FOODS HUMAlSr NUTRITION. 



469 



For purposes of comparison it is calculated that if an English workman 

 with an average family were maintained under American conditions in the 

 same standard as regards food consumption to which he has been accustomed 

 his wages " would be higher in the United States by about 130 per cent, with 

 slightly shorter hours, while on the other hand his expenditure on food and 

 rent would be higher by about 52 per cent." 



In addition to general discussions the report contains the details of the 

 family budgets and other statistical data collected. 



Cost of living' in American towns, H. L. Smith {U. S. Seriate, 62. Cong., 1. 

 Sess., Doc. 38, pp. 74; U. S. Dept. Com. and Labor, Bur. Labor Bui. 93, pp. 

 500-570). — A summary of the above. 



Cost of living in Switzerland, D. L. Murphy {Daily Cons, and Trade Rpts. 

 [U. 8.], 14 (1911), No. 118, pp. 792, 793).— In connection with this summary of 

 statistical data some information is given regarding an attempt made in St. 

 Gall to lower prices by eliminating middlemen. 



Report of an investigation of the methods of fiscal control of state insti- 

 tutions, H. C. Wright {State Charities Aid Assoc. [N. Y.] Pub. 122, 1911, pp. 

 353). — Two papers are included in this report, namely, a study of methods of 

 fiscal control in state institutions in New Yorlj, and a comparison of the methods 

 of fiscal control in state institutions in New York, Indiana, and Iowa. 



From an extended study of the kind and character of foods and other sup- 

 plies and the situation as a whole in state institutions in New York, the author 

 concludes that the joint contract system followed in the purchase of supplies is 

 subject to many criticisms and that such centralization is not necessarily eco- 

 nomical. The detailed criticisms are of especial interest to those concerned 

 with questions of institution management, as is also the critical comparison of 

 the methods of purchasing supplies in New York, Iowa, and Indiana, reported in 

 the second paper. 



According to the author's conclusions, " an institution with an inmate popula- 

 tion of 400 or over can ordinarily secure as low prices as can a central body 

 with power to contract for large quantities. . . . 



" In those institutions which seem to do the best work and seem to care for 

 the inmates most satisfactorily, the superintendent is given, under the general 

 direction of the board of managers, a large degree of liberty with a correspond- 

 ing responsibility." 



From the data which he secured the author has calculated the food supplied 

 annually per capita and its cost, and the protein and energy content of the food 

 supplied per man per day in 13 institutions in New York, 9 in Indiana, and 

 7 in Iowa, including hospitals for the insane, soldiers' homes, industrial schools, 

 reformatories, prisons, and institutions for the feeble-minded and for epileptics. 



Average data are summarized in the following table : 



Average food per man per year and nutritive value of daily ration in public 



institutions. 



