SOME ACHIEVEMENTS IN FOOD 



597 



that did, the prices were from 50 per cent to 75 per cent 

 higher than we had formerly paid for similar coal. So 

 we proceeded to cut our own wood and while we are not 

 quite through with the wood cutting proposition we are 

 far enough along with it to know that we will, without 

 great inconvenience, be able to secure all the wood 

 needed for city schools and the city generally and at the 

 same time effect a great saving in the revenue of the city. 

 From Elyria, Ohio, came tidings that Mrs. Thomas 

 Edwards was believed to be the oldest woman in the 

 United States to raise a war garden. Mrs. Edwards is 

 94 years of age and her garden was planted and culti- 



Through the bureau of education the campaign was 

 carried into the public schools of the nation. In co- 

 operation with School Commissioner P. P. Claxton the 

 Commission sent about 25,000 copies of its manuals on 

 canning and drying to superintendents of public schools 

 and co-operating with Commissioner Cato Sells, of the 

 Indian Office, thousands of copies of its manuals were 

 sent to the Indian schools in various parts of the coun- 

 try. It was felt that a great deal could be accomplished 

 with the aid of the school children just as hundreds of 

 thousands of vegetable gardens had been planted by 

 pupils early in the spring. The bulletins on canning and 



PART OF THE INSPIRATION OF INSPIRATION', ARIZONA. 



If the gardening season of 1917 has left any person unconvinced of the value of child labor in war gardens the skeptic would do well to make 

 a trip of exploration to Inspiration. The advantage of child labor of this type is that it is as valuable to health as to the cause of food pro- 

 duction. Those who think to the contrary are cordially inviled to submit pictures showing a healthier band of young people than here shown. 

 Every boy and girl shown in the group worked in the biggest war garden in the West and their rugged health is as eloquent as the pictured 

 crops as to the value of garden work. 



drying were given to the pupils with instructions that 

 the booklets were to be taken home so that their entire 

 households might be benefited by the helpful informa- 

 tion. Advices received in Washington during Septem- 

 ber and October indicated that these manuals were eager- 

 ly used by the school communities and that results of 

 great importance were achieved along the line of food 

 conservation. 



Typical of the recognition accorded the Commission's 

 work is this editorial comment from the New York 

 World : "The announcement of Charles Lathrop Pack, 

 president of the National Emergency Food Garden Com- 

 mission, that housewives this year have canned 400,000,- 

 000 jars of fruits and vegetables indicates a very large 

 addition to the nation's food supply. Like the perish- 

 able product of the small home gardens, it is not to be 

 measured accurately, but no one can question that the 

 impetus given to individual effort through public agi- 

 tation has been of immense help. No government census 

 can ever fully cover so wide a field of activity or give 

 exact figures for the total output." 



vated entirely by herself. Early last spring she sent for 

 the food garden primer issued by the Commission and 

 carefully followed instructions given in this complete 

 manual. Her success attracted national attention. 



At East Orange, New Jersey, L. G. Hinsdale, librarian, 

 distributed 5000 manuals on canning and drying to the 

 housewives of the city on Food Registration Day. These 

 manuals were given at the polling ])laces as a helpful 

 contribution to the women in the food conservation work 

 for which they were being registered. 



In Chicago the public libraries entered with genuine 

 enthusiasm into the work of stimulating canning and 

 drying o])erations. In requesting the co-operation of 

 the Commission, Assistant Librarian C. B. Roden wrote 

 that 10,000 manuals would not last a week in the 40 

 branch libraries in their distribution of the booklets to 

 the housewives of Chicago. Impressed with the spirit 

 shown by the request the Commission sent 20,000 man- 

 uals instead of the 10,000 that had been asked for 

 making the biggest single consignment sent to any li- 

 brary system in the United States. 



