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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



largely upon a vegetarian dietary. Of 

 course, it was more difficult to satisfy 

 the palate without meat, but since the 

 worker knew that from the King down 

 all were sharing in the same depriva- 

 tion, there was no social discontent. Six 

 canteens were managed by the workmen 

 themselves, and these, we were told, 

 were the least satisfactory of the estab- 

 lishments. We were shown one can- 

 teen in which 800 girls were given their 

 food. This canteen was painted white 

 inside and the girls wore rubber soled 

 shoes when walking on the floor, their 

 occupation precluding the introduction 

 of a particle of gritty dirt into their 

 shop. 



Variety was not always obtainable, 

 especially in the individual country 

 home. A friend of mine had a farm in 

 Sussex upon which lived sixteen farm- 

 ers. His men complained that when 

 they came home to dinner there was 

 frequently nothing but bread to eat. 

 When there is no meat at many of 

 the meals and little butter or margarin, 

 it is easy to see how bread alone could 

 become distasteful. If one introduces 

 bread through an artificial opening 

 into the stomach of a sleeping dog he 

 cannot digest it. Only after eating it 

 with appetite does the gastric juice 

 flow so that digestion takes place. So 

 my friend sent to Scotland and bought 

 350 pounds of cheese and rationed it 

 among the farmers at the rate of five 

 pounds per month per family. This 

 changed the condition of the men com- 

 pletely. An old proverb of the ancient 

 medical school of Salerno reads, "No 

 digestion without cheese." And 

 Shakespeare makes one of his charac- 

 ters say to another,^ 



"Why, my cheese, my digestioD, why hast 

 thou not served thyself in to my table so 

 many meals?" 



Despite individual difficulties, it was 

 the general consensus of opinion that 

 the people of Great Britain had never 



^ Troilus and Cressida. Act II, scene 3. 



Ijeen so well nourished as during last 

 winter. The undernourishment of 

 large masses of the people, such as ex- 

 isted before the war, had entirely dis- 

 appeared. Children in London looked 

 well fed. Wages were higher than they 

 ever had been. It was the general feel- 

 ing among those who had to do with 

 the problem that an ample food supply 

 must be provided for all the people 

 in any policy of reconstruction after 

 tlie war. By what process or plan this 

 could be achieved I was never informed. 

 It seems certain, however, that the 

 peace and calm of Great Britain last 

 spring were due to the food policy of 

 her rulers. At night the darkened 

 streets of London were as safe to walk 

 in as any place in the world, and this 

 is in contrast with authentic reports 

 that crime in Berlin and other German 

 cities was constantly increasing. In 

 Germany the rich man could buy food 

 which the poor man was unable to ob- 

 tain. 



The British policy as regards live 

 stock was directed by the knowledge 

 that there was a limited quantity of 

 feeding stuffs in the country and that 

 these should be largely applied to the 

 production of milk first for children 

 and then for adults. Cream was for- 

 bidden except on a physician's pre- 

 scription and real butter was almost 

 impossible to obtain. Instead of but- 

 ter, one was given a little pat of mar- 

 garin usually made of coconut oil. 



In 1871 began the era of cheap bread 

 grains imported chiefly from America 

 to England, and gradually the wheat 

 fields of England were converted into 

 pasture lands for fine cattle and sheep. 

 Cattle fodder was also imported and 

 meat production acquired great jDropor- 

 tions. Last year the idea was to plough 

 np the grass land, to decrease the num- 

 ber of animals supported, and to feed 

 to such animals as could be raised only 

 those food materials which could not 

 be eaten by man. The carrying out of 

 such a program meant doing violence 



