Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co. 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York 
The Rural 
The Business Farmer’s Paper 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
VoL. LXXVII. 
NEW YORK, .TI'LY 20, 1018. 
No. 4401. 
Milk-Fed Americans 
Milk a Natural Necessity to Promote Growth 
T intervals in the world’s history science makes 
new discoveries regardin" food and its true 
value to man. As this knowledge spreads custom or 
fashion follows, man’s feeding habits are changed 
and the world demands increased ciuantities of that 
particular food. This demand calls for greater pro¬ 
duction and the business of producing that food is 
greatly increased. Examples of this are to be found 
in the nation-Avide habit of eating “cereal” foods for 
breakfast, or in the present use 
of the potato and tomato as 
focd. For manj’ years after the 
di. covery of the potato Euro- 
lic.ins and Americans looked 
upon it as poor and degrading 
food. Not until its wonderful 
food A’alue Avas discovei’ed by 
science .and made popular by 
national • habit did tlie potato 
come to its OAvn as a food jiro- 
vider. As for tomatoes, there 
are people still living Avho re¬ 
member when AA’ell-infonned 
presons declared that tomatoes 
Avere poisonous. The Avriter of 
this well rememhei's an old doc¬ 
tor who positiA'ely declared that 
milk and tomatoes eaten Avithin 
an hour of each other Avould 
surel.v cause sickness or death, 
lie ought to come hack .and he 
served Avith a plate of modern 
tomato soup. During the Sum¬ 
mer in this and other largo 
cities thousands of strong, 
healthy people dei)end uixui to¬ 
matoes and bread for at least 
one meal each day. Tomato 
eating has become so poj)ular 
that the business of tomato¬ 
growing is now about as lai-ge 
as that of potato-growing 25 
years ago! Another sim¬ 
ilar illustration is found in 
the Avork of the “Apple f’on- 
sumer.s’ League,” started a few 
years ago. The constant talk 
about eating apjdes made apide 
eating fa.shionable, and no one 
can figure Avhat that means to 
the apple-growing industry. 
Now the .same thing, on a 
much larger scale, is coming in 
the production and sale of milk. 
Science is finding new A'alues in 
milk .and its lu’oducts, and when 
this knowledge e.an be ])ut into 
popular thought so that Iho 
parents of all little children 
can understand it. cwery parent 
Avill feel an obligation to add 
to the inimhcr of milJc-fcd Avier- 
icans. There are a couple of 
them pictured on this page, and 
one of them deserves special 
mention for disi)laying some of 
the (lualities Avhich go to make 
Avhat the Avorld calls a “sport.” 
You Avill see that the calf has 
stepped on her foot, and that 
sharp little claw is biting into 
the tender little fle.sh. We haA'e 
all seen grown-up men Avho, for 
le.ss than that, Avould kick the calf across the barn, 
but this milk-fed American is ip) before the cameni 
and not even the K.aiser could get more than a little 
twist of the mouth out of her. 
Ever .since primitive man milked a .goat and made 
a sort of bread by grinding grain 'Avith stones and 
mixing it Avith Avater and Avood ashe.s, bread and 
milk have ranked as a balanced ration—a full com¬ 
bination of food. The country child sits on the 
back steps and eats his boAvl of bread and milk and 
then runs out into the sun.shine, a healthy and 
happy little animal. We kuoAV that ho does it, and 
noAV the .scientists are shoAving 'irluj the milk-fed 
American groAvs as though there AA'ere springs in his 
little joints and AA-hy his cheeks are rosy aiuLfat! 
For lack of a better name ttiey tell us the milk 
contains A’itamines. Lot us not .stumble OA'or that 
Avord, but merely understand that the.se .substances 
promote groAvth in all your young stock—most and 
best of all in your children. The latest information 
about these vitamines comes in Bulletin 201 of the 
Vrisconsin Experiment .station at IMadi.son—entitled 
“iMilk Necessary for the Nation’? Welfare.” This is 
one of the clearest and most instructive dairy bul- 
ietins Ave have over read. It proves beyond ques- 
tiiin that pure milk is just about as necessary as 
air and sunshine if Ave are to produce the strong 
men and AA'omen Avho are to guard this country In 
the future. 
