Food and freedom

From its very nature, and its very necessity, and its unyielding effect on the development of the individual, that part of housekeeping dealing with food and feeding is the most complicated, is most far-reaching in its influence, and requires the most readjustment. As housekeepers, w^e have neither spent our food money nor utilized our food materials to the best advantage; we have not entirely kept pace with new conditions and new needs; we have not mastered the new knowledge required. As a result, we stand un- prepared, as a body, to meet wisely and effi- ciently our share of the great world food and feeding problem suddenly thrust upon us, to feed not only ourselves, but those who are dependent upon us, to save our homes for that bigger, freer living that must come. We need home help, ourselves, before we can give the national and world help asked of us. How can this help be obtained? There is only one real way. It can only be obtained through 24 FOOD AND FREEDOM organization in the home and education on the part of those who keep the home.^ The point has now been reached where order must be introduced into our scheme of home- making and a fresh start made. The idea of estabHshing a home on saner standards, and con- ducting it on business principles, must be common- ly accepted by the world. Women's end, specif- ically, must be organized, recognized, and given a money value. Housekeeping must be lifted from its daily, ceaseless, careless grind and faced and conquered and paid for, just as any other worth while work is faced and conquered and paid for. The home to-day must meet the condi- tions of to-day. The necessary, practical steps in order to bring this about include: 1. Organization of home-making and housekeeping as a whole: By recognizing the money value of household work, and crediting this as a definite part of the annual income. By planning an annual budget, based on this total income, and living up to this budget as conscientiously as possible. * There are those, however, who believe that help must come by taking the food problem out of the home entirely. While economy in materials, money, time, and labor would unquestionably result, is this the only end in home- making, is it the only basis on which national prosperity must be founded? Would economy so effected be of value to the world? WHAT WE SHOULD KNOW 25 By securing ^'household help" through sim- phfied hving, efficient working conditions in the home, and, where further help may be re- quired and can be afforded, through profes- sional help based on an eight-hour day. 2. Sp>ecialized education and technical training in the science of home-making and housekeeping, particu- larly in that part of housekeeping dealing with food and family feeding. For the two people who constitute the im- portant members of the home partnership — the man and the woman — there are, in reality, exactly the same problems to be faced as there are by any individual, firm, or corporation that is about to engage in any productive and hope- fully profitable enterprise in the business world. In order that the home-making problem can be squarely and fairly met, with profitable returns for both partners, the following points should be squarely and fairly faced before the start is made : The capital on hand. v The annual income, estimated both in money earned and household service given.