THE STORY OF BREAD 



be said of all men, if we are to believe the women. 

 And so they pulled up their belts another hole (that 

 is to say, the men did), stumbled over the real 

 great diamond, and went back to carving philoso- 

 ^-x phies on the tablets of time. 



Before a man can work well, he must be well fed; 

 before he can be well fed, large crops must be 

 planted; before large crops are planted, there must 

 be a quick way of harvesting. 

 (£&} This is a philosophy so simple that a child can 



understand the truth of it. And yet the brains of 

 the centuries never thought of this in just this 

 simple way. 



It is rather odd that people should be cramped 

 with hunger, and yet not rise and say, "Here! we 

 will find out what's the matter!" In this hour of 

 system and the working out of the laws of economy, 

 we are told to do the first thing first. The doctor 

 relieves the patient, and then cures him. And so, 

 in working out a plan for the progress of the world, 

 it was essential that the world's people first be well 

 fed. But skipping along down the years a goodly 

 array of talent is seen doing about everything save 

 the one great thing — finding a way to provide more 

 bread. 



Galileo was busy with the telescope and pendu- 

 lum, and the poor farmer, Newton, saw the apple fall, 

 and gave us the law of gravitation. The lid of a tea- 

 kettle fluttered, as it had been in the habit of doing 





