unday Bee.
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part thrie
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VOL. XXXIX NO. 25.
OMAHA SUNDAY MOKNINO, DECEMBER 5, 1009.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
DOMESTIC SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF THE CORN SHOW
School for Housewives Under Direction of Miss Jessica Besack in Connection with the Great National Corn Exposition Will Prove One of the Most Attractive Features of the Show
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CORNER IN THE1 SEWING ROOM
OT CORN MUFFINS, ten dollars apiece. Right this way.
gentlemen, right this way."
"The man is craty. lhe idea of asking ten dollars for
a corn muffin:"
"Vee, but com, you know, is high, 50 cents a bushel,
isn't it?"
"Well, suppose it is 50 cents a bushel, that oughtn't to make one
little old corn muflln worth $10, and doesn't, either."
All of this la hypothetical. There is no man on an Omaha street
corner offering corn muffins at this fabulous price $10, but, Just the
same, there will bo corn mulling made in this very city worth, or at
least that will bring, $10 each, and a certain ten of them will bring
$100.
tllrla, women, think of It! A chance of a lifetime!
This Is only one of the great advantages offered to the girls who
patronize the domestic wclence department of the National Corn ex
poHitlon. Of the $00 given away In prltea by that department $100
w III be presented In cold cash. In glittering gold, to the young woman
making the best com uiulflnnjuat ten.
A wnato of money, you say? Oh, no. Is It a waste of money to
teach the hougekeeprs of tomorrow, the girls of today, how to make
the niott and the bet of what Is furnished them to furnish the tabid?
Is it a waste of money to teach these young women the science. of get
ting out of the food materials the best that is in tum? Aside from
the mere culture and refinement and mental training that comes from
the crucible of such a test there is an advantage that Is counted In
dollars and cents; Getting the beat out of th raw material is econ
omy, and economy Is money. So, for the matter-of-fact materialist,
who does all his reckoning on the dollar and cents basis, the $10
muffin has plenty of Interest for him.
But there is yet another aide to the case. What is that that pro
mote domestic felicity? Whatever it is, the plain, old-fasalone4 ele
ment of rod 1 conking forms a part of it. Kvery man who has sense
enough to think of such things la an epicure and many of them are
connoisseurs all, at any rate, like good things to eat and good things
to eat hare a tremendous Influence on the man In more respects than
the mere academic function of appeasing his hunger.
y .Money-saver, palate-tickler, means of education, leveler of domes
tic tranquility Is the-re anything else that need be said for the f 10
muflln?
Women Are in Earnest
Laboratory and lecture work
will be done. In both science and
art every young woman will be
taught by precept and example.
In the domestic science the cook
ing will cover baking, plain and
fancy, Invalid cooking, canning
fruit, making sdlads, pastry and
deeserts and the setting and serv
ing of the table in the dining
room. In the art department the
curriculum embraces various
kinds of sewing. Each girl in
both departments will be
equipped with all the facilities
necessary to her work and the
girls learning to sew will bo per- -pitted
to keep the cap, apron and
cotton dress they make. There
will be a class In cooking and a
clans in sewing each morning and
afternoon, and then there will be
the evening hours devoted to the
girls and women of the Trl
Clties. ,ln" these clauses, and
those during the day also for the
local folk. It is expected to enlist
many "members of prominent so
ciety families. It has become
popular for daughters of wealthy
parents to want to escape the
odium of being called "Idle
Rich," and many of these young
women are Counting on a course
In these instructive branches of household art and utility this year.
Already many of them have taken up such a work at the Young
Women's Christian association on lfss pretentious scientific lines and
some are ambitious to extend their inquiries into the more scientific
channels, while they have the opoprtunity this winter, with women
whose llfework It Is to teach such branches of study.
The exposition management tliis year has secured a greater area
of space than it had -last year, it will be able, therefore, to devote
This part of the National Corn exposition is no jest; like every larger and more commodlct's rooms to the domestic science and art.
other part of this great institution. It Is a most -ierlous fact. And The young women will be where the exposition slght-seers may view
the women In control of It are In deadly earnest. They are women them In their splendid pursuits. A large glass partition only will
who have sient years of faithful study and practice in the prepara- .separate them from the public and by this means the people who pay
V,TS3 JESSICA E.BESACK.