^lilk is a perfect food—Avith all the minerals and 
food elements needed to build up the child’s little 
bod.y, and, in addition, these vitamines Avhich may 
sui’el.v be knoAvn as the springs of groAvth. The 
scientific men did Avonders for us AA’hen they sepa¬ 
rated our foods into protein, carbohydrate.s, fat, etc., 
and thus enabled us to arrange the so-called bal¬ 
anced ration. That Avas a Avonderful help in economy 
and health, but uoav the scientists are going further 
and proving that energy and heat are not all aa'o 
need for a proper diet. The child in particular must 
haA'e the elements Avhich promote oroietli. Up t>) 
Avithin a short time aa'o felt sure that bread and 
milk Avere good for children and old people—now 
Ave knoAv the milk is a necessity. In our OAvn family 
this Summer Ave haA'e tAvo litttle city children. In 
the city a large part of their food Avas Aveak tea Avith 
stale bread crumbled into it. In many families beer 
is used in place of the tea! Such children are under¬ 
sized, Avith brittle bones and de- 
fectiA'e throats and glands. On 
the farm these tAvo children 
haA'e the best part of a quart of 
milk each per da.A’'. It nas been 
a Avonder and a joy to see these 
little tilings yrov,' in body and 
bone and take on coloi and 
Ai'ror as they become mvk-fed 
Amcricanft. 
This Wisconsin bulletin men¬ 
tions several experiments Avith 
rats to shoAA' the supoiioriiy of 
milk and butter over ether 
foods for gi'OAving anim.^ls. Taa'O 
of the pictui'es ai'e re-engraved 
on the next pa.ge. Our OAvn ex¬ 
perience Avith the little cb.ildren 
mentioned above aa'ouUI sIioav 
much the .<«ame thing if tliey 
could be comiiared Avith other 
children fed on tea, coffee and 
bread and beer, as thousandc! 
of city children are. There can 
be no question about the im¬ 
mense value of these di.scoveries 
both to the coming generation 
in toAvn and city and to dairy¬ 
men as AA'ell. This knoAA'ledge 
must he spread until every 
child becomes a “milk-fed 
American” and the public un¬ 
derstand that milk is as neces¬ 
sary as sunshine and air. It 
Avill be entirel.A’ possible to put 
that thought into the minds of 
city parents, and as it is done 
the business of dairying Avill in¬ 
crease beyond all present 
dreams of production. Truly 
this scientilic di.scoA'ery Avill re¬ 
sult in even greater business 
deA'elopment than any similar 
thing Avhich has gone before. 
Science proved that the potato 
and tomato had true food A'alue, 
but noAV it shoAvs milk to be a 
iirecssitu, and it Avill in time 
be accepted as .such. And here 
is additional rea.son Avhy the 
distribution of a necessity 
should not be turned over to 
middlemen or to a mono[)oly. 
The Avorld has had its full les- 
.son in such thin,g.s, and this 
ncAvly found necessity shouhl 
be distributed as directly as 
po.ssible from producer to con¬ 
sumer. Here comes the great 
opportunity for the Dairymen’s 
League. Science gives this op¬ 
portunity in these ncAV facts 
about milk. The I.eague must 
take the lead in proving to city 
l)arents that milk is a necessity, and then Avork out 
a ncAv system of distribution from the farm to the 
family. 
If AA’O are to liaA'O experiments Avith rats and 
guinea pigs, Avhy not Avith children, too? It Avill 
pay Avell to u.se up several hundred cans of milk in 
child-feeding contests. In every city it Avill be easy 
to find a group of children groAving up Avithout milk. 
Offer prizes to the kids Avhich make the gi'eatest 
gain on a full milk diet and have full details 
printed. Such contests avouUI do far more than any 
dairy shoAV to make a market for milk. 
An JJ.iliihit of Milk-Fed Farni Youngsters. Fig. J/Sl 
