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Show The Campaign for : Ijj! . Clean Food Dealing What Women Are Doing to Abolish the Filthy Habits 111 ' of Some American Tradesmen. S; -"" VBy MARYHAI1ILT0N TALBOTT '" J5W T7lT grandmother used to tell mc J& IVl of dirt beforo thpy die," but && that "everybody must eat a peck SSH have recently concluded If sl. was ir1 living now she would change tho old Mm y1" t0 everybody eats a bushel of Wl!l dirt long before the grim Reaper calla &!$& them. I was Kng to market early one pm xnSralne- and 'before 1 got there 1 saw Mm onough to make me do a great den l of t'fll thinking, and incidentally some lncs-grifB' lncs-grifB' tigating. on tho cleanliness of th- foo 1 ifclB- which we housewives put upon tin- IS tabic Tor our families to caU ' fJQ A boy employed by the company VWjM- 'roin which I purchased my inllk. nnd-HiK nnd-HiK ins; himself in need "of a bottlo, tooW i(iiW up a soiled one from tho "return box. J i IM' plt on hlK fingers, ran them arouna inc 1 !1W. 'nsldc rim of the bottle, flllrd It with "fB -milk and di-llvered- It. Farther duwn tjWm tho s-treel there waa standing a bnkrrt ttMllM. v.vgon Jtiii an I n-ahed It a bjg lunt BH, f bread fell Into tlio gutter, and the m hoy who drove tho cart caimiy imu It up. wiped It on hi coat Sleeve put It Into a paper bag and lcftUt at the door step of one of the houscrftf Passed. Ruachlng the business scctli of the citv 1 paused a moment to v, fct en an iceman who was cutting P anleav-In anleav-In on the sidewalk In front of hnap 'bilfllness housoH tho day's aupnV of fee for drinking watr In the vaAous ofllck Ice standing there. catchW MiV d .fit and dirt of the ijtrcet. seemed sufllclently horrible: but soon thcr.e came alon? a small boy. whoo appcars-S appcars-S "readily showed lil iniliorranco opoap and water, who "tuck his hard foot on several pieces of Ic In pa?s-ng. pa?s-ng. Koprlng thn market. 1 saw w-crn w-crn men-carryirg meat from a whbla-S whbla-S store and lo,dlng it hUo wagon,. The clptlics they wore wove unBpeak-iihlv unBpeak-iihlv dirty and each ono was smoking, ho dlni cigars nn-l pln" In th-lr rtn-gcrs rtn-gcrs turning them to their mouth-.. c after which they handled the meat with reeking, discolored lingers. One man dropped a side of beef whero nnolhcr man had expectorated. But wait. The storo,hvhore I usually telcphono for my groceries and some of my meats, or go to -make my purchases after it lias been onencd for trado several hours, was one day visited early in the morning. morn-ing. Ao 1 entered a perfect cloud or dust greeted mc. and 1 quickly, looked about at the fodil nothing covered, meats, bread, cakee. nul-mi-ats, bins containing sugar and otjujusttujlcs. all catching tho dust and. tho' bo,wliP was doing the sweepjnj ?vup sropking and using tho floor ha a spittoon. j. beat a hasty retreat, but aa T rcat-bf the sidewalk my attention was attract od bv a baker's -wagon standing out side' tho store. I watched to sec f my s.'nne of ckanllhoHs would be farther Insulted. It was; tho driver took a long roll of cake, held It In a very unclean looking hand and cut It with his jack knife, after which he wiped the knife on his trouBrrs and put it in his pocket, dwllvorlnp tho cako to .. -,r.,.- atnrn I Tvni'd nred It tills. amo knife had cut calec of this variety va-riety I had on moro than one occrt-don bought. 1 have dono my own baking of all cakes and pies sincor.thcn.or in this same wagon ' werc.somo' lbvely looking merliigpej plOhVcntohlng the dust of the street jjwuuper coming1 I Surelv these few ln.ilances of nautl-' nautl-' nens will give houflewfves who do not iook about for themselves a glimpse Ihlo the conditions existing whuro their foddVcomcs from, foe JukI such things as thev nr going on not only In my "city, hut In your town, and.any-hfidvAcnii and.any-hfidvAcnii fee thorn if lh"y keep their eyen ojn. It Irf time the houspwlra A wcro waking un, for'Jt (s houBOwlfely indifference which wakes so many un-oanitary un-oanitary conditions possible. If a man knows he will loso his trade If he does not observe the laws existing in most cities, which requires all food uxjiosed for salt n'6t'!'fint l0 b,J PtH',ed or washed boforo being used to be covered cov-ered to protect It from dust and 1110. and also if he do not insist on personal per-sonal , cleanliness In his employes, he will do a lot of hustling about to maico things clean How many molhorsi and falhera, when tho give pennjes to the Utile rfojks to spend at svnool, stop to think 'about 'the plac whenco the food comojs jwhffjforgorv Into tho little stomachR. kpf!54'took tho nlunbor of tho llcenso Toiraear.' from which 1 had seen scores o'f Children wsCing. 1 wht to the Clt 'Hall and sOtfthe name and address of the 'owner-.ahd Jn ;ihc evening after worklri1quri I raw the cart with II h cakes, oradters and fruits stored In ton unspeakably clfMy collar. In the Hrst l'oport oi inn iriiuiiiiuk .i." partment, w York City, thore Is a "description of a tj!