WAYS AND MEANS IN GERMANY.*
A REMARKABLE picture of the minute and comprehensive thoroughness of the German expert is to be found in the examination of the national food supply, an account of which was published last December in Brunswick, and now appears in English under the supervision of two London physicians. The reader will do well not to judge of the book from the denunciations of the unexampled cruelty of the English blockade which fill the first few pages. But when this con-
• ventionul charge has been duly formulated, the writers set ,themselves to disprove it by showing that Germany is quite able to live as an isolated State. • They are under no delusions as to the "extraordinary tenacity " of England : " It was probably no mere figure of speech when Lord Kitchener declared in the House of Lords that the war would be carried on however long it lasted, and when Asquith said that the war would be continued if necessary for twenty years." They see clearly that as an isolated State Germany has to reconstruct all her economic ideas. To live by exchange hai ceased to he possible. The German nation has only to
• Germasry's Food : the German Case as Presented by German Exports. Edited by Paul Eltohacher. English Version Edited by S. Russell Wells, M.D. With p Critical Introduction by A. D, Waller, M.D. London: at the University Press. [2s, not.] ask itself what it needs and to " set about producing it" within its own borders. In this volume only one part of this question is discussed, but it is by far the more important part. "How," the writers ask, "can Germany manage without the food, and the materials out of which food is made, that are imported from abroad " Two chapters are devoted to the food requirements and to the food consumption of the nation before the war, and we then arrive at the two-headed question: How great is the deficit caused by the war, and how is it to be made good ? Food- stuffs consist of protein, which supplies the building material of the human organism, and of calories or units of heat, which supply the energy. The consumption of protein is not affected by the amount of bodily work done, but the need for calories varies with the expenditure of energy. Thus, according to one estimate, the amount of calories required by a physician is 2,445, and by an Upper Bavarian lumberman 6,100. The experts give a table of the amount of protein in 3,000 calories, the quantities ranging, according to the kind of food, from 1 per cent. in honey to 96.8 in codfish. The conclusion they eventually arrive at is that the requirements of a grown man under sixty may be put at 3,000 calories a day, which brings the annual requirements of the nation to 5615 billion calories. Of this total, 80 grams per head a day, or 1,605,000 tons a year, should be in the form of protein. But the average consumption of the nation for the years 1912 and 1913, taking the population at 66.6 millions, amounted to 88.65 billion calories, in which amount was included 2'262 million tons of protein. The experts calculate the population of Germany at the outbreak of war at sixty-eight millions. Judged by the physiological standard, this population would consume 5615 billion calories, in which must be included 1.605 million tons of protein. Judged by the standard of actual consumption for the two years preceding the war, "these figures mean that we overstepped our requirements in nutri- ment values by fifty-nine per cent, and our protein require- ments by forty-four per cent." The writers may well say that at first sight these figures are "extremely startling." If the nation had gone on living in war time on the peace scale, there would have been a deficit of thirty-three per cent. on the calories and of twenty-five per cent. on the protein.
The purpose of the experts is to set out in detail the changes that are necessary if Germany is to escape actual shortage of food, but in December last there had not been time to ascertain how far they had been made. All they can do is to offer suggestions how to improve the cultivation of plants suit. able for food or fodder, how to turn the increased produce thus obtained to better account, and bow to reduce the live stock in the country—this last measure being made necessary by the deficit of imported fodder, and the Government pro- hibition to give to cattle fodder which can be more profitably used as food for man. For an English reader, perhaps the chapter on " Changes in the Standard of Living" will have most interest. The consumer is reminded that he has a great part to play " in fighting the English starvation scheme." He must begin by giving protein a "less prominent position" in his diet. When the Report was written there was a prospect of a momentary superfluity of meat owing to the immense slaughter of animals, especially of pigs, necessi- tated by the absence of fodder. But no present use ought to be made of " this gift of chance." Germans eat far more meat than most other nations, and twice as much as they ate fifty years ago, and a return to the old standard will mean better health as well as a smaller outlay. There must also bo very much less fat eaten. Bacon, lard, suet, margarine, butter, cream, must be replaced by more bread, puddings, soups, potatoes, and, above all, sugar. The change will be good for health, because a large use of fat injures the digestion, and increases the drinking of alcohol. That in no foodstuffs is the danger of waste so great as in fat is shown by the amount which is daily found in the Berlin sewers. Greater moderation in the use of meat need not mean vegetarianism. Animals eat many things which man cannot digest, and it is only in the form of animal food that these things can be made serviceable to him. It may even be necessary to fix minimum prices for meat in the interest, not of the "much-abused agriculturist," but of the consumer. Cheap and plentiful meat would be a had pre- paration for the dearness, and consequent scarcity, that must inevitably follow. Among the substitutes for meat, milk is by far the most important. The least useful form of it is butter, as the largest part of the protein remains in the separated milk. Rich cheese, on the other hand, is " concentrated milk," and the very cheap cheeses