562 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



It is not only in the school that instruction may be given. The 

 minds of some children of a free-lance disposition are sometimes 

 refractory to whatever is told them by the teacher, while they will 

 accept willingly the homely advice given by their elders and that 

 instruction, not compulsory and without obligation, which life gives 

 them. It is in such cases that posters, pamphlets, newspaper articles, 

 and tracts can be used. 



In America this procedure is widely used. Little pamphlets, very 

 brief articles prepared by teachers of alimentary science and stamped 

 with great common sense, have been published in great numbers and 

 distributed either free or sold for a small price. They were issued 

 in profusion during the war. They are on the subjects of the value 

 of milk and the necessity of insuring a supply for the children ; of 

 the necessity of economizing on meat and replacing it with other 

 foods ; of corn meal and oats and ways of preparing them ; of pota- 

 toes in the form of bread ; of the theory and practice of nutrition ; 

 of the diet of laborers and that of sedentary workers, etc. 



One of them, in four pages, sums up the essential parts: On the 

 alimentary needs of the child; on the purpose of nutrition, which is 

 to make vigorous bodies, good brains, rosy cheeks, and bright eyes ; 

 on the choice of foods; on every-day bills-of-fare and recipes. These 

 tracts are generally published by the Department of Agriculture 

 and the Public Health Bulletin of Massachusetts. We also ought 

 to publish pamphlets of this kind. Unfortunately the time is un- 

 favorable for printing. However, the " Cheaper Living " Society 

 during the last year of the war found the means to issue some of 

 these tracts accompanied with practical culinary advice, which are 

 excellent. It is regrettable that their publication should be stopped. 



Together with Henri Labbe, under the auspices of the National 

 Committee, Ave have begun with a pamphlet of eight pages summing 

 up the most important precepts for the diet of athletes ; it appeared 

 at the same time that the Pershing stadium was opened. It would 

 be desirable to continue this work by publishing little pamphlets 

 on the nutrition of school children, the diet of manual laborers and 

 of sedentary workers, the alimentation of mothers and of nurses, the 

 comparative value from the hygienic or economic point of view of 

 certain foods. Every time that a new question arises it would be 

 desirable to have it treated succinctly and brought to the attention 

 of the public ; for example, would it not be interesting at this time 

 to show how butcher's meat could be replaced by equivalent foods 

 and to bring out the advantages of refrigerated meat, to teach con- 

 sumers to pass the butchers by as long as they refuse to lower their 

 prices in accordance with the trend of commodities and propose to 

 make excessive profits to the detriment of the public. 



