Page:What to do for Uncle Sam; a first book of citizenship (IA whattodoforuncle00bail).pdf/41



Not long ago some of Uncle Sam’s officials in one of the great cities of the United States started out to see what was becoming of the city’s huge supply of food. There was a great deal of every kind sold, enough to keep a city and a half of that size from being hungry. Yet the farmers who brought in the produce, and the dealers who sold it said that there wouldn’t be enough food to go around soon if it were used up so fast.

No one knew that these officials were going about. They started early in the morning and peeped into the back yards and looked at the back doorsteps where the garbage cans waited for the city teams. Then they made a discovery. There was a great amount of good food thrown away. When these men went hack to their offices and did some figuring, they found out that several thousand dollars' worth of food was being wasted every day. One strange thing about it was that the greatest waste was where it could least be afforded: it was in families where there were children.

Uncle Sam is asking us to be very economical so that the remains of last year’s harvest and the Rh