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Show Egg Glut Calls Attention To School-Lunch Question dl House of Representatives Decides Against 7jff( Spending Taxpayers' Money on Food for School Children After July 1. Tr'Sx. . Dy BAUKIIAGE AVwi Analyst and Commentator. WSV Service, Union Trust Building Washington, D. C. You have often heard the lament when guests came and the larder was bare: "II we only had some ham and had some eggs, we could have ham and eggs." If we had the man power and the machinery, equipment and distribution, distribu-tion, we could step up American food production until, by 1954. we could feed 380 million people. That is what the Department of Agriculture Agricul-ture says. Last year, we raised enough to feed 170 million. Today, Washington is worrying over two problems brought Into focus by that little "if." This time we have over-production of one food product: eggs. Government agents are hurrying around trying to find a means of absorbing them. America has more eggs than were ever laid on these fair shores In our history, enough to have rolled some on the White House lawn on Easter Monday if the President had permitted such a wastage, which he wouldn't The government is buying eggs right and left (600 thousand cases of shell eggs, 13 million pounds of powdered pow-dered eggs since January 1) to support sup-port the farmer's price, and giving some away and here is where problem number two, which I said Washington was worrying about, comes In. We are giving away eggs to state and federal institutions and also for school lunches. After July 1, school lunches, supported by the federal government, will be no more if the senate follows the action of the house and refuses the appropriation appropri-ation for that purpose. And regardless re-gardless of eggs, there is developing develop-ing the other situation over which certain people In Washington are worried. I'll en Into thnt Intpr hut first, let us look at the egg glut We are told that we could feed a lot more people If we had the man power, equipment and machinery to produce the food. In the case of 8S. we could consume far more if we had the man power to run the drying equipment to produce the powdered eggs for the military forces and lend-lease although those institutions now consume 400 million pounds of egg-powder a year, and eggs run about three dozen to one pound of powder., About Hen Power In this case, the man power doesn't match the hen power. A contraption con-traption called a cyclone drier dries eggs. All you have to do is to crack the egg and drop it into a container and let the artificial breezes blow, but it's hard to get crackers. One Kansas City drier who has a wage ceiling of 50 cents an hour for his crackers, has to compete with an airplane plant in the neighborhood which has a SO cents an hour ceiling, ceil-ing, for work no less attractive to young ladles than breaking eggs. Right now, the country boasts the biggest hen population it ever had and egg production Is 80 per cent higher than it was Just before the war. Ever since March, something has gotten into the hens that has made them step up their production produc-tion feed was supposed to be hard to get so it couldn't have been something they ate. Maybe It's Just patriotism. Anyhow, the War Food administration Is buying all the eggs it can, and now it Is giving eggs to schools for school lunches and to state and federal Institutions, not entirely because it has a generous gen-erous heart but because It wants to support the price to the farmer who (as usual) hasn't been getting the benefit of the retail prices which, In many places, have stayed up even in the face of the greater supply. Washington, however, was able to buy eggs for the Easter rabbit this year, 18 cents a dozen cheaper thon thry were in March. This egg glut has brought Into sharp focus the school-lunch question ques-tion which Is of considerable concern con-cern to the Office of Education as well as the War Food administration. adminis-tration. I The present laying spree of the hens will not last forever, and there will be no eggs to throw around later on. And anyhow, the house of representatives has decided that even If there were a surplus of eggs and other food products. It does not approve of spending the taxpayers' money on school lunches even if l the four or five million school chil-1 dren won't get hot lunches after July i 1 of this year. j Not all the parents of all of the , four or five millions of school chil- j dren are taxpayers. In fact, the truth is that many of them are too poor to buy a decent, or in some cases any, lunch for their children. The richer ones who can afford a j lunch will have to be satisfied with t a cold one and the chances are they won't get nearly as healthy a one as if it were provided by a school where purent-teacher and other groups have seen to it that a balanced bal-anced diet is provided. Educatort Worried This worries the Office of Education Educa-tion which is still working on congress con-gress to get an appropriation through to continue the school lunch idea. School lunches started as "made work" back in the days of depression depres-sion and the WPA. The original idea was to provide employment for women. But as the idea developed, it was discovered that here was an opportunity to do two things; to improve im-prove the health of school children and to absorb farm surpluses. So the WPA furnished the woman power and some equipment and the Department of Agriculture furnished fur-nished the food. For awhile, the department de-partment took thi actual responsibility responsi-bility of buying the food and delivering de-livering It. Later, when the WPA went out of business, and in many cases local sponsors took care of the service, the Department of Agriculture Agricul-ture merely contributed a certain amount of money (nine cents per child, matched by nine cents from the local community). This came out of funds provided for the purchase pur-chase of surplus commodities and ihm arhnnl hntiuht th funrf itenlf The proponents of the school lunch point out that on the principle that as a twig Is bent the tree it inclined, in-clined, furnishing a balanced lunch to school children will build good eating habits which will affect the whole community. It also points out that now that so many schools, especially espe-cially in rural areas, have been consolidated con-solidated with one school and bus service drawing children from many distant places, children can't go home to get a good hot lunch. Many can't afford to bring food with them. 1 Of course, Vie community ought to look after this question itself and in most communities great interest has been shown and local authorities authori-ties have cooperated. Out in the poorer communities which have the greatest need, It is impossible, and even in the richer locations it isn't easy, to get money for things pertaining per-taining to the schools as school teachers' salaries all over the country coun-try testify. Unless the appropriation bill now before the Senate Appropriations committee Is accepted and passed by both houses, the next time the hens step up production, the school children won't benefit nor will they feast at federal expense even if other farm products are so plentiful plenti-ful the government has to buy them up to protect prices. Newt From London The London Daily Mail sets up a little special edition for the United States a digest. It is photogruphed in London on microfilm, flown over to tliis country, enlarged to a four to six page brochure, ubout the size of ordinary typewritten sheets. I do not know how large a circulation cir-culation It has obtained so far or whether it is achieving its purpose of mutual understanding but it often contains some rather Interesting items. For instance: John Henry Jones, a 40-year-old steel smelter, came to America with other British trade unionists to visit our war factories. The Daily Mail quotes his reply to one of his wife's questions when he got back: "How about wages? Is the American worker really better off than the British worker?" And this is what Mr. Jones replied: "Taking a chap with the same size house, same number of children, chil-dren, doing the same Job as his counterpart over here No. Our house here would cost $18 a month clear, in rent. A similar house In the States would run away with $30 a month." |
