_Dinner_--Boiled beef, fried parsnips, steamed potatoes, onions, mashed
turnips, tomato pickle, bread.
_Supper_--Bean soup, corn bread, crackers, bread, coffee.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1916.
_Breakfast_--Baked hash, gravy, bread, coffee.
_Dinner_--Baked beans, pork, syrup, steamed potatoes, bread, buttermilk.
_Supper_--Rice soup, corn bread, crackers, bread, coffee.
TUESDAY, MAY 23, 1916.
_Breakfast_--Creamed potatoes, apple jelly, bread, coffee.
_Dinner_--Boiled pork, stewed beans, horseradish, mashed rutabagas,
green onions, bread, buttermilk.
_Supper_--Rice soup, rhubarb pie, bread, coffee.
Complete menus are given for 364 days, or for 1092 meals. No, we were
not quoting from the Ritz-Carlton cuisine, but from the culinary
department of a western penal establishment.
Elmira Reformatory.
The daily bill of fare at the Elmira Reformatory shows that the
question of the serving and the variety of food has had careful
thought. We quote from a recent report of the State Commission of
Prisons, N. Y.
“This institution has one of the best equipped kitchens in the State.
It is kept scrupulously clean and the waste has been reduced to a
minimum. A physician makes frequent inspections which include an
examination of the inmates employed in the kitchen and mess halls.
Special white suits are provided.”
SUNDAY.
_Breakfast_--Rolled oats, bread, coffee, syrup.
_Dinner_--Beef soup, corned beef, boiled potatoes, bread, coffee,
pudding.
_Supper_--Stewed raisins, spice cake, bread, butter, syrup, tea.
MONDAY.
_Breakfast_--Creamed rice, bread, coffee.
_Dinner_--Roast beef, brown gravy, potatoes, bread, coffee, rice
pudding.
_Supper_--Roast beef hash, bread, butter, syrup, tea.
FRIDAY.
_Breakfast_--Rolled oats with milk and sugar, bread, coffee.
_Dinner_--Macaroni with tomato sauce, creamed potatoes, rice pudding
with raisins, bread, coffee.
_Supper_--Creamed rice, bread, butter, syrup, tea.
Albany, N. Y.
From the same report we learn of a more modest menu at the Albany
County Prison. Besides the conventional bread and coffee served every
morning, there was always an additional article of food. Beginning with
Monday in one week, these articles in consecutive order were oatmeal,
hash, rice and syrup, cornbeef hash, oatmeal, hash, rice and jelly.
For supper the invariable ration was bread, beef stew and tea. For
dinner, always bread and coffee, meat four times weekly, pea soup one
day, bean soup one day, and on Sunday beans and eggs.
This menu is above the average for variety and quantity.
There are many institutions still serving bread and coffee night
and morning, and a dinner of weak soup, with more or less meat and
vegetables.
Buying for Institutions.
In the last report of the Board of State Charities, Ohio, Mr. Henry
C. Eyman, of Massillon, makes some wise suggestions in regard to some
economical variation of the dietary.
“By a little care in arranging the diet list a great saving may result.
It is easy to reduce the total cost of your food supply 25%. Does
that look unreasonable? Well, let us analyze some prices. We must use
present-day prices because we know not what tomorrow may bring. Suppose
you have potatoes on the bill of fare twice daily, or fourteen times
a week, the cost for 1000 persons would be at present prices, $32.00
per meal, or $448.00 per week. Now substitute for potatoes, rice three
times, hominy twice and corn meal mush three times, your total cost
of potatoes will be six times $192.00; rice three times $6.00; hominy
twice $4.00; corn meal mush three times $5.00, or a total of $207.00,
as against $448.00, or a saving of $241.00 per week, or $12,532 per
year. Now let us substitute evaporated peaches, evaporated apples and
evaporated apricots for these same goods canned. _Fruits should be
used once daily._ The canned fruits will cost an average of $14.00 a
meal for 1000 persons, while the evaporated fruit will cost an average
of $4.00 for same number, a saving of $10.00 per day, or $3,650.00 a
year. Now you will admit that fish is a desirable article of diet for
at least 32 weeks a year. Suppose fish be placed on your bill of fare
twice a week for 32 weeks, or in all for 64 meals. Beef, pork or mutton
will all cost about the same, or for 1000 persons $45.00. Fish for same
number, $18.00 to $20.00, or a saving per meal of $25.00 to $27.00, or
for the year, $1670.00. Now, in these three items just mentioned we
have effected a saving of $16,000.00, or more than 25% of your entire
food cost. The entire food cost for 1000 persons will run between
$40,000.00 and $45,000.00 per annum.
