XIV 



FOOD FOR BUOYANT HEALTH 



THE MIRACLES AHEAD in food in our world of tomorrow will 

 not be miracles of strange new concoctions. They will be 

 miracles of enough food and enough of the right foods, for 

 all the peoples of the world. This miracle, when it is accom- 

 plished, will be a threefold accomplishment of education, pro- 

 duction, and science. 



Even America, with our much-boasted high standard of 

 living, has never been a well-fed nation. In 1929, our richest 

 year, three-fourths of our people spent five hundred dollars 

 or less per family for food. Three-fourths of our people lived 

 on a diet that was principally oleomargarine, flour, canned 

 milk, potatoes, and dried beans. Only one-fourth of our people 

 in that, our richest, year were able to afford adequate or liberal 

 diets, including the more expensive foods like fresh butter, 

 eggs, vegetables, fruits and lean meats. 



Steibling and Ward, of the United States Bureau of Home 

 Economics, contend that America has never produced enough 

 food to give all its people a liberal diet, rich in meat, dairy 

 products, and fresh vegetables. If the other three-fourths of 

 our people are to have those foods, it would be necessary for 

 our farmers, according to these economists, to produce 70 

 per cent more cows, 35 per cent more beef cattle, 35 per cent 

 more pigs, 35 per cent more poultry, 50 per cent more sheep, 

 100 per cent more vegetables, and 100 per cent more fruits. 



Why, then, have we had periods of apparent surplus? Two 

 reasons can cause crops to rot in one state while people live on 

 a mere subsistence diet in another state: first, the people may 



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