THE FOOD QUESTION. 101 



speaker hoped the essa^'ist might have been able to give us infor- 

 mation in regard to the kinds of fruit most desirable as food. He 

 (Mr. Wilder) has it on his table every da}- in the year, mostly un- 

 cooked, and has not had a serious case of dysentery in his family 

 for fift}' 3'ears — an exemption which he attributed to the free use of 

 ripe fruit. He concluded by moving a vote of thanks to Mr. 

 Atkinson for his very useful and interesting lecture, which was 

 unanimously passed. 



Mr. Atkinson said he knew the value of fruit, and most heartily 

 concurred with what Mr. Wilder had said of its value. The great 

 problem in regard to this as well as other perishable commodities 

 is how to get tliem to the consumer without too great expense for 

 packages, transportation, and distribution. They frequently cost 

 the consumer two or three times the wholesale price. Bananas 

 contain more nitrogen than any other fruit. He still recollected 

 the taste of some dried bananas sent to his father forty years ago ; 

 and he hoped to see this fruit become plenty and cheap. The 

 economical side is the most serious part. The wheat of which the 

 excellent bread shown here as sold at three cents per pound was 

 made probably came from Dakota. One man can produce 5000 

 bushels of wheat in 300 days, and this makes 1000 barrels of flour. 

 The labor of one man puts the wheat into the barrel, the labor of 

 one man and a half moves it from Dakota to New York, and one- 

 half a man's time keeps the entire machiner}" of manufacture 

 and movement in order. The speaker estimated that the labor 

 of seven persons would yield to a thousand men their proportion 

 of bread. In Boston bread costs six cents per pound instead of 

 three, and the largest part of this cost is in getting it from the 

 mouth of the oven to the mouth of the consumer. In New York 

 the price is three cents ; in London four cents. The hardest 

 problem connected with the food question is the retail distribution 

 of products. 



William C. Strong said that so many points had been sug- 

 gested by the essayist that we hardly knew what to say. Mr. 

 Cushman, of Plymouth County, says that he cannot afford to use 

 hay to make milk, and has made other very positive statements of 

 what he can and cannot afford to do. Mr. Atkinson's paper has 

 opened a wide field ; the question before us is the maintenance 

 of our men and women. 



President Walcott said it is certain that the most perfect condi- 