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A TABLE FOR
PROPER WAY TO LAY
FOUR.
tlon of their professions and have come to be recognized the country
ovtV for thcir skill and abllUy. ' Fortunate indeed is any young
woman tohave the opportunity w-hich this exposition thus presents.
What might bo termed "woman's department" of the Com exposi
tion this year Is divided into the domestic science and domestle art
departments, where cooking, sewing and setting and service of the
table will be taught. Miss Jessica Besack of Columbia college is In
general ttupervisiou of the domestic science bureau, and Miss Mar
garet Ulalr of the University of Minnesota of the domestic art depart
ment. The other instructors are Miss Eva Barton, Humboldt col
lege; Miss Clarissa Clark, Ames; Miss Lucia Ellas, Wooster; Miss
Alma McCulla, Ames. These women have all been selected, because
of their special superiority In their various lines of work. They are
leaders In their profession. MIbs Besack, who had charge of the
work last year, has been the organizing spirit of this faoulty.
Very naturally come limitations had to be made In the numbers
to see the rest of the exposition may also get good Insights into this
most Interesting corner of the great institution.
Some Home Work
In addition to the laboratories and lecture rooms a model dining
room will be prepared. Here the young women studying domestic
science will be taught how to set a table properly, giving It the most
attractive appearance, and then how to serve guests as they really
should be served. To enable them to get practical experience in this
important part of their work they will have opportunities of enter
taining the officers and notable guests of the exposition. A large
dining room will be equipped where these men will dine by the grace
of the young women.
"Taste and decorum form a large part of any science,". says Miss
Besack, "and particularly of domestic science."
Is that serious enough to arrest your attention, you man of af
fairs, who are protesting against the prices you pay for the neces
saries of life? You say this is etheral? The United States' total
annual plant and animal production is $7,500,000,000. One billion
of this Is Credited to agricultural science. If a few years ago Willett
M. Hays had told the American farmer that by practicing the prin
ciples of Intensified farming or agricultural science he could Increase
the'sum total 6f his harvest $1,000,000,000 the probability Ib the
American farmer would have told Mr. Hays he was etheral. Mr.
Hays, who Is assistant secretary of agriculture, affirms today that,
while agricultural science has done this for the farmer, so will do
mestic science do as much for the farmer's wife and daughter, and
by so doing will bring the annual wealth of the farm up to
$10,000,000,000. -
But domestic science and art are to effect their results by the
process of elimination eliminating the fatal factor of waste. "A
dollar saved Is a dollar made." Trite, hut true. Some years ago
eastern or mid-west people who took up homes In California observed
that the average California family wasted enough in the course of a
year to keep the ordinary eastern household that long. And when
the panic of the early '90's came a great many, a distressing number
of these average California families, went into bankruptcy. No farm
in the country Is on a firm footing that does not pay diligent heed to
the possible Channels through which waste may filter. The woman
who can get all there Is out of a food article Is the woman who 1
going to help her husband Increase bis Income. The woman who
can go to the store and intelligently buy a piece of cloth, a suit of
So Dronrletv and attractiveness are two of the M9inMl f.tnro.
of young women admitted to the domestic science and art depart- of tnIg dome8tlc Bclenc, in6tructIon.
meius, so some systematic basis of selection was necessary. The
original method was for the county superintendents in the various
states to name a young woman and the various farmers' Institute
naire others who should be eligible to this school. That method still
obtains, but in addition to It this year girls and women living In
Omnha, South Omaha and Council Bluffs may be admitted in special
.classes at nights for those unable to attend during the day. or during
the day for those not able to attend at night. The exposition manage
ment Is anxious to expand the Influence of this work all It poixtbly
can and to admit to Its benefits all the girls and women who can be
acre miuodated.
And this means 1,000. Yes, 1,000 girls and women may attend
this unique school of domestic science and art this year If they wish,
for the facilities will be there.
