Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 172, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1919 — Page 2

HAPPENINGS in the CITIES

“Mystery Man of the A. E. F.” Brings Woe and Joy HOBOKEN. N. J.—When Private Roland Phillips arrived here the other day on the Mount Vernon from Brest .three sorely disappointed mothers watched him walk past on the dock —Mrs. Roland Phillips of Flushing, L.L; Mrs. Emma Phillii's of Evanston, Ill.;

Phillips. Further than that no one could learn. Mrs. Emma Phillips of Evanston. whose son Roland was reported lost in action but never definitely bulletined as dead, believed she had discovered her boy. Mrs. Roland Phillips of Flushing, L. 1., was convinced that the “mystery man” was her boy, Roland, reported killed in action. In order to clear up the mystery General Pershing ordered the man sent home. Something In the Sight of his native land, must have jogged the soldier’s memory. Anyway, something happened to’tho delicate machinery of his mind. Tn a flash it came to him that his home was in Evansville, Ind. Many reporters were waiting to talk with the “mystery man,” and to them he made the announcement that he remembered that much about himself. The newspaper men worked the wires. They soon discovered that the soldier is the son of Mrs. Emma Phillips of 206 Grant street, Evansville. The mother had not heard from her son since Easter, when she received a greeting from him. When she was notified o,f her son having been found the mother Buffered a (yimplete breakdown. 'due torUer weakened condition following months of grieving. ' ; —— Verily, as Generar Sherman said, “War is hell.” _ And he might have added—"for the mothers.”

Woman’s Land Army Unit Makes Good in Nebraska CHADRON, NEB. —Unit No. lof the woman land army, three New York girls who have taken to real farming, has been in Chadron for a month. It is composed of Miss Ann Marshall, Miss Katherine Sanmynn and Miss Linda

Schroeder. All Chadron was at the station to see the girls arrive. It put them down as of the “city type.” And city girls are house plants, the Chadronites reckoned. Marcus J. Cain was waiting for the land army. Caln lives 18 miles out of Chadron on a 4,000-acre farm, with seven men workers. Next morning Cain arose to pilot the New Yorkers around the place and show them their duties. But he was late. The first thing on the schedule had been “milk the cows.”

It was just sun-up. Caln found his army out milking the cows. And that was not Cain’s only surprise. He found that the army, clad in businesslike bloomers and high boots, was able to do any job on the ranch on which it was put, and to do it as efficiently and as quickly as did the men. Chadron expected a failure. Cain’s first visit to town was an event. e was surrounded by a crowd who wanted to know about his “farmerettes. Cain's answer was contained in four words sent by telegraph to the M oman s Land army in New York: “Send more farm girls.” Chadron is now speculating just how long Cain can keep his land army intact. There are more bdchelors with farms out in this country than anywhere else on the face of the earth. In the month they have been here the girls have won fame for themselves, besides experience, admiration and 82 a day with board, room and laundry thrown in. The Woman’s Land army stands high in this part of Nebraska. If it has any more farmerettes like these three that are already here northwest Nebraska can take care of them.

Red Cross Canteen Wedding Eloquently Pictured CHICAGO.— Married at 3p. m., in the Red Cross canteen: Miss Luella Irene Powell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Powell of Casey, la., to Sergt. Don T. Deai of Cedar Rapids. Let Elmer Douglas, the staff photographer, tell of the wedding which was celebrated at

he couldn’t come back and be married there and they said yes. Sergeant Deal is going to be a high school teacher at Fort Dodge, la. “By cracky I It was the prettiest bedding I ever saw. So sweet and simple and everybody was so nice. They had all the frills, too, you can bet. The bride was dressed beautifully with white dress, a big bunch of flowers, and a veil, and everything. First, though, I must tell you how the Red Cross girls all lined up. a double row, for the couple to pass between. ,Maj. S. C. Stanton of the Red Cross gave the bride away and then he lent her his beautiful gold sword to cut the wedding cake with. One of the Red Cross ladles had baked it, and it was some cake. It’s the first time they've ever had a wedding in a Red Cross canteen.”

