CHAPTER XXIV 

 THE SOCIAL SIDE OF THE FOOD PROBLEM 



153. Food and water in modern times. When every family 

 lived in a house by itself, at some distance from its neighbors, 

 the water from the well or from the spring back of the barn 

 may have been good enough to use, and there was usually 

 enough of it. But when people came to live in cities, close 

 together, it became impossible to get enough for all needs in 

 the immediate vicinity. Nor was the water they could get good 

 enough, for the refuse of many people and households con- 

 taminated the water at its very source. It therefore became 

 necessary for a supply of water to be brought from a distance. 



When most of the people lived in the country or in small 

 towns, it was possible for nearly everybody to know how plants 

 and animals were raised for the market. When housekeepers 

 made their own preserves for the winter, they knew what the 

 jars contained. 



But as manufacturing industry developed, people came to 

 live more and more in cities ; that is, away from the source 

 of the food supplies. Gradually we have reached the point 

 where a very large part of our food comes to us in sealed 

 packages, made we know not where, nor of what materials. 

 You cannot tell by the taste or by the looks of a lot of food 

 taken from a can whether it is nutritious or not ; nor can you 

 tell whether it contains any harmful preservative or coloring 

 matter ; nor can you tell whether it contains any adulterant. 



154. Public regulation. In the case of food, as in the case 

 of water, it soon became necessary for the people of a city or 

 state, acting together through their public officials, to regulate 

 the wares that the buyer was offered. In the case of water even 



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