Cost of the Course
There I a cost si.le of this education to the students, but it Is so
trifling thart except for the matter of Information ItBeenis not worth
Niientlonlng. The tuition for the entire terra's work is $2.50 for each
student. For this little $2.50 the exposition furnishes all the equip
ment cud facilities and even provides each young woman coming from
abroad with doriulntory room and free admission to the entire Na
tional Corn exposition. So that she will have comfortable living
quarters and means of entertainment and enjoyment for her spare
hours. And. those young women who want to board at the exposi
tion may do so for a small sum. Last year the exposition did not
make all these concessions. It did not. in fact, admit the domestic
science girls free of charge to the exposition. This, of course, entailed
additional expense on these young wouin, but the managment desires
to make them a part of the Institution and wishes to give them every
advantage within its power to offer. Therefore, it has arranged
and this Is a big concession to provide every one wfth general and
specific tickets, admltttng them, free, to every exhibit, every nook and
corner, of tLe exposition.
"What we want to do." says T. F. St urges, general manager of
the exposition. Is to make these young women feel that the moment
they get on the inside of the National Corn exposition they are at
home, and we believe this will tend greatly to enliven their interest
And enhance the value of the benefits they derive."
This effort of teaching young women and girls the proper ways
of cooking and kVeplng house is -a-n effort that has become national
in Its scope. Large slims of money are being devoted to its exercise
and some of the most serious minds of the country are giving their
best thought to It. Leading Institutions of learning are taking it up
and In every way calculated to Impress a serious-minded man or
woman the idea of practical usefulness In woman's training as a vital
and essential factor In the ecoromics of the home and the nation, is
being sown broadcast. Long ago this thing passed the speculative
stage of inquiry as to its need. Men and women are no longer con
cerning themselves with that phase of the question; the purpose now
is how may they best Inculcate a principle they know to be sound
and valuable. It Is Just such people who have come to recognize the
utter Impracticability of so much of the education that a girl gets In
many of the leading female colleges; couie to realize that too many
of these institutions are turning their backs to the realities that give
a girl a genuine training that will fit her for the homely duties of
every-day life, that will make her an intelligent housekeeper and
practical helpmeet,
It Is decidedly within the eternal fitness of things that the Na
tional Corn exposition should take up this character of work for the
woman, since It has based its existence upon a similar work for man.
The underlying, all-pervading principle of the exposition is educa
tion. It seeks primarily to educate the farmer in the ways of making
two blades of grass grow where but one grew before, so to speak, and
those two blades must be of better quality than the one blade. In
tensified farming. In a word. Is what brought Into existence and what
Is perpetuating this exposition.
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What It Means in Money
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Now then, bring this matter of domestic science and art down to
the sordid basis of money consideration, if you please; look at it
only from that standpoint. If you will. What does It present to you
of tangible, living Interest? Well, for those of you who have not
given the matter serious attention, let's take the word of one who
has given to It years of serious attention.
"The American girls on the farms alone, if thoroughly schooled
in domestic science and art, would be able to save this nation every
year the tidy little sum of $1,000,000,000," asserts Miss Besack.
JAMES WILSON,
Secretary of Agriculture.
MIXING CAKK WITHOUT KOGR.
clothes or a beefsteak la the woman who Is going to Increase the an
nual output of this nntion's farms $1,000,000,000 a year.
But women can't know these things without studying them.
That's the reason for the domestic science and art school today.
Miss.Besack is credited with knowing 301 ways of preparing corn
for table use. Now, of course, If every woman in the land knew as
much probably that billion dollars could be multiplied many times,
but even If this standard of versatility In the art of cooking is not
within the scope of every woman, the possibility of saving on a large
scale Is within the reach of all.
Miss Besack probably, after all. Is low in her estimate of what
domestic science and art may save for the farms of the country and
put onto their Incomes and Mr. Hays Is too conservative, perhaps, in
his. Suppose Intensified farming and domestic science and art were
brought to the maximum of their powers, who could estimate the
possibilities of their resources? With the farmer tilling the Boil to
its utmost possibility of production and his wife In the houso con
serving to the maximum degree the qualities of the plant he produced,
there Is no way of telling what the result would be. This Is the goal
toward which the men and women of the National Corn exposition
are moving.
