Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1916, Supplement, The World War
File No. 763.72112/3063
The Chargé in Germany (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 16.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith to the Department in triplicate a report by Dr. Alonzo E. Taylor, special assistant of the [Page 969] State Department attached to this Embassy, bearing upon the conditions in the milk supply of the German Empire.
I have [etc.]
Dr. Alonzo E. Taylor to the Chargé in Germany (Grew)
Sir: I have the honor to present the following supplementary report bearing upon the conditions in the milk supply of the German Empire.
In two previous reports it was pointed out that the German authorities, Including in this term medical and governmental authorities and social service workers as well, were united in the conviction that the milk supply of Germany had been so distributed and utilized as to have fully conserved the health and nutrition of the children of Germany, in so far as these were related to the milk supply. New regulations have now been formulated, to take effect upon the 1st of October. These regulations make this a suitable occasion for a further report upon the subject, since the formulation of the terms of these regulations unquestionably represents the technical opinion of the German authorities upon this matter.
The milk supply of the Empire did not increase during the past summer to the extent that was hoped and expected. While it was realized that the milch cows had come through the past winter in very poor condition, owing to great scarcity in fodder, it was hoped that abundant green fodder during the summer might result in a much increased milk supply. This proved true, but not to the hoped-for extent. With increased food supply the nutritional forces of the cows were directed more to the restoration of their own depleted tissues than to the production of larger amounts of milk. The necessity, with which the peasant found himself confronted, of using his milch cows as work animals in the field, also operated against a restoration of the normal output of milk. The great scarcity and high price of butter naturally tempted the producers of milk to market their product in this form.
The fodder crops obtained during this season are usually good. Throughout the entire Empire almost record hay crops have been cut; and although there were abnormal losses due to scarcity of labor and of modern machinery for the handling of hay, the net result remains that the hay at present in the hands of the German farmers represents a large crop. When contrasted with the reduced number of animals, maximal hay rations will be available during the winter. The crops of oats and barley are stated in official and well-informed unofficial circles to be at least the normal yield of the years prior to the war. Figures are not obtainable, since the grain inventory is not yet completed. The potato crop is not the equal of the record crop of last year and may indeed not prove to be as large as an average crop before the war. This, however, is of little importance here, since the potato is not a fodder especially employed on the dairy farm. The root fodders, though not yet harvested, are stated to equal a normal harvest. On the other hand, importation of high grade concentrated fodder has been practically suspended.
It is, therefore, apparent that during the present winter the farmer and dairyman of Germany will be able to provide their milch cows with an abundant ration of hay and a moderate ration of grain and roots, but will be unable to offer them concentrated fodder, especially fodder rich in fat. Under these circumstances, while the yield of milk may be moderately large for the season of the year, it is not expected that it can be anything near the usual production of peace times. When field work ceases, for the largest part early in November, the milch cows will be released from work and this will result in an increase of the milk supply. There is, of course, always a falling-off in milk production during the autumn, on the farms more than in the dairies. This autumnal reduction in milk production has been heavier in working cows than in dairy cattle. Therefore, when the work in the fields ceases, a certain increase in milk production is expected on the farms.
In consideration of these facts and of the reduction in the number of milch cattle, it does not seem probable that the total milk production of the German Empire during the coming winter can exceed half the normal figure. To what extent milk or milk products will be imported from Switzerland, Denmark, and Holland, remains to be seen. There is at present practically no importation of cheese from these countries, at least so far as the general market is concerned. During the midsummer relatively large amounts of cheese, butter [Page 970] and margarine were imported from these countries. Recently, however, these; importations have fallen off greatly.
The German authorities face in this situation three urgent needs: the physiological demands of the infants and children of the Empire; the needs of the sick and wounded; and the exceedingly pressing insistence for butter that proceeds from the entire population. The new regulations, to become operative on the first of October, provide: (a) for the pregnant woman during the last three months of the period of gestation and during the period of lactation, 1 liter of full milk daily; (b) for the infant to the end of the second year of life, 1 liter of full milk daily; during the second and third years, ¾ liter of full milk daily; during the fifth and sixth years, ½ liter of full milk daily; (c) from the sixth year on, only skimmed milk may be given to children and the milk cards are not guaranteed, i. e., children from the sixth year may receive such quantities of skimmed milk as their parents are able to procure; (d) the sick and Wounded may receive milk only on the prescription of a physician in official station, the prescription of a physician in private practice having no status. The authorities will deduct from the total supply of milk, that required for the children under six years of age (as known by their statistics) and the milk rations permitted pregnant women, nursing mothers, and the sick and the wounded (as recorded from week to week); the balance of the milk, under the more or less complete control of the Kriegsernahrungsamt, will be submitted to centrifugation, the cream used for the production of butter, and the skimmed milk returned to the channels of trade to be used by children and in the household in general. It is understood that provisions are to be made for the manufacture of cheese, both of the full milk and skimmed milk varieties, though the details have not been published.
A liter of full milk of average composition will contain about 32 grams of protein, 30 grams of fat and 48 grams of carbohydrate, of a total heat value of about 625 calories. Depending upon size of the child and muscular activity, infants up to the second year will require from 500 to 900 calories per day. Taken in connection with the other foods, particularly cereals, that are now freely given to infants during the second year and to some extent during the first year of life, a liter of full milk per day represents a normal and satisfactory milk ration during this period. During the second and third years of life the caloric requirements will vary from 900 to 1,250 calories per day. During the fifth and sixth years, the nutritional needs will rise to between 1,250 and 1,600 calories per day, depending upon the size and activity of the children. Obviously, therefore, the ration of ¾ liter will during the third and fourth years supply from a half to a third of the food requirements of the child. During the fifth and sixth years, the ½ liter permitted under the regulations will supply one fourth, or even somewhat less than one fifth, of the nutritional needs of the child.
