560 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



the diet, taking into account the weight and relative stoutness of 

 individuals, the sex, and the occupation. We added to it an " Indi- 

 cator of the nutritive and market values of the ordinary foods," in 

 which, in schematic form, may be compared the energy value of 

 meat, eggs, vegetables, cereals, and fruits, the relative importance 

 of each of these foods with regard to protein, fat, carbohydrates, and 

 mineral substances, and finally, the cost price of energy according to 

 whether it was derived from one or another kind of food. 



We thus showed the dietary advantages of potatoes, in which 100 

 calories cost only 1 centime; those of rice, of bread, of sugar, of lard, 

 of leguminous plants, of salt pork, of milk and butter, among which 

 100 calories vary from 1£ to 4 centimes ; and we showed on the other 

 hand the high price of eggs, of green vegetables, of greens, and of 

 butcher's meat, which furnish the same amount of energy for a sum 

 varying from 16 to 30 centimes, or at least at a price from sixteen 

 to thirty times higher than the potato ; we showed also that the potato 

 is the economical food par excellence, while meat and greens are foods 

 de luxe. 



During the war and especially during after-war conditions, the cost 

 of food increased in enormous proportions, but the relation be- 

 tween the price of the various commodities has scarcely changed at 

 all, and our conclusions from the economic point of view remain the 

 same. More than ever, among the social classes which feel the hard 

 times most heavily, it is necessary to know the most advantageous 

 foods ; more than ever should there be interest in dietary economy. 



In making up our tables w T e addressed ourselves to the working 

 people and clerks themselves, and especially to the women, to the 

 housewives, who are responsible hygienically and economically for 

 the feeding of the family. Many have read our tables, listened to 

 advice which we gave in lectures and in articles, and benefited 

 from it. 



Our effort has not been the only one. With a much wider scope, 

 the Society of Nutritional Hygiene, through the voice of its lecturers, 

 has undertaken to spread the right principles among the people. 

 Toward the end of the war, at the time when the food question was 

 becoming more and more difficult, a new organization, the " Vie moins 

 chere " (Society for Cheaper Living), was formed under the auspices 

 of M. Gley, with the initiative of Mme. Moll Weiss, to spread among 

 the Provinces the most indispensable information on alimentary 

 hygiene and economy. Stern necessity forced all to see the practical 

 importance of the food question regarded from a scientific point of 

 view. It is therefore urgent to follow up and develop this instruc- 

 tion. This is what M. Henri Labbe and I have attempted to do 

 during the past two years in a course given at the Society of Nutri- 

 tional Hygiene under the auspices of the National Committee. 