James Anagnoslopas Takes an Interesting Trip GENFVA, ILL. —Somebody told James Anagnoslopas, a farmer at Geneva, that they saw in the paper where he had been sued in the federal court in Chicago and, that it said the case was to be called the very next day. James

knew nothing about it, but he went to Chicago, hunted up the federal building and went into Judge Carpenter’s court. Clerk Claussen was calling out names of men who hid failed to appear during the past four years. He reached the name of James Anagnoslopas, and James answered “here.” My, what a sensation’ About eight pairs of hands grabbed James at the same time and presto! he was in a dungeon rile. It appears that the

missing man had been indicted four years before and had jumped his bat bond. The government had sold the homes of two workmen, his bondsmen When they questioned James of Geneva he spoiled it all. He wasn t ths tnen a-talL Then James of Geneva got huffy and demanded his car fare from Judg« Carpenter. The judge sent him to District Attorney Clyne, who sent him te Marshal Bradley, who sent him to Commissioner Mason, who sent him back again. After three round trips James sat down bn the steps and wept. “Rosie” the charwoman objected and complained to Marshal Bradley. Mr. Bradley then dug up 70 cents and told James to go back to Geneva and never even think of coming to Chicago again. James of Geneva is safely home again and Is Inclined to think he 18 I lucky man, all things considered. Geneva, he says, is good enough for him; he never did care for big due* Hke Chicago. He says he's going to take Marshal Bradley’s advice.

Mrs. R. A. Phillips of Yonkers. Each had confidently believed that Roland Phillips would prove to be her lost son. Phillips be< a tno she "mystery roan of the A. E. F." when he was found wandering in the streets of Paris, a victim of amnesia. His Identification tags were missing, his clothing and personal possessions gave no clews as to who he was. He was taken to a base hospital in France, where it was learned that his name was Roland

the lake front hut. Elmer was there. He took the pictures, he ate some of the wedding cake, and, did he kiss the bride? We pause for a reply. “You see the bridegroom passed through Chicago some time ago on his way back to lowa when he got out of the war,” says Elmer. "The Red Cross girls gave him such a good time in the canteen that he thought he'd like to spend the happiest day of his life jhere. So he wrote and asked them if

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER. IND.

NO Cooks; Community Kitchens on trial

For a man seldom thinks with more earnestness oC anything than he does of his dinner. —Samuel Johnson.

We may live without poetry, music and art; We may live without conscience, and live without heart; We may live without friends, we may live without 'books; But civilized man cannot live without cooks. He may live without books—what is knowledge but grieving? - He may live without hope—what Is hope but deceiving? He may live without Jove—what is passion but pining? But where is the man who can live without dining? -Owen Meredith. "Fate cannot harm me —I have dined today.”— Sydney Smith. of the times to be seen In all large cities are these* Apartment H buildings, delicatessen shops, cheap gj restaurants, cafeterias, residential B „ hotels.. g 'the old-fashioned home is fast disA J appearing. People are living in apartments and residential hotels, buying cooked food at the delicatessen shops, eating at restaurants. Why? Well, largely because they have to. The oldfashioned home in a dwelling, with servants and home cooking is still an American ideal. But the Increasing lack' of servants, especially of cooks, makes the old-fashioned home a burden to people of moderate means and to women who want to do something besides keep house. It is fast coming

to the time when only two classes can -keep house with any satisfaction: the very rich, who can hire professional servants at high wages.; the poor, who do without servants. The moderately well-to-do woman must choose between housework and all other activities. She cannot get servants, because we have no servant class in this country. Working womenwill not do domestic work when the'y can get other work, even though the other work pays less. These conditions have raised a widespread interest in the proposition of com-