According to the older standards generally recognized in the feeding of children, the proportion of the nutritional needs to be covered by input of milk are considerably higher than here contemplated. Particularly is this true during the fifth and sixth years. It is in our country a common practice to so arrange the diet of children from the third to the sixth year that half of their nutritional units are introduced in the form of milk. On the other hand, there is unquestionably a strong tendency, among experts in the feeding of children, to increase the variety of articles permitted in the diet of children of this age! During the past 10 years, children of from 3 to 6 years of age have been permitted a much greater variety in cereals, vegetables, fruits, eggs, and meat than was previously regarded as advantageous. There seems to be no question that the feeding of children upon such a liberalized plane has proved entirely successful and satisfactory. Particularly in America, the digestion of the growing child has been regarded as an exceedingly delicate function; and parents and physicians in America have to a widespread extent displayed excessive caution in the feeding of their children. Students of nutrition and careful observers in social work realize that as a rule much greater dependence may be placed upon a growing child’s digestion; and the newer movement in pediatrics specifically proceeds upon the theory of strengthening the digestion of children by the use of a liberal diet containing a large variety of foodstuffs and placing less dependence upon milk.
Success in the feeding of young children upon a ration of greater variety obviously depends upon the availability of cereals and other accessory articles in variety and in good quality. They must naturally be prepared by proper methods of cooking. These considerations apply with special force to the problem [Page 971] of feeding children past six years of age without any full milk at all and with such supplies of skimmed milk only as may be obtained in competitive buying upon the open market. If one were to judge the conditions in the future by the conditions in the milk supply in Germany during the past 6 months, it must appear certain that numbers of children over 6 years of age will not, after the first of October, receive any milk in their diet at all. Under these circumstances, adequate supplies of cereals and vegetables of various kinds, prepared in such ways as to make them assimilable by the child’s digestion, become a conditio sine qua non. The preparation of such articles of food for children, in the absence of milk in the kitchen, is a difficult procedure which is in no wise made lighter by the fact that fat is to be very scarce. If the new crop of sugar is such as will permit of a notably increased ration to children, this will greatly alleviate the situation. Protest has been made by several of the most competent specialists in the diseases of children in Germany, against the limitation of full milk to children under the sixth year of life, as being a procedure too radical unless absolutely necessary under the conditions of the milk supply.
It is particularly in connection with the feeding of school children between the ages of 6 and 14 that the restriction in the milk supply may prove of ominous importance. Recent reports tend to indicate that in certain portions of Germany at least the children of the school years are not maintaining the normal growth and weight curves. To what extent this is known to occur and how marked are the deflections, I am not able to state; but it is important to observe that these conditions have just come to light and were not recognized even a few months ago. Upon what these lowered states of nutrition that are reflected in a falling-off of the weight and growth curves are due can not be stated. Naturally one thinks first of the restriction in the milk supply. Viewing the diet as a whole, it is obvious that for growing children the diets have been somewhat restricted in calories, but relatively more restricted in protein and fat. The demand for increased input in calories has been met by the new regulation according to which 50 grams of flour per day are issued to every child between the ages of 12 and 17. Whether the state of affairs in growing children reported to have been discovered in certain parts of Germany is to be attributed to the low ration in protein or fat can not be stated. Certain it is that the experiences of the past year in Germany had indicated that there is such a thing as a fat hunger. I am advised by Mr. H. C. Hoover of the Commission for Relief in Belgium that their work in Belgium has convinced them also that there is such a thing as a fat hunger. The opinion is more and more gaining ground in Germany that this fat hunger is not a question of external relations in the preparation of foods but is an internal fact expressive of a need of the organism. If a scientist were to venture a conjecture, it would be reasonable to assume that the extreme reduction in the fat in the diet in Germany is to be regarded as the cause of the lowered growth of the school children.
So far as people of means are concerned, the effect of the new regulation, if undiscriminatingly enforced, will unquestionably be to lower the milk ration of children to some extent from the second to the sixth years, and to a notable extent after the sixth year. So far as the poor children of the cities are concerned, the effect of the regulation will be to take the control of their milk supplies out of the hands of the numerous efficient social service organizations who have cared for these poor children so successfully during the past two years and transfer this control to the Kriegsernahrungsamt. When the history of this war is written, one of the chapters will be devoted to an adequate characterization and appreciative evaluation of the superbly efficient social service organizations of the German cities. These regulations will not apply to children living in the agricultural districts. They will not apply at all to the children of the farmer and little or not at all to the children living in small villages. The peasant’s wife will give her children as much milk as she desires, official regulations and Kriegseinahrungsamt to the contrary. The regulation is, like all the food regulations promulgated by the cautious and far-sighted Von Batocki, only tentative. It will be possible at any time, on a week’s notice if shown to be advisable, to limit the amount of milk devoted to the manufacture of butter in order that the amount of milk assigned to children up to the sixth year may be increased or the age during which full milk must be provided raised beyond the present figure set at six years.
I have [etc.]