The continued existence of a strong and highly civilized people is insured only when certain fundamental conditions prevail. A virile nation is-one whose citizens are of a good physical type, which means that they are well nourished. A well-fed people, other conditions being favorable, is a strong people. Food is the physical basis, not only of individual activity, but also of social energy. Any causes, therefore, which limit the food supply or increase the burden of securing adequate nourishment strike a blow at a nation's vital powers. It is for these reasons that thoughtful men are solicitous concerning the conservation of the fertility of our soil. By just so much as the crop-producing capacity of this nation is diminished will its endurance and power be lessened. But the conservation of the food supply involves, not only the preservation of the means of producing it, but also the economical use of that which is produced.

231. Enormous Food Waste

In recent times there has been a widespread discussion over the cost of living, and many have attributed the advance in the prices of food materials to their wasteful use. While doubtless several factors are involved in the situation, the enormous waste of food in the United States is not to be doubted. This comes about through careless servants, ignorant methods of preparation in the family kitchen, unskillful cooking, and especially from the very large proportion of refuse, originating in high-class raw material, that goes out from boarding houses and hotels. It is probably not an exaggeration to claim that the people of this nation waste enough raw food materials to properly feed half their number. If our raw foods were economically utilized and this waste was stopped, we could export more wheat and meat or other products, and the means saved could be turned to useful ends.

232. Expensive Service And Equipment

Moreover, a generous part of our population lives under certain conditions at an expense that is a great drain upon individual and social energy. A simple breakfast, at a high-class hotel, of fruit, cereal, eggs, potato, and bread and butter, together with a ten-cent fee to the waiter, costs the partaker not less than $1.25, - a sum that would pay family board for five meals, or would buy the raw material necessary to feed one person for at least three days. The price of this hotel meal is made up only in small part of the cost of the raw food materials, but comes largely from the absorption of capital in an expensive building and in elaborate equipment and service. The habitues of hotel tables pay more for their environment and manner of life than they do for what they eat. Now, if our living was more simple, and our flour, meats, vegetables, and fruits were used with maximum economy, the saving would support public utilities, extend charities, pay the national debt, and in other ways contribute to the higher aims of social life, besides promoting good health. In fact, the people of this nation, with a given amount of energy to apply in one direction or another, is expending an undue proportion of its activities in paying for expensively compounded and expensively served foods, with a corresponding limitation of the means which might secure larger individual and social values.