MARGARINE
Snt,—The blessings of war-time are few enough in all conscience, and the disappearance of any of them is to be deprecated. Just as the evacuation scheme is doing good to the health of children from the poorer quarters of the big towns, so the Government margarine scheme would have benefited the health of the population (and particularly the poorest class) as a whole. Now we hear that the scheme is to be dropped and it is to make clear why this is a bad and retrograde step that this letter is written.
Pool margarine contained added vitamins A and D, both essential to health and both deficient in the diet of almost all persons, particularly the poorest, in this country, but while the better kinds of branded margarine are in this way made the equal of butter, the cheaper ones are devoid of vitamins, and it is these kinds which are bought and consumed by those who most need vitamins.
Let us never forget the experience of Denmark in the last war. In 1918 when transport difficulties prevented the importation of margarine, the Danes ate their own dairy produce instead of the non-vitaminised margarine of that day. That year is still knowa as the " year of health " in Denmark—fewer babies died ; there was less sickness generally and the health of the population markedly improved. The Danish Government made the inclusion of vitamins in margarine obligatory as a result of this experience—the first Government in the world to do so. For our own to follow suit would add an enormous weapon to our war efforts.—
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