Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 102, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 May 1918 — Saving Foodstuffs [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Saving Foodstuffs

By MRS. LUTHER BURBANK

Wife of Noted Plant Scientist ►

Did it ever occur to you that bating, sleeping and the large consump-

ti o n of certain foods is more of a habit than a necessity to sustain life? The man or woman who has been used each morning to his or her ham or bacon, with eggs, will undbubtedly consider it prac- - tlcal starvation if asked to forego these habits, yet there are today millions of people on the earth who eat less in two days than you and I consume in one meal, but who are among the healthiest on earth. , Study history,

look into the life and habits of the ancient Greeks, and you will find that the nations which used the plainest, simplest and most meager fare were among the strongest, while those who descended to stable habits bordering upon gluttony rapidly retrograded. Why? Because the mind of the glutton is a dead ipind. He cannot think, his Whole body is sluggish, the organs are so clogged that they are unable to function properly and the result is physical and mental decay. Eating is a matter of habit. We In America, the great land of plenty, c have been accustomed to eat what we wished. For generations it has been the same •’until, from simplicity of eating, we have bordered closely onto excess. This is not true of everyone. America, is not a nation of gluttons, but I do maintain that, on an average, we Americans consume perhaps twice as much as is necessary to sustain life, and that this very overconsumption has been the cause of more illness, more doctors’ bills and more suffering than any other one cause. In all life we are creatures of heredity. When Mr. Burbank wishes to produce a new flower he looks back Into the past ages and finds all about the ancestors of that flower. He discovers that a flower which had once been fairly hardy and able to withstand rigorous winters, has become a delicate plant which must be tenderly nourished, or It will die. This condition is brought about through centuries of pampering. It has been artificially cared for, well watered, and thoroughly fertilized with the result that nature has not been called upon to give it protection. And so it is with us. We have been reared in a land of plenty; a land of vast crops and rich food and, we have become soft. The savage who depends on his acute sense of smell, keen vision, and fleetness of foot for his dally food is a wonderful animal. Nature provides him with all these essentials to sustain life. Take that same savage from his wild environments and daily struggle with life, place him in surroundings of plenty, and in two or three genera- - tions his descendants will have lost all 'of those wondrous senses their ancestor had developed. The American Indian IS the most striking example of this we have today. With these few facts before us let us .ndw look into those little practices of saving which we all believe In trying to put Into effect but which many of us deem impossible, because habit has made Us believe that we cannot live without certain things to eat and a certain quantity of each.

Mrs. Burbank.