“It is an easy matter to take every article of food which makes your
dietary, calculate food values and prices and make your bill of fare
in accordance therewith. Entirely too much meat is used by all of us.
Beans, peas, asparagus, milk, cheese and spinach make an excellent
direct substitute. This is conservation, without loss in heat units or
even in the tastiness of the food.”
Dietary in Illinois.
In the Institution Quarterly, published by the Public Charity Service
of Illinois, Mr. Thomas Carroll, Traveling Steward for the Board,
writes in regard to the waste which has been so prevalent in public
institutions.
“The lack of proper distribution, indifference as to preparation, lack
of proper knowledge of the amounts of food required, have been chief
impediments encountered in some of the institutions. Non-utilization of
food up to its fullest possibilities has also been a serious drawback
in the past.”
Among the defects found in the institutions were:
1. Too much food of one kind. Entire lack of variety.
2. Poorly balanced menus.
3. An overamount of meat, occasionally an under supply.
4. Making of bones into soap instead of stock for soup.
5. Waste of fats.
6. Poor supervision in serving the food.
7. Inadequate chinaware or dishes in general.
8. Unsanitary conditions in the kitchen and in service.
“With the co-operation of managers, storekeepers, cooks and servers,
nearly all these defects have been remedied to a large degree.”
One illustration will indicate the nature of the service of Mr.
Carroll. “One institution which usually purchased 11,000 to 13,000
pounds of cooking oils and lard annually has not purchased a single
pound since the first visit of the Steward. Excessive fats are trimmed
from the meats, and are rendered in a large caldron expressly made for
that purpose, and there is at present a surplus of nearly 5,000 pounds
on hand, notwithstanding the fact that every requisition for fats and
oils have been filled.
“By saving all bones the same institution has an excellent supply of
soup two or three times each week for the entire institution. It is of
excellent quality, superior to that served in most restaurants.”
Dietary for 1000 Persons.
At the special request of the Secretary of the Society, Superintendent
Eyman has prepared for our readers the following table, to which we
call the attention of all superintendents, wardens and managers of
public institutions. The estimates are based on the food requirements
for an institution having 1000 inmates, and include the complete menu
for every day in a week, with amounts, prices and food values. This
table was prepared before the President had issued his request with
reference to our abstinence from meats and white bread on certain
days of the week. It can readily be modified to meet the present food
conditions of the country.
His estimate of the daily cost for each inmate is only 16 cents and
thus indicates that a considerable variety may be served without undue
expense. It is not intended that any purveyor may follow the exact
program, but his suggestions are highly interesting.
BILL OF FARE FOR ONE WEEK FOR AN INSTITUTION OF 1,000 INMATES
BY HENRY C. EYMAN, Superintendent Ohio State Hospital, Massillon, Ohio.
SUNDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Items Amount Cost
Baked beans 150 lbs. (raw) $11.75
With pork 50 lbs. 11.00
Evaporated fruit 90 lbs. 9.45
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Butter 25 lbs. 12.50
Milk 480 lbs. 14.40
Coffee 8 lbs. .96
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
DINNER.
Roast pork 300 lbs. 66.00
Gravy 10 lbs. .50
Potatoes 5 bushels 6.25
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Pie 29.50
Coffee 6 lbs. .72
Tea 2 lbs. .48
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
SUPPER.
Tapioca pudding 5.85
Hot biscuit 6.00
Syrup 4.00
Butter 25 lbs. 12.50
Tea 2 lbs. .48
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
Milk 480 lbs. 14.40
-------
Total cost Sunday for 1,000 inmates $217.79
Approximate cost for each inmate 21⅘ cents
Food value for each inmate, 2,700 calories.
MONDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Items Amount Cost
Evaporated fruit 90 lbs. $ 9.45
Oatmeal 71 lbs. 3.20
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Butter 25 lbs. 12.50
Milk 480 lbs. 14.40
Coffee 8 lbs. .96
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
DINNER.
Beef Stew 26.84
Macaroni 85 lbs. 5.95
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Tea 2 lbs. .48
Coffee 6 lbs. .72
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
SUPPER.
Cornmeal mush 70 lbs. (meal) 5.85
Evaporated fruit 90 lbs. 9.45
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Butter 25 lbs. 12.50
Tea 2½ lbs. .60
Milk 480 lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
-------
Total cost Monday for 1,000 inmates $132.75
Approximate cost each inmate 13¼ cents
Food value for each inmate, 2,631 calories.
TUESDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Items Quantity Cost
Prunes 54 lbs. $ 4.72
Boiled potatoes 5 bushels 6.25
Rye bread 70 loaves 3.50
Butter 25 lbs. 12.50
Coffee 8 lbs. .96
Milk 480 lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
DINNER.
Boiled pork 65 lbs. } 12.50
Boiled cabbage 400 lbs. }
Red beets 8 bushels 8.00
Rye bread 70 loaves 3.50
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
Coffee 6 lbs. .72
Tea 2 lbs. .48
SUPPER.
Stewed corn 100 lbs. 4.00
Rye bread 70 loaves 3.50
Butter 25 lbs. 12.50
Tea 2¼ lbs. .52
Milk 480 lbs. 14.40
Sour pickles 25 gal. 3.00
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
-------
Total cost Tuesday for 1,000 inmates $107.70
Approximate cost each inmate 10⅘ cents
Food value for each inmate, 2,658 calories.
WEDNESDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Items Quantity Cost
Sausage 200 lbs. $32.00
Oatmeal 71 lbs. 3.20
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Butter 25 lbs. 12.50
Coffee 8 lbs. .96
Milk 480 lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
DINNER.
Boiled pork 300 lbs. 66.00
Navy beans 165 lbs. 18.00
Kraut 4.56
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Coffee 6 lbs. .72
Tea 2 lbs. .52
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
SUPPER.
Gingerbread 4.80
Cornmeal mush 70 lbs. 5.85
Evaporated fruit 90 lbs. 9.45
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Butter 25 lbs. 12.50
Tea 2 lbs. .52
Milk 480 lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
-------
Total cost Wednesday for 1,000 inmates $215.83
Approximate cost each inmate 21⅗ cents
Food value for each inmate, 2,631 calories.
THURSDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Items Quantity Cost
Evaporated fruit 90 lbs. $ 9.45
Rice 50 lbs. 5.00
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Butter 25 lbs. 12.50
Coffee 8 lbs. .96
Milk 480 lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
DINNER.
Beef Stew 26.84
Macaroni 85 lbs. 5.95
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Coffee 6 lbs. .72
Tea 2 lbs. .48
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
SUPPER.
Stewed tomatoes 50 gal. 12.50
Cinnamon rolls 4.80
Evaporated fruit 90 lbs. 9.45
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Butter 25 lbs. 12.50
Tea 2 lbs. .48
Milk 480 lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
--------
Total cost Thursday for 1,000 inmates $145.88
Approximate cost each inmate 14⅗ cents
Food value for each inmate, 2,900 calories.
FRIDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Items Quantity Cost
Evaporated fruit 90 lbs. $ 9.45
Farina 45 lbs. 2.70
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Butter 25 lbs. 12.50
Coffee 8 lbs. .96
Milk 480 lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
DINNER.
Fish 300 lbs. 27.00
Potatoes 5 bushels 6.25
Navy beans 150 lbs. 17.25
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Coffee 6 lbs. .72
Tea 2 lbs. .48
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
SUPPER.
Oatmeal 71 lbs. 3.20
Red beets 8 bushels 8.00
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Butter 25 lbs. 12.50
Tea 2 lbs. .48
Milk 480 lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
--------
Total cost Friday for 1,000 inmates $145.74
Approximate cost each inmate 14⅘ cents
Food value for each inmate, 2,627 calories.
SATURDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Items Quantity Cost
Liver 225 lbs. $29.25
Bacon 16 lbs. 9.60
Oatmeal 71 lbs. 3.20
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Butter 25 lbs. 12.50
Coffee 8 lbs. .96
Milk 480 lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
DINNER.
Pork 65 lbs. } 12.50
Cabbage 400 lbs. }
Red beets 8 bushels 8.00
Bread 80 loaves 4.40
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
Coffee 6 lbs. .72
Tea 2 lbs. .48
SUPPER.
Hot rolls 6.00
Kraut 40 gal. 4.80
Evaporated fruit 90 lbs. 9.45
Butter 25 lbs. 12.50
Tea 2 lbs. .48
Milk 480 lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9 lbs. .75
-------
Total cost Saturday for 1,000 inmates $150.29
Approximate cost each inmate 15 cents
Food value for each inmate, 2,730 calories.
It must be understood that in the preparation of this dietary for
a week Mr. Eyman had in mind the food necessities for the general
institution, not specializing for an establishment where men and women
are sent to repent. However, it is now recognized that a wholesome and
appetizing