Will Germany Live on Sewage?
THE problem of securing food, which confronts Germany, has occasioned a thorough, scientific investigation of the subject and its economic solution. The scarcity of fats has been especially felt, due partly to the large consumption of fat-containing foods by German people. Direct sources of fat, such as olive oil, have ceased to be imported, and indirect sources, like meats, nuts and grain, though domestic products, are diminished in their output. The dry summer affected the fodder for grazing animals, especially since more vegetable food has been consumed by the entire population than formerly.
One of the first questions considered was whether the fat consumed was necessary for proper nourishment. Physiologically, fat stands next to protein in importance, the other foods being carbohydrates (starches and sugars), salts and water. The Germans as a people, consume more fat than other nations,—in fact, all people eat more oily food than is necessary. Nevertheless, for energy-production, 3.6 ounces of fat are equivalent to 8.8 ounces of carbohydrates. Fat also prevents too rapid breaking down of the protein in the body, which fact, together with its resistance to cold, makes it highly important for the troops in the field.
In Germany today, the consumption of oil, butter and other fatty foods, per day, is less than two ounces, though formerly it was nearly double that amount. It has been found that a strict economy would practically solve the problem. If the rich would not waste food, the poorer classes could be relieved. Large crops of linseed, hemp, poppy, mustard, sunflowers, walnuts, beech-nuts, hazelnuts and even Indian corn and sesame, all containing oil in varying degrees, will be reaped this year. They require land, however, which would otherwise be used for other necessary foods. Peach-pits and the seeds of other fruits have been considered as sources of oils, but as yet little has been done in that direction.
The committee in charge of the food question, authorized the Agricultural Banks to buy and distribute last year's crop of beech-nuts and flax. Beech-nuts have heretofore been wasted, but now even the royal Prussian forests are to be stripped, and their output placed at the disposal of the committee. School children have been enlisted to gather nuts and turn them in to the common store. A ton of fresh beech-nuts brings approximately from fifty to sixty dollars; air-dried nuts, from seventy-five to eighty-five dollars. Provision has also been made for gathering the sunflower harvest.
These measures pertain more to the future than to the immediate needs, however. Accordingly a general collection of fatty refuse from meat-shops, slaughter-houses, hotels, etc., has been ordered. The system used is the work of Bovermann. The refuse, mixed with water, passes through a receptacle very slowly to allow the fatty substances and oil globules to rise to the surface, while the heavier bodies sink to the bottom. The top layer can then be drawn off and the fat easily extracted and purified.
This method, of course, only takes care of a fraction of the fats which may be found in refuse. The slime at the bottom could also be used for some purposes, such as feeding swine. All sewage from households and manufactories is largely impregnated with fat in various forms, such as soap particles and oils. According to Professor Bechhold, in Die Chemiker-Zeitung, .35 ounces of fat per person, are wasted in sewage, every day. In peace times, such waste would be fourteen million, two hundred and eighty thousand dollars, while in the last few months, it would be forty-seven million, six hundred thousand dollars. A further stringency may necessitate the use of sewage also.
The fisheries are another source of fat and also protein, which as yet remain unclaimed. Only one-fourth of all catches are used for food, though the small fish, thrown back, contain much available nutriment. Even bones and various hides could be made to yield some fat, if their use became imperative.
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