munity cooking. Notwithstanding the high prices of food and the scarcity of cooks, the American people like good things to eat just as well as ever. The question is where can these good things be had? A large proportion of twentieth- century married-women cannot cook acceptably and would not cook if they could. A-modern city woman who can cook can hardly be blamed for unwillingness to spend all her time in home work. It is an age of inefficiency in restaurant Cooking as in most other things and menu prices are even higher in proportion than raw material prices. Iva Lowther Peters, Ph.” D„ of the woman’s division of the council of national defense, made in 1918 a complete survey of the various co-operative and community food ..enterprises of this country. It was then believed that if the war continued community kitchens would have to be established in our larger cities to save food and fuel. England was already running a great many of them, with encouraging results, and Doctor Peters not only studied these, but undertook a thorough investigation of the co-operative movement from the time it was born in the eighteenth century. As it happened, the signing of the armistice came just in time to make the survey useless to the United States food administration, but it is going to be of great assistance to those individual Americans who are thinking of co-operating with other individual Americans in bringing down the price of eating. An object lesson is a community kitchen that was opened in 1907 in Carthage, Mo. It was located in a private residence and the various families of the neighborhood came to it for their meals. Each family furnished its own table, chairs, dishes, linen, silver, thus maintaining its own tastes and standards. To'provide the original equipment f6r die kitchen an assessment of S 3 per adult and $1.50 per child was made. In the beginning there were 60 members, including 10 or 12 children. For-the first three months the price of meals was $3 for an adult and $1.50 for a child per week. After the third month several families stopped coming. When the number decreased to 50 the price of board was advanced to $3.50 per week. As the kitchen’s patronage decreased and the cost of food increased the price of board kept advancing until finally, in 1911, four years after its opening, the kitchen went quietly out of existence. Most of the community cooking enterprises surveyed by Doctor Peter? for the council of national defense tell- practically the same story—a brief popularity, a brief decline, then extinction. But the community cooking enterprises tell one other story and it is this: The only community cooking enterprises showing unmistakable signs of success are those where the central kitchen delivers the cooked meals to the homes. These kitchens are now being established in several cities. Chicago and many of its suburban cities have their attention on Evanston, Ill.’, just now. Evanston is a few miles north of Chicago on Lake Michigan. It has about 30,000 people. It is a city of homes. Many of the men do business in Chicago. Evanston is called the "City of Churches,” is the seat of Northwestern university 4 and is what may be called a high-class- American small city. Yes, Evanston. is a city of homes. There are streets of dwellings and comparatively few fiats are in evidence. There are trees and lawns. The houses look as if they had* kitchens —good, big, roomy, old-fashioned, kitchens, where things were cooked —‘Ties like mother used to make” and doughnuts to compare even with those of the Salvation Army. But the imagination that sets you to sniffing in the hope of catching delegtable odors from these old-fashioned kitchens In these old-fashioned homes is a delusion and a snare. The kitchens are there, but they are as idle as a painted ship on a painted ocean. ‘Cause why—there are no cooks. There was a time, not long ago, when an occasional cook could be enticed out to Evanston and pampered into cooking. But even that time is past. , • ‘ 7 „ f ■ So Evanston is going to have a community kitchen and has made a beginning. That’s why Chicago n-wi Illinois are watching her with interest

The beginning was made in the basement of the Evanston Woman’s club. At first only lunch was sold and buyers had to fetch and carry. Next in order is an evening meal. Then will come delivery of hot food in containers. There was a wild rush near lunch time on the opening day by the housemaidless Evanston housewives for the community kitchen. Mrs. James A. O'Pell and Mrs. H. H. Kingsley, chief sponsors for the kitchen, were kept busy for the best part of three hours weighing cake and wrapping up slices of tempting baked ham —the kind baked with cloves and sugar, the Virginia way, you know and other goodies. The menu included these things; Potato Soup. Baked Ham. Corned Beef Hash. Spanish Rice. Meat Pie. Potato Salad. Tomato Salad. Gingerbread. Cookies. Cakes. Doughnuts. The proletariat was not in evidence. The premiere of the kitchen might have been the opening of the opera season. Limousines and electrics lined up in front of the kitchen and the beauty and chivalry of the aristocratic village were all present. Among the first to draw up in their electric coupes were Mrs. William S. Carson and Mrs, D. E. McMillan. They departed with a basket containing some tomato salad, gingerbread, baked ham and banana cream pie. There next drew up in their limousines, with their chauffeurs waiting outside with lips smacking, Ulysses S. Grant, wife of Deau Grant of Northwestern university ; Mrs. Rufus C. Dawes and Mrs. M. H. Dawes, who departed with full baskets. In their wake came many more, mostly personages in the Blue Book. Then the university co-eds, attracted by alluring reports concerning the doughnuts and gingerbread, began to arrive. Over at Phi Delta Theta house the students had been having many difficulties in the matter of cooks, and had determined to de their own cooking. That very day the Sigma Alpha Epsilons were guests at the Phi’s house. A large quantity of uncooked edibles were procured. After numerous efforts, the only commodities which proved amenable to the culinary treatment of the fraternity cooks were beans. The guests were lukewarm in their appreciation. Following the dinner the dish-washing began. Eight plates were broken. The fraternity house looked like a shambles when it was all over. En masse the youths went to the community kitchen for dinner. ; It appears that the community kitchen is offering really toothsome dainties. The tomato salad created a sensation and one enthusiastic purchaser Said: ■ 1 7 “It looks like slices of tomatoes lying on lettuce leaves, but tt is really a. tomato gelatin, with

