36 The Milling of Wheat in the Lnited Kingdom, 



nature's own device for providing the desirable counter- 

 balance of starchy food. However that may be, the fact 

 remains that the bread of relatively high nitrogenous and 

 phosphate contents goes ordinarily to the poorest people. But 

 our bread reformers would change that division of flours. 

 They insist on an %0 per cent, flour, which stated in another 

 way means this. In the suppositional case I have been using 

 as an illustration the miller produces 35 per cent, of high grade 

 flour and 35 per cent, of lower grade flour (households) from 

 the same wheat. To obtain an 80 per cent, flour from the 

 wheat, an extra 10 per cent, of very low grade flour, or of fine 

 off'al, has to carry dietetically and commercially 35 per cent, of 

 a flour high in price, containing a relatively low percentage of 

 nitrogenous and phosphatic material. How the poorest of the 

 poor or anybody can benefit by that I do not understand, nor 

 need I labour the points. The stuff most nearly resembling 

 the 10 per cent, article in America is called significantly " Red 

 Dog," and in Germany is mixed with rye flour to make it 

 passable as human food. 



I do not say that in milling matters we have reached per- 

 fection. I do, however, say that most of the arguments for an 

 (SO per cent, flour are based on fallacies and the cause of 

 genuine bread reform has suftered from the lack of co-operation 

 l)etween those who really understand the problems and those 

 whose zeal for a good object is their principal merit. 



British millers are not inclined to be apologetic. Their 

 craft has been revolutionised ; the windmill, and to a large 

 extent the small water mill, have gone, never to return. For 

 sentimental reasons, one grieves that the picturesque side of 

 milling has suff'ered so badl}-, but there is another side to the 

 picture. Go through a really modern mill, note its high rooms, 

 good lighting, clean machinery handling properly cleaned 

 wheat ; go into its wheat stores and wheat cleaning department, 

 see the dirt and extraneous matter extracted, partly by the 

 washing of wheat ; consider then what the picturesque but 

 dirty rat-infested typical old-fashioned country mill possessed 

 by way of equipment,' and nobody would sincerely desire a 

 reversion to past conditions. So far from apologising for 

 modern flours and processes, British millers are proud of the 

 developments which have placed them in the van of technical 

 progress. If at any time scientific work shows that a sub- 

 stantial benefit to the consumer can be achieved by some 

 further modification of the milling process, the scientists 

 concerned should seek the co-operation of representatixe 

 millers and refrain from launching any recommendations or 

 manifestos until all aspects of the questions involved have been 

 thoroughly discussed. 