-mcnt house collar in- which a push cart was kept T.ie WaU- plpett had broken.the c61kr was TfJooded with fifth! and on the top lloate,? decayed fruit. - The principal of tin-I'-rJcnds' School, in Washington. D. C had trouble about? push wirt men, for pupils lrisiHt.nl on buying tholr wares, until ono day a little girl, whoso father is munag'er of a large hotel. ild that a push carl man. bad offered to buy all the icfi cream left on the plates in hor fallior'H hotel. Thl put an end to the push cn'rt trouble- In that school. Do you know anything about the puMi enrt men from whom your ohlldr-n huy And who Ls to hlome for their unci-rui way? Tho Irilwllk'enco 'of these ven- dors of fruits, creams,; cakes, etc. Is. we know, considerably below the normal, nor-mal, and thoy arc not conversant with the sanitary code. It Is Hurel-, somebody's duty to Protect the patrons of tho push-cart, not only the little folkn, .but others who buy from them. It Ms- manifestly Impossible for the health or puro food apartments ot our cities and towns to dq, all the -work of looking after sanitary condllloiip. "VVho then is responsible- Every house-wif,., house-wif,., and the xP'h-r of every child. It Is not a grfat,deal of trouble to llnd out whci the iea who congn- gilt- around tho School your child at-lenfls at-lenfls keep tht. jfood thoy acll yoyr tho small store fnoar tho school a 111 5l,ow pu at V glance 'f 'ho food is .-creoned-fronilfs and dirt, a look he-1 he-1 hind tho countermand 1 hope you don t sec mice running over things b.ick thore. as I did), a suvvoy of the clothes of the kt-ll-r -will te 11 Lyou verj quickly now mucn inn- j". -" , . -r eating If hq buys food of any kind ihetcf And what will you do then" Report the push-cart man or 1 1 e stoiekccpcr to tho Health Department, an lniniioloj will very soon loo.c Into the mutter, and the ppraon will either bo ffl:cd Or havo to ,fh'; "'' '? lhe requirements of the Jaw will bo moL A ?ocond offense l many places meana lhr, lonso to rim a cart or, keep a .-torn will be Inken awaj Ju tho ulniig of the aniall hoy. It Is suiely up to the housekeepers and mothers, not only to take a stand with their Individual Irndoamen. but to aj,i-thte aj,i-thte thn bject of cleunllness n!Mn other women, even to districting their j tflwns and el-Jin-. Hnvj long do o think hnlohor. piocers or any food 'vendem would dar continue their rtlrly hnblLs if every woman Interested in clean food-and uly ovcry : hou sc-kcener sc-kcener should be would make it a Jofnt to step into their bade -.hops, look Into their refrigerators and o behind tho counters and see for her-aelf her-aelf what she has a right to know. Do vou think tho tradqsnion vould not make a bigger effort to be clean If the bread and butter which was sent to the house by a dirty del very boy was returned, or if any 'ooJs manifestly unclean wen not accepted and tho customer to whom they w-cre sent ceased to deal t their stores? Some of the housowlves of America have organized and demanded cleaner food, and laws havo been passod to give It to them, and thoy aro seeing to the enforcement of the laws. For instance. In Seattle the sanitary campaign cam-paign has recited in tho strictest kind of regulations concerning clean food This matter Is in the hands of the Health and Sanitation Jcpuri-ment. Jcpuri-ment. and anyone who wants to operate ope-rate any kind of a placo whero food is bought or sold must apply to the Commissioner ot Health for a perm t, which Is Issued only after the Health Department Is Katlstlcd that all requirement re-quirement looking toward tho health of tho people havo been metclcanii-nesk metclcanii-nesk ventilation, light, clothing jof workers who handle food, are all inspected. in-spected. Each workmun Is further required re-quired In Ille a certincalo of health from a doctor, nhd the use of tobacco around the food It orblddrn, Failure t,, comply With any of tlcse. r'aulro-ments r'aulro-ments will make a proprietor forfeit h hi CBosion 'the -nioa " market b aro under the surveillance of J ho "Aornor Municipal I.onguo. and hr m ol the State Its production., transporta- tlon and all handling Is being looked 1 after by an organization of women and M men, known as the Massachusetts Milk M Consumers" Association; tho bakers of B that State who wish a large trade B must bo ablo to show that they handle M all their products In tho cleanest pos- H aible wav, for the Consumers' League U of Massachusetts is making a pys- H tematlc investigation of bakorles. and H IsHulng a printed list of tlroao found H sanltarv In all departments. now Tork H city has started it blmllar investlga- H tlon. In "Washington. D. C. the Health Department Is carrying on a vigorous jH campaign for tho personal cleanliness H of those who handle tho food of tho "H city E'pry store must bo equipped H with proper toilet facllIUcs. In many H Instances proprlotors who forced their -H clerks to -ush their handa at the lm same hydrant at which celery, lettuce, IH etc., were made more presontable be- lH fore being exposed for sale, havo been obliged to put running water in their H stores and provido tho clerks with H clean towels. The Monday Evening Club of that city, an organization H composed mostly of women. Is also H pushing tho campaign ior cicanor ir- h kets. Since rats, mice, nies and other " vonnln are sources ot fllth and fro- qpently transmit disease, this club in H iryin'-r to compel food handlers to IH protect food from them. Other women s H clubs arc sreklng to enforce the or- dlnance which requires all food ex- posed for sale to bo at least twenty- H four inches from the grpund. unless H closely covered or Inclosed, in order to protect it from dogs. N'o now-spa- H pers mav bo used to cover tho food. H as thv ha unssod through o many H .hands' and arp therefore unwholc,- H some. T i sfl |
