fi74 



Massarlnisctts. Tlie majority of tlic people wore ojtoratives in cotton 

 mills, but some were mechauics, clerks, dressmakers, and persons in 

 other occupations. Most of the jieople in Nos. 2 and belonged to 

 what would be regarded as the lower rather than the higher grades of 

 wage- workers, in respect to quality of work and amount of earnings. 

 No. 3, on the other hand, was the dietary of mechanics above the 

 average grade in respect to work, wages, intelligence, and plane of liv- 

 ing. Kos. 4 and 5 represent the food of men at heavy manual woik. 

 No. 1 was the smallest and Ko. 5 the largest of the 21 dietaries of work- 

 ing i)eople examined. As the work of the men of Ko. 5 was unusually 

 trying, and it was thought that the food consumption might be excep- 

 tionally large, it Avas not included in the averages of No. G. The num- 

 ber of wage- workers whose food consumption is here set forth is con- 

 siderable, and the range of wages, character of work, and scale of living 

 are reasonably wide. 



The European figures are selected from a number collated from 

 various sources and are intended to illustrate the diet of i)eople with 

 incomes siifficient for good maintenance as estimated by the standards 

 of living in the countries mentioned. 



In cximparing the American and European ligures in the table it is 

 noticeable that the total quantities of nutritive materials are larger, the 

 quantities of carbohydrates and especially of fats are eonsideiably 

 larger, and the nutritive ratios are much wider in the Ameriean dietaries 

 than in the European dietaries and standards. This is noticeably the 

 case in the comparison between the dietaries of professional men and 

 stiulents and is also true in a marked degree in those of wage- workers. 

 The nutritive ratios in the European dietaries and standards range from 

 a]»]»ro\imatoly 4.5 to 5.5, while in the American they range from (J.G to 8 

 and over. 



The object of tlie statistics of the table is to show that our dietaries 

 are one sided — that the food contains excess of carbohydrates and 

 especially of fats. If the Eur<>i»ean dietaries and standards are to be 

 taken as the nu'asure of the needs for nourishment, the American die 

 tarics here cited are decidedly ill-balanced. Ai'C the European dietaries 

 well balanced and are the standards correct? 



The Eurojtean dietaries above cited represent the food consumed by 

 people believed l)y physiologists ami other exi)erts in this branch of 

 science to be well nourished. Unfortunately the food of a large ])art 

 of the population of Euroi)e is much below the grade here represented. 

 The European standards are believed by the same authorities to repre- 

 sent average requirements for ample nourishment. My reason for pro- 

 posing dietary standards with larger quantities of protein and energy 

 is that people in this country live more intensely and work harder, and 

 hence may be presumed to need more food. The relative proportion of 

 protein is smaller and that of fats is much larger; in other words the 

 nutritive ratios are considerably wider in the standards i)roposed by 