Wmuiiity Kiteheffi

chopped celery inside, poured into little molds. There’s dressing on top and little balls of cottage cheese with a dash of paprika alongside, and it’s good. I know, for I sampled it; 1 couldn’t wait to get home.” Tne*‘best cook in Evanston” —Mrs. James Wells —came in and took a lot of it away with her, and then Mrs. James Patten ordered the rest to serve to her Red Cross workers. Bits of comment like this were to be heard everywhere: “I just couldn’t wait; I had to taste this gingerbread.” “Isn’t the potato salad delicious?” “See you tomorrow, Mrs. Klpgsley. Pm going to hurry home and eat this hash while it’s hot.” C “I couldn’t wait. 1 had to bite into this cooky,” one woman remarked, crunching into a cooky. “My, but it’s good!” Speaking ot the dinner she purchased, Mrs. Dawes characterized it as “delicious.” Mrs. Eugene Garnett said her meal was “one of the finest home-cooked dinners I ever ate. In nutrition, seasoping and all other points it was perfect.” Mrs. Robert D. Cunningham was likewise enthusiastic. “If the success of the kitchen depends on the food, it’ll be a huge success," she said. “There isn’t a restaurant in Chicago which can offer as fine a home-cooked dinner as the community kitchen here.” Two o’clock found the “community kitchen” pretty much deserted, and the managers of the place checking up on the proceeds of the first day. “We knew we -would be successful because the plan was pretty thoroughly discussed before we began the work,” said Mrs. Kingsley, “but we weren’t prepared for all the enthusiasm that greeted us. “I. feel sure that the community kitchen will prove a great success,” Mrs. Rufus Dawes said. “It will be impossible for several weeks to determine the cost of the meals, cost of operation, and so forth. The work that has been done by volunteers will eventually have to be done by paid workers.” Corned beef hash sold for 60 cents a pound, the gingerbread was 5 cents a cake and the doughnuts 30 cents a dozen. "The greatest problem now is to know how much food to prepare. We are attending personally to every detail of the kitchen so that we may find out whal quantities to prepare and just how much to charge. “The kitchen is really on trial now. If It works well, we may turn it over to a business concern to handle, but we will not make the mistake New York did of not having real home cooking. Mrs. M. H. Kennedy, who is one of the best cooks in Evanston, has promised to stay. One of her helpers is a university graduate, who took a domestic science, course —Miss Rachael Madison. Miss Olive Blysfad, an Evanston girl, is the other assistant” The container that is to be used resembles a glorified dinner pail, built in five and insulated to retain heat for three hours. In the compartments will be placed soup, meat, a vegetable, potatoes and a hot dessert. These •will be distributed by auto trucks. ' Winnetka is much interested in the plan. Mrs. John R. Dickinson and Mrs. H. J. Orwig of the ■ Winnetka Woman’s club visited the kitchen the opening day to see how it worked. “We need such an institution as much as'Evanston does,” said Mrs. Dickinson. “If it works out in Evanston we will start one.” Looking at the community kitchen experiment in a broad sense, it is merely one probleip of many which every community has to solve. How long will it be before* our American communities take hold of these pr6blems which are, in the last analysis, their own and nobody else’s?