Show elikim li Kim st egg eg 9 glut calls attention to school lunch question Ou estion house of representatives decides A against ainest spending taxpayers money on food for school children after july 1 by BAUKHAGE betes analyst and commentator service union trust building washington D 0 you have often heard the lament when guests came and the larder was bare it if we only had bad some ham and had some eggs we could have ham and eggs if we had the man power and the machinery equipment and distribution t on we could step up american food production until by 1854 1954 we could feed million people that Is what the department of agriculture says last year we raised enough to feed mill million I 1 on today washington I 1 is worrying over two problems brought into focus by that little if this time we have over prodoc tion 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 s shores h ores 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 the government Is buying eggs right and left thousand cases of shell eggs 13 million pounds of powdered eggs since january 1 to support the farmers price and giving so some e away and here is where problem number two which I 1 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 it if the senate follows the action of the house and refuses the appropriation for that purpose and regardless gard less of eggs there Is developing the other situation over which certain people in washington are worried ill go into that later but first let us look at the egg glut we are told that we could teed feed a lot more people if we had the man power equipment and machinery to produce the food in the case of eggs we could consume tar far more if 11 w we had the man power to run the drying equipment to produce the powdered eggs for the military forces and lend lease although these institutions now consume 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 match the hen power A contraption trap tion 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 its hard bard to get crackers one kansas city drier who has a wage ceiling of 50 cents vin an hour for his crackers has to compete with an airplane plant in the neighborhood which has a 50 cents an hour ceiling for work no less attractive to young ladies than breaking eggs right now the country boosts boasts the biggest hen population it ever had end 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 feed was supposed to be hard to get so it have been something they ate maybe its 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 baca because se it has a generous heart but because it wants to support the price to the farmer who as usual 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 than they were in march this egg glut has brought into sharp focus the school lunch question which is of considerable concern to the office of education as well as the war food administration tra tion the present laying spree of the hens will rot not last forever and there will be to io eggs to throw around later on en and anyhow the house of representatives has decided that even tt if there were a surplus of eggs and other food products it does not approve of spending the taxpayers poney on school lunches even it if the tour four or five million school children wont get hot lunches after july 1 I of this year not all the parents of all of the tour four or five millions of school children are taxpayers in fact the truth is that many of them are too poor to buy a decent or in s some ome cases any lunch for their children the richer ones who can afford a lunch will have to be satisfied with a cold one and the chances are they wont wo nt get nearly as healthy a one 8 as s if it were provided by a school where parent teacher and other groups have seen to it that a balanced diet is provided educators worried this worries the office of education which is still working on congress to get an appropriation through to continue the school lunch idea school lunches started as made work back in the days of depression and the the original idea was to provide employment tor for women but as the idea developed it was discovered that here was an opportunity to do two things to improve the health of school children and to absorb farm surpluses so the furnished the woman power and some equipment and the department of agriculture fu furnished r the food for awhile the department apartment part ment took the actual responsibility of buying the food and delivering it later when the went out of business and in many cases local sponsors took care of the service the department of agriculture 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 of surplus commodities and the school bought the food itself the proponents of the school lunch point out that on the principle that as a twig is bent the tree is inclined 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 in rural areas have been consolidated soli dated with one school and bus service drawing children from many distant places children cant go home to get a good hot lunch many cant afford to bring food with them of course the community ought to lo 10 look 0 k a after t this his question cin itself and in most communities great interest has been shown and I 1 local cal authorities have cooperated but in the poorer communities which have the greatest need it is impossible a and n d even in the richer locations it Is n t easy to get money tor for things pertaining to the schools as school teachers salaries all over the country testily 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 wont benefit nor will they feast at federal expense even if other farm products are so plentiful the government has to buy them u up p to protect prices news from london the london dally daily mail sets up a little special edition tor for the united states a digest it Is photographed in london on microfilm flown over to this country enlarged to a four to six page brochure about the size of ordinary typewritten sheets I 1 do not know how large a circulation cu it has obtained so tar far or whether it is achieving its purpose of mutual understanding but it often co 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 dally daily mal mail quotes his big reply to one of his cifes questions when he be got back how about wages Is the american Ameri cap 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 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 BRIEFS B R I 1 E F S by baukhage gasoline needs in this war are 80 times greater than in the last one according to the U S petroleum administration for war since dunkirk more than WO food packages have been sent by y or through the british red cross id british prisoners of war in europe the british information services report fifty per cent ot of the outdoor advertising ver space in the city ot of madrid must be reserved tor for the use ol of totalitarian party to present messages of the one million on fewer ewer work accidents in the next 12 months Is the goal set by secretary of labor frances perkins for or attainment by Ameri Amer icett labor and management |