862; State Depart.
ment, 8,2l3: General Accounting
Office, 1899; Treasury. 10,046;
Munitions Building, 22,597; Com.
merce, 62,223; Post Office Depart.
ment, 45,4l3; War Annex, 6,671:
R. F. c., otto; Treasury Annex,
TIA; E Building, $685.; Apex, TO-
AS; Farm Credit Administration,
1858; Potomac Park Apartments
Social Security. 1907; Railroad
Retirement, 1882; Justice, 37,427;
H. o. L. c.. 29,415; Federal Reserve,
1885; National Health Institute,
2221; Loans and Currency (Treas-
ury), 1878, and the Library Of
Congress, 1901. Who ate that one
meal at the Library is unde-
termined.
Planning Menus.
Whether q Government worker Is
offered veal rosettes, Irish stew,
lamb roast, fried trout or some other
nh o;oo AZ ithaca "a foforioc ie q rnaf.
ter determined by the managers OF
the various units. Buying and or
ganization are centralized. but
menus are planned by the various
cafeteria managers. Ham croQuettes,
boiled onions and caulihower may
be offered on the regular lunch at
Commerce and Internal Revenue
the same day, but this Is coinci-
dence.
Incidentally, the director in
charge of all the cafeterias period
ically studies the menus to make
sure that the quality and choice OF
food is up to standard.
In buildings where the smaller
units are operated-lunch stands
and soda fountains-there are no
facilities for cooking. 50 food must
be prepared elsewhere. To do this,
a central kitchen operates at the as
sociation's headquarters on Twenty
first street, between L and M streets
NV. In this kitchen, with lights
glinting on aluminium and polished
steel, cooks prepare soup in 50-gal-
lon kettles. pies in huge ovens.
cookies, cakes, salads and sand
wiches, which are dispatched to
units all over Washington.
Five-gallon metal containers, pol
ished to resemble glass, are used in
transporting the soup, steaming hot,
to the lunch counters. The output
Of the central kitchen for recent
lunch hour included I'll pumpkin
pies, 81 apple pies, % dozen cheese
cakes, 43 peach pies, % full-size
caramel cakes and some As gallons
Of vegetable soup. Salads, sand
witches. cup cakes and other types Of
food also are produced in quantities
at the central kitchen, with the
cooking plants at the cafeterias. Of
course, putting out their daily quo
tas. which run into tons of food.
Signs at the entrances to the
cafeterias state in positive words
that service is restricted to Govern
ment employees. All the Federal
workers do not, of course, eat at the
cafeterias in the buildings. Some
prefer to go elsewhere, others are in
buildings where there are no eating
places, and still others work on
shifts when the cafeterias are
closed. Thousands and thousands
of them, however, do eat at these
convenient places, and the 600,0 900
meals q month put out by the We'll
fare and Recreational Association
demonstrate their popularity.
The idea Of serving food to the
Government employees in the build
ings originated in World-War days.
when private establishments proved
unable to accommodate the hordes
Of workers brought to Washington
to do war work. Like most big
things, the start was inconspicuous,
WV WIG 1OCo was cOU14O 6I1U UCVC4e
opment was rapid.
Now, with more than 10000
workers in the executive depart
ment in Washington, it would be al
most impossible to provide the
noontime meal for this army Of en-
ployes without the Government
building cafeterias. With the lunch
hour restricted in most departments
to 80 minutes, 1t would be extremely
dinlcult for many Of the workers to
go out, walk a block or two, eat and
return to the ONCE within the half
hour period. -.
The Welfare and Recreational
Association executives, in their new
ONCE building on Twenty first
street, make this unnecessary. work.
ing. planning and operating the
complicated but smooth running
system that gives Federal workers
. quick, nourishing lunch for IN
average price Of about q cents.