THE LAND AND TARIFFS. 203 



the national dietary. Probably rye* and oats 

 would be used to a far greater extent for meal, 

 and the almost universal and very stupid 

 craze for the whitest of white bread would be 

 abated. Indeed, it must be admitted that if 



* The production of rye in Great Britain could be more easily 

 and profitably extended than the production of wheat. But rye 

 bread would mean " black bread," a recent platform campaign 

 against which as " offal " struck me as a very stupid and wicked 

 incident of political warfare. A high medical authority (the Lancet) 

 commented upon it at the time : — 



" A curious fallacy has been going the rounds of certain political 

 squabbling to the effect that the term ' black bread ' implies a 

 kind of famine food, whereas in several civilized countries it is just 

 as much the staple and normal article of diet as is our white loaf. 

 There is very little difference between the nutritive value of the 

 wheat and the rye loaf. In some respects rye presents certain ad- 

 vantages over wheat, and in others wheat may be better than rye. 

 Rye contains a rather greater percentage of soluble carbohydrates 

 than wheat, but somewhat less gluten, although the total protean 

 matters amount to the same in both flours. Chemical analysis 

 shows very trifling differences of composition between the two 

 cereals. One distinct advantage of rye bread is that it keeps fresh 

 longer than wheat bread. Rye bread also has distinct laxative 

 properties. Pumpernickel or whole rye bread is more laxative than 

 Schwarzbrod, possibly on account of its relative coarseness of tex- 

 ture. It is an interesting fact that when once the flavour of rye 

 bread is appreciated, ordinary white bread seems monotonous because 

 of its comparative tastelessness, and so it is common to find the 

 rye-bread eater demand black bread whenever he can get it and in 

 whatever country he may happen to be. The large consumption 

 of rye bread indicates, indeed, that in the event of a shortage in the 

 wheat supply, the breach could be repaired by the use of rye without 

 hardship. The bodily needs would be met, and without any offence 

 necessarily to the gustatory susceptibilities." 