made from skimmed milk are of special value owing to "their great protein contents." In all its forms, indeed, skimmed milk should largely take the place of meat. It should be used to make every possible variety of pudding, since, from their high protein contents, they would be not only an expedient in war time, but a permanent improvement in the national diet. When we come to bread, the chief economy recommended is the substitution of rye for wheat. Before the war two million tons of foreign wheat were annually imported, but as a still larger amount of rye was exported the loss is more than made up. Rye has a greater nutrient value than wheat, and in making bread from it the grain can, if desired, he ground to an equal fineness. It is not desirable to make the use of wholemeal bread universal, as, though it contains more protein, it often gives indigestion. It is immaterial whether the bread eaten is made into rolls or into loaves, since, provided that rolls are made of rye-flour, they are nearly as economical as loaves, and if people will but ask persistently for rye rolls they will find no difficulty in getting them. Macaroni, vermicelli, pearl barley, ground buckwheat, and similar• foods prepared with sugar should be largely given to children in place of meat, and the amount of meat thus set free will make it unnecessary for adults to deviate too far from food to which they are accus- tomed. By this means many excellent South German dishes will be introduced into North and Middle Germany, and the brotherhood of the German races will thereby be brought home to the people. In the matter of potatoes, the experts have only to remind the eaters of them that the prevalent custom of peeling them before they are cooked means to Germany a yearly loss of over two million tons. What patriotic German will any longer place them on his table except in their skins P In green vegetables protein plays quite an inconsiderable part. They are valuable for their mineral contents, especially lime and iron, and still more for their "appetising and stimulating properties." Fruits have these last merits, even when eaten raw, but when pre- served or made into jam they are much more valuable from the quantity of sugar used in these processes. As in the year before the war Germany exported more than a million tons of sugar, she now commands that extra amount for home con- sumption. In the form of jam inferior fruit can be used, and also many kinds of wild berries. The experts lament that many adults dislike eating sugar in large quantities, and they wistfully suggest that if every one would "return to the old German morning gruel" a great deal might be insensibly cpnveyed into the system without the adult's knowledge. This, however, is put forward rather as a counsel of per- fection than as a precept for universal use. The great object is to get the German nation to remember that sugar "is no delicacy, but a very valuable foodstuff," since it gives the body more nutriment than" the same weight of the dearer flora•."
The larger share of the inconveniences caused by these changes will necessarily fall on the housekeeper. It is she who must "see that the change of diet does not cause dis- pleasure." This is to be avoided by making the new sweet dishes "alternate with the old salt or sour ones, and the new vegetarian foods with the customary meat one." A long bill- of-fare is given from which the housekeeper may make her choice. At breakfast meat is an unnecessary luxury, and the use of butter or cream is equally discouraged. At dinner meat should not be served every day, though it should be eaten more often in the winter than in the summer. A long list of soups and puddings follows ; indeed, to push the consumption of these kinds of food seems onS of the two main purposes of this chapter. The other is the prevention of waste. At present the whole population deals much too carelessly with food. The first recommendation of the experts will come home to many who are not Germans. It is to "eat less and masticate better." There is also immense waste in the preparation of food. CAll meat and fish refuse must be treasured; skins, sinews, smoked rinds, the bones and heads of herrings must be used for soups and sauces ; and the stalks of cabbages and the leaves of celery must be cut up for seasoning. "The 'valuable scraps of fat and gravy must not be allowed, as they now are, to flow in enormous quantities into the sewers; they must be collected and if necessary freed from their taste by clarifying in boiling water." Spirit must be used as little as possible for lighting, for " he who burns a spirit lamp is indirectly burning up potatoes.",' For the same reason the starching of women's petticoats and men's shirts must be given up, and as soap is largely made from edible fats there must be great economies in the washing of clothes. Cooking at home should not be given up, because' it has great value in family life, but it should be done with strict economy, and a greater use of modern appliances such as the cooking-box. Instructions on cookery and housekeeping should everywhere be given to the women of the working classes.
If these and similar reforms are universally carried out, and the savings effected by them made clear to the nation in plain figures, the experts feel confident that Germany can hold out even if the war should last for many years. They claim to have allowed for every possibility that may defeat their calculations. The food requirements of sixty-eight million individuals are taken as the standard, as though there were no invalids needing less food, nor is any deduc- tion made for the fact that the greater part of the Army is in the enemy's territory and living to some extent at the enemy's cost. They only lay down one condition. It is that what they suggest shall he carried out in every detail. All the necessary prohibitions must be issued and enforced, and an end be put to the waste of fodder as well as of foodstuffs in housekeeping. The only point in this elaborate inquiry that concerns Englishmen is that, as Dr. Russell Wells says in his preface, it deprives "the talk about the brutality and inhumanity of the English starva- tion plan ' " of any "real basis in fact."
Previous page