, Problem of Beef Shortage
Beef shortage is a big problem in America. It Is a problem with
which every household is concerned; a problem that touches the rich,
and poor alike. And it is a problem that good men are honestly
striving to solve. So far they have notjsucceeded. Meat prices are
steadily rising. Some parts' of the beef are almost beyond the reach,
not merely of the poorer classes, but of the medium class. Many
a man's salary Is conversely cut by the very fact that his beefsteak
to say nothing of bacon Is so abnormally high. It Is a distressing
and Irritating problem.
The Beef Producers' association of America la a strong organiza
tion and its prime purpose is the solution of this very problem. That
association, national In Its scone, has recognised the advantage of
the domestic science department of the National Corn exposition as
a medium of disseminating the Information and giving the Instruc
tion that It Is trying to put forth the year round. So this organiza
tion has arranged to co-operate with Miss Besack 's department for
the three weeks of this exposition and lay before the people in most
impressive array facts calculated to arouse them to Intelligent action.
Involved in this problem of heef shortage are many factors, mak
ing an intricate question. Our exports are decreasing and Imports
Increasing; receipts at the slaughter houses show that we are killing
more calves and fewer cattle all the time. The ranger complains that
recent laws subdividing the territory over which his herds formerly
grazed militate against him; that the big ranger Is being driven out
by the settler. All these are factors In this complicated situation.
But back and underneath it all lies a fact of which the people are
either densely Ignorant, or knowing, have never sought to treat. This
faet is that the consumer has come to regard but two parts of the
beef as desirable the loin and rlba and the result is he had mag
nified their value with himself and the seller to the injury, if not the
exclusion, of the other parts. This In turn brings about a waste of
other portions and finally creates a demand which the range cannot
supply, and the whole produces prices that are scandalous.
More Knowledge for Women
In the rudiments; then, of the simple process of cutting and buy
ing beef this domestic science department, through the instrumen
tality of the Beef Producers' Association of America, proposes to In
struct the women and girls. The Beef Producers' association con
tends that every part of the beef Is good and desirable and that some
parts now all but discarded may be made just as palatable as the
coveted ribs and loins. But it will take Intelligent and systematic
drumming of this fact to get It into the heads of the rank and file of
people. It has, therefore, not stopped at the National Corn exposi
tion, but it has projected this line of learning Into some of the lead
ing domestic science schools of the country.
To accomplish its purpose the Beef Producers' association has
divided the carcass into nine commercial cuts and the domestic sci
ence department will take np these cuts, show their quality, how to
buy and prepare thm and show that each may be made highly de
sirable. About the only thing that the average woman who buys
the family meat knows concerning the beef Is that the loins and ribs
are the choice parts; she does not know that they form only about
25 per cent of the carcass, nor that about 80 per cent of the pur
chasing public Is demanding that 25 per cent, or the small portion
of the beef. The average woman goes or telephones to her butcher
for a "good steak," or "a good roast," and If she gets a rib or loin
she thinks bur has been satisfied. Maybe she got a rib or loin that
was far,from fresh, while a fresh chuck, or round or flank, lay on the
same block. If the woman knew about the various portions of the
beef and went to the shop to make her purchase she could save her
money and get meat that would do her and her family far more good
than tinder present conditions.
"Disabuse your minds of the fact that It is not fashionable to
place the cheaper cuts of beef or your table," says Miss Besack In
one of her lectures.
This matter of chrap or expensive meat Is purely an arbitrary
proposition. The demand creates the supply, but doen not change
the quality of the beef. Those parts made cheap by the insistent
demand for those parts made high in price might be regarded as the
dearer cuts If only It should become stylish to give them preference.
Unless conditions are changed, unless the, people give intellient
heed to this question, the cry of beef shortage will become one pande
monium of despair -and the cattlemen on the ruu&e and the packer
In the city will be powerless to help the situation. The solution, so
these authorities urge, rests entirely with the consumer. If he (or
the in this case) will cease boycotting parts of the beef by her ig
norant purchasing and cooking she will contribute very vitally to the
redress of her own grievances and to that of the man who Is trying
to supply the demand for beef.