—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 3, 1973
10
Why should food and nutrition be sub
lets of national concern in the United
States 7 U S farmers can produce food
supplies in an abundance and variety and
with an efficiency never seen before in the
woild We have learned to process it,
manufacture it, package it and distribute it
in a near endless range of delectable and
enticing forms Despite what we consider
to be high prices, this is done at a lower
cost in the US, relative to the average
person's income, than any other nation in
the world Our food supply is pure and safe
despite all of the publicity over additives,
impurities, mislabeling, deceptive
packaging and heaven knows what else
Still we worry about food and diet
One of the food-related problems faced
by a large percentage of Americans is that
it is just too much fun to eat in the US
and easy We eat too much and share a
common problem, to varying degrees, of
being overweight This has been one of the
factors giving rise to such a vast number of
special diet programs Many of
these are of the fad variety and can ac
tually be injurious to health since they
often omit basic foods necessary to human
nutrition In a feature article in Time
magazine, entitled “The Perils of Eating,
American Style", the observation is made
that, “Whether they are simply trying to
get thin, or whether they are pursuing
health or even salvation through diet,
Americans are perhaps more preoccupied
than any other nation with what to eat,
what not to eat, how to eat and even
when "
For various reasons, many Americans, if
not suffering from actual malnutrition
certainly fall far short of eating a diet
conductive to the best of helath Coffee for
breakfast lunch on the run and a long
afternoon and evening without food lead to
picking up snacks that are usually greasy,
or full of sugar, and to overeating at
'he evening meal The Time article points
>ut that young people are the worst of
enders when it comes to “gobbling” things
ihat aren't good for them, “ consuming
is much as half their caloric needs in
notato chips, cookies, cakes and other
A statement by the president of the
Ann ucan Farm Bureau Federation, the
'argest farm organization in the nation, on
'he progress of farm labor relations
legislation shows how inexorably the rule
of law under representative government
moves forward
The official pointed out that enactment
of a new farm labor law will be given top
piionty by the Farm Bureau in the 93rd
Congress Fie also observed, ‘‘Our Farm
Bureau policy clearly states that we uphold
the right of jemployees to bargain collec
tively but condemn the use by either labor
or management of force, coercion, in
timidation, secondary boycotts, or any
other unfair means applied by one side to
force its will upon the other What’s wrong
with having a special farm labor board
similar to the National Labor Relations
Board, to consider the special problems of
agriculture 7 What is wrong with secret
BEDFORD, IND, TIMES-MAIL “An
indignant citizen of our national capital
mailed 75 letters from Philadelphia to
Washington addresses Then he carried a
second set of letters between the two cities
by his own ‘pony express' service of six
horses and eight riders Most of the letters
carried by pony express were delivered
first, to the surprise of nobody Recently
the horse has been making a comeback on
The American Diet
Rule of Law
Grassroots
foods high in calories, low m protein,
adults are almost as bad." The organic food
movement, given impetus by the counter
culture group and others seeking greater
simplicity and purity in their lives, the Time
article says, may have had some broad
beneficial influence in making “ . con
sumers more conscious of their general
diets ” and more likely to read food
product labels to see what they are eating.
Crash diets generally make little sense for
most people who may lose a lot of poun
dage that they gam right back when they
revert to old eating habits which they have
not changed
Out of all the controversy, most
Americans have come to the conclusion,
and quite rightly, that too many calories
and excessive weight is bad for their
health Overall, it is still good advice for the
normal, healthy person to eat a balanced
diet including moderate amounts of the
four basic food groups, milk and milk
products, meat, fish and poultry;
vegetables and fruits, and breads and
cereals Sharp dietary changes for health
reasons should be made on an individual
basis on the advice of a physician Overall,
it can be said there is need for a broader
awareness of good eating habits on the
part of the general public. The information
is available and so is the food. More people,
m their own best interests, should make an
effort to use both wisely.
Good nutrition for the American people
does not he in the direction of proliferating
regulations and controls that kill the
productivity and innovative ability of the
food industry. The vast majority of us just
don't have the time or interest to become
nutritional experts and very few people
probably want a federal bureaucracy
telling them what to. eat Simple in
formation on how to choose and prepare a
balanced diet and broadening interest in
sensible weight control and how to achieve
it would probably be most helpful in im
proving American eating habits But, in the
long run, it is up to the individual and, like
the horse which was led to water but didn’t
want to drink, that’s the way it should be.
ballot elections for farm workers, or
prohibiting boycotts in agriculture as they
are presently prohibited in industry’’’ The
pressure for farm labor legislation has
arisen as a result of excesses in the
organizing of farm workers, excesses that
have deprived consumers of the right of
free choice in the marketplace and have
threatened to subject farmers —and
consumers—to a type of dictonal economic
control in the name of collective bargaining
that free citizens cannot accept.
Three states now have laws banning the
use of the secondary boycott and providing
for secret ballot election for farm workers,
and the drive is continuing for similar
legislation in other states as part of the
campaign to restore the freedom to market
for the producers and sellers of farm
commodities Thus the wheels of the
democratic process and law continue to
turn—slowly but surely
Opinions
the American scene There may be a
greater future for it than realized, unless
the Postal Service gets its mess untangled
soon ” xxx
‘‘Law is designed
rapacious minority ”
Jones
“Poverty is the parent of revolution and
crime "—Aristotle
control the
Jenkm Lloyd
to
Mr
XXX
| NOW IS
I THE TIME .. .
Max Smith
County Agr. Agent
Telephone 394-6851
To Prepare for Spring Oats
One of the secrets of producing
a good crop of spring oats in
southeastern Pennsylvania is to
make the seeding early as
early in March or April as
weather conditions will permit.
We urge farmers who are
planning to seed spring oats this
year to make plans to get the crop
into the ground during the month
of March if at all possible. Ex
perience shows that March
plantings will out-yield April
plantings in nearly every in
stance. Suggested varieties for
southeastern Pennsylvania in
clude Clintford, Clintland, or
Jaycee. All of these varieties will
do better in the warmer part of
Pennsylvania because they are
early maturing varieties that
should ripen before hot weather
arrives Even though spring oats
is not the most profitable for
Lancaster County, some
livestock and poultry producers
may want to produce some oats
this season because of the high
cost of feed grains.
To Start Rose Care
Many gardeners will be looking
forward to working in their lawn
and flower gardens in the very
near future. According to the
calendar, the “spring fever”
season should be with us later
this month. Growers or hybrid
tea roses might start the spring
activities by pruning back their
rose bushes to the 12” to 18”
height and also remove any dead
“VERY GOOD”
Lesson for March 4,1973
Background Scripture. Genesis 1 1-24,
31; Psalms 24 I, 2, 104 24 30
Devolienul Reading: Psalms 95 1-7
Several years ago I saw in a
magazine a cartoon depicting an
American family on vacation at
Grand Canyon. Their auto was
parked at one of the overlooks
perched on the lip of the canyon.
The father and mother were
standing outside
the car, looking
with rapt wonder
at the glorious
sight spreading
before them In
the car, however,
their little boy
and girl were to
tally engrossed in
comic books'
Rev. Althouse j n
beginning
The cartoon reminds us that,
blessed with the opportunity to
see the world in all its God-given
glory, many of us, like little chil
dren, refuse to see what is so
close at hand We see the sights
and hear the sounds of the world
about us, but we do not really
either see or hear
One day recently I walked for
the first time along a road on
which I often drive my car I was
amazed to see and hear so many
things along that road that had
always in the past completely
escaped my notice. It was the
same world I was seeing, but I
was seeing it through different
eyes
This is the view of the world to
which the Bible would often lead
canes. This work can be done
during late March and early
April after the danger of severe
freezes is over. In addition, the
mulch around the rose bushes
should be retained against
summer heat and dry weather.
The addition of a handful of 10-10-
10 fertilizer around each rose
bush will help produce beautiful
blooms this summer. Care should
be exercised not to get any of the
fertilizer against the rose stalk or
in contact with the roots.
To Mark March 14th
One of the most important
meetings of the spring season for
Lancaster Countians will be held
in the auditorium of the Farm
and Home Center on Wednesday
evening, March 14th This public
educational meeting will be
sponsored by the Farm and
Home Foundation and will in
clude several speakers from
Penn State University on the
subject of “Issues Relating to the
Amendment Regarding Land
Assessment.” This subject is
very important because it will
appear on the primary election
ballot in May throughout the
state of Pennsylvania This will
be an experience for farmers as
well as other folks to leam more
about the proposed change in the
constitution to permit farm land
to be assessed on production
value rather than market value.
We urge everyone to take note of
this meeting and attend.
us. It does not show us a different
world, but the same world through
different eyes It calls us to see
the world as God sees it, not in
hopelessness and confusion, but
in that light that caused him to
say as he first beheld it, “Very
good'”
God came to the verdict of
“Very good'”, not just because
here and there he saw something
that pleased him, but because the
whole of creation, “everything
that he had made” (Genesis 1:31),
pleased him and met his specifi
cations As Teilhard de Chardin
once put it. All around us for as
far as the eye can see, the uni
verse holds together.”
“Let them have dominion”
The ancient peoples, for the
most part, saw no design or ulti
mate goodness in the world. It
was, for them, a chaos, a jumbled
mass of elements and forces that
moved the world nowhere in par
ticular The Genesis view of cre
ation was a startling, new perspec
tive, that saw creation, by the
grace of God, not as chaos but
cosmos Despite all its divergen
ces and paradoxes, creation, said
Genesis, hangs together because
that is the way that God created
it to be.
The second great thought in
Genesis follows close on the first
that God places man in dominion
over his “very good” world so
that it may be fruitful and achieve
God’s purpose It is God’s world,
but he gives it into my hands so
that I may live constructively in it.
Too frequently men have re
garded this as their world. They
have used it, abused it, exploited,
and ruined it They have done so
because they have forgotten that
it is God’s world and they are
only temporary stewards of it.
So, again and again, God calls
us to remember whose world it
is and remind us that, if we will
be good stewards of it, it will con
tinue as it was created to be:
“Very good'”
(Based on outlines copyrighted by the
Division of Christian Education, National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the U S.A
Released by Community Press Service/