Thus it came about that bread possessing none of the advantages of wholemeal bread and distinctly inferior to ordinary white bread became substituted for the former in the popular favour, much to the detriment of the nation. Glimmerings of the truth were fitfully published, chiefly due to the efforts of the medical profession, but these were without any appreciable result until a crusade was undertaken by the daily papers, stimulated doubtless by the Bread Reform League. Under these influences the issue became very much confused, and all sorts of claims were made for a distant relative of wholemeal bread containing 80 per cent, of the whole-wheat berry, designated "Standard" bread. All the physical deterioration which is so rampant to-day was attributed to the use of white bread, which was described as a mere mass of bleached starch, lacking in the essential elements of nutrition and quite unfit for food.

Standard bread, on the contrary, was said to contain four times more mineral salts, which are so valuable in building up the bones and teeth and contributing generally to the strength of the body; a much larger proportion of protein, which is the basis of all life; a certain proportion of fat not to be found in white bread; and a small proportion of bran in a finely powdered condition, which, by acting as a mechanical stimulant to the intestine, regulated the bowels and overcame the tendency to constipation. In addition to this, being distinctly firmer and harder, it compelled more careful mastication, thus cleansing the teeth and leaving them in a more healthy condition, and incidentally improving the digestion by the only effective means at the disposal of the individual.

About the only disadvantage admitted to be found in this standard bread was its unfortunate colour, but this was minimised as much as possible, until its dull, dirty-white shade was merged into an almost golden-yellow. After such a magnificent advertisement one could hardly wonder that standard bread quickly established itself in public favour. What the medical profession could not compass in a glorious half-century of effort, crowded with schemes for the amelioration of the ills of suffering humanity, a halfpenny journal was able to accomplish in a few weeks of daily suggestive therapeutics.

Now whilst I have no desire to disparage the merits of standard bread, I have little hesitation in predicting that after a few months the public will again revert to the use of white bread. I am fortified in my conviction by the history of the past century, and whilst I look upon the present popularity of standard bread as a veritable triumph for the press, all experience goes to show that the working-classes at least pin their faith entirely to the white variety.