Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 85, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1918 — UNCLE SAM TAKES STOCK of HIS LARDER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

UNCLE SAM TAKES STOCK of HIS LARDER

by Robert H.Moulton

»NCLE SAM for the first time in the history of the United States has taken stock of the national larder.. A monster inventory has been made of all fqod resources in the United States, and now Uncle Sam is in a fair way to know what food stocks he has on hand to last over until next season’s crops come in, how much food he can spare for the allies, and how sparingly he should make use of it at. home. Under an act of congress approved by the president August 10, 1917, the secretary of agriculture was authorized to investigate and ascertain the demand for, the supply, consumption, costs and prices of, and the basic facts relating to the ownership, production, transportation, manufacture, storage and distribution of foods, food materials and any articles required in connection with the production, distribution or utilization of food. An appropriation was granted for the survey, and within a week after the bill had been signed by the president schedules were in outgoing mails to food merchants and manufacturers. • Here are some facts regarding the correspondence which formed the basis of the nation-wide food inventory. The master list which was compiled by the bureau of markets was made, up of 525,000 names. There were 18,000 grain, flour and feed dealers; 1,200 brewers, 800 distillers, 6,500 canners of fruits, vegetables and sea foods; 1,400 refiners and dealers in edible oils, 1,800 sugar and syrup refiners, 32,000 wholesale and retail bakers, 1,040 fish freezing plants, and so on through the hundred or more-classified food trades.

A huge force of clerks was kept busy mailing schedules and sorting, editing and classifying the returned re--ports. The whole master list was more than duplicated by follow up letters and letters giving special information. The inventory covered 86 leading food items and brought in complete returns of the year’s harvests. Four general classes of commodities were covered: First, quantities of raw products on the farms, such as grain, live stock, poultry, eggs and honey; second, stocks of food products nearer the consuming stage In manufacturing, jobbing, wholesale,' storage and other commercial establishments; third, stocks in small retail establishments; fourth, food supplies' on the shelves and in the bins of the family pantry. Done Largely by Mail. The most Important part of Uncle Sam’s stock taking job was done by correspondence with food dealers and makers. But It was not possible to Inventory all food stocks by mail. There were 165,000 small retail groCets who, through inability to read or understand English, were unable to carry out the Instructions of the schedule. It would have been quite impossible to Inventory each one of these small concerns .by personal canvass. Therefore the bureau resorted to estimates based on a detailed survey of representative counties. > Aw a basis of selection for these type counties, all the counties in the United States were divided into seven groups according to the size of the largest village, town or city contained in each. The first group consisted of 25 metropolitan districts, in a number of instances embracing all or parts of several counties; the second group contained 19 smaller metropolitan dis-

tricts and adjacent territory having cities of from 100,000 to 200,000 population ; the third group contained counties having cities of from 25,000 to 50,000; In the seventh group there were 1,639 counties which had no village so large as 2,500. The survey work in cities was done by the bureau of chemistry through its food and drug inspectors and state and local health officials anti inspectors. These representatives went from store to store and left with proprietor or manager schedules of all possible staples, with the request that they be filled out in 48 hours. In many parts of the larger cities, especially In the poorer districts, the police had to explain to the grocers that the law’required them to fill out the schedule and, that they were liable to a penalty for failure to do so. The survey covered the stocks on farms and in the 22,000,000 households of the United States. The bureau of crop estimates, with Its existing army of crop reporters, attended to the farm stocks. The total nurjjber of returns exceeded 300,000. Household Inventory Made, To catch in the net for food information the 22,000,000 households In the United States was a stupendous task. As It was Impossible to approach each one of- these households, 44,000 families, representative of the entire population as to place of residence, family income and occupation were studied in detail and estimates derived from these figures covered with a fair degree of accuracy the entire country. The aim of the household survey was to get a fairly accurate idea ofr the food stocks, in individual households, supplementary to certain data sent in from cold storage concerns and makifig complete returns as to the quantity of preserved meats, eggs, fruits and vegetables in the country. Secondarily the schedule found out how much of certain staple commodities were being used, and checked up by means of Inquiries on the comparative amounts of certain foods consumed during the last two years on the ability of the average American family to follow out conservation food measures -which have been recommended. A vital phase of the household survey was the inquiry into milk production and the various ways In which this valuable food product is utilized. The schedule to be filled out by householders was divided into four sections : Section 1. Meats preserved for home use this winter and last. Section 2. Fruits, vegetables and eggs preserved for home use‘for 1917 and 1916. Section 3. Total quantity of milk produced, consumed and sold under the following Items per average week during the last year: 1, whole milk; 2, cream; 3, skimmed milk—

quantity fed to animals and quantity used in household. Section 4 covered the total quantity of 34 leading foods consumed during the calendar year 1917 and the estimated consumption of certain W these 34 leading foods during 1916 iff order to see to what extent families have been able to use substitute foods in the present emergency. Dietary Investigation Aids. Dietary investigations were made by Doctor Langworthy of the division of home economics which dovetail with the more sweeping household inventory of the federal food survey. Doctor Langworthy conducted an intensive research into the quantities and kinds of foods used in a number of selected families. These figures' will bring up to date dietary investigations made in the same division under Doctor Atwater’s regime, and which up to the present time have been the only statistics available as a basis for dietary calculations, even for those of the Royal British commission. ,The practical results of this survey will. It is believed, be of great value. For Instance, it will enable us to plan our crop production for the ensuing year with a degree of intelligehce which would be impossible without this definite and comprehensive survey. It would be difficult to find the owner of a factory who would plan out a producing program, without having a moderately accurate idea of market demands, and stocks already on hand.

We have been running our factory, so to speak, absolutely blind, without regard to orders or probable sales. It is ridiculous to urge greatly increased production unless we can say and say with-definiteness that there is a shortage and that the producer will be assured a moderate return for his labor. We are about to know for the first time by consideration of actual figures how We are situated with reference to our right to export the various commodities considering the needs of our own people. Again we shall know what we should substitute in the way .of those things that are present in a plentiful supply for those which are not plentiful. Information to the effect that there is a surplus of potatoes on the market will exert a leverage on the price fixer, and •will encourage the increased use of this specific food product. As increased consumption of potatoes means using less bread, It is a definite wheat conservation measure. We should know where we can use heavily and where lightly. Hoarding would be impossible. Charles J. Brand, who is at the head of the nation’s food Inventory, believer that a food survey taken annually, before the fall crops come In and just after they are in; will eventually become an established custom.