Popular Science Mofitlily 



porting large quantities of sugar began to eat the surplus to 

 make up for the deficiency of other foods, they soon reached 

 a per capita consumption of 74,95 pounds. 



All these orders for quick-action food brought in sight 

 the bottoms of sugar bowls and barrels all over the world. 

 Germany is getting a very scant ration of sugar at present. 

 The government of France has decreed that twelve pounds 

 a year is quite enough for each of her inhabitants, and 

 similarly the United Kingdom family supply has been cut to 

 36 pounds a year for each person. 



These figures do not, however, include the amount of 

 sugar which confectioners and bakers and 

 manufacturers work into their products. The 

 actual amount of sweetening which the French 

 individual assimilated in 1917, judging from 

 certain export figures, was probably 24 pounds, 

 which was slightly less than normal. The best 

 obtainable statistics indicate also that in the 

 United Kingdom enough raw sugar was received 

 to give every man, woman and child 62 pounds 

 in 1917 as compared with the 77 pounds 

 of refined sugar assimilated the pre- 

 vious year. 



711 



V2L 



America Is Not Saving Much Sugar 



Despite the cautions of the Food 

 Administration, the consumption of 

 sugar in the United States 

 has not decreased very 

 much, considering the fact 

 that candies, desserts and 

 various other edibles are 

 being used more than su- 

 gar in the concentrated 

 forms. The exportation of 

 condensed milk and canned 

 fruits has also somewhat 

 augmented 

 the American 

 use of sugar. 

 Another 



DENMARK 



FRANCE 



tor in the 

 six pounds 

 per capita 

 increase 

 in consump- 

 tion in 1917 

 as c o m - 

 pared with 

 1916 has 

 been the 

 curtailing of the liquor 

 traffic. Even before the 

 war, sugar was having 

 an increasing vogue as a 

 substitute for alcohol. 



In some phases, the 

 present sugar shortage 

 is a blessing in disguise. 

 The recent investiga- 

 tions of Professors Sher- 

 man and Swartz in the laboratories 

 of Teachers College, Columbia Uni- 

 versity, show that we are inclined 

 to eat more free or uncombined 

 sugar than we should. Four to 

 five ounces a day, which is about 

 our present consumption in all 

 forms, is considered a healthful 

 ration. It is best to eat sugar in 

 made dishes or conserves, so that it may be 

 somewhat diluted and therefore more digestible. 

 Much sugar can be provided for our fighters, 

 if we eat more sweet fruits and vegetables, as 

 well as of that alluring though often cloying 

 honey, which satisfied a saccharine craving long 

 before the Crusaders brought from the Orient 

 the magic crystal of the succulent cane. In addition to honey 

 w^e have as sweeteners maple syrup and corn syrup, which will 

 both answer many purposes for which we now use sugar, and 

 often quite as satisfactorily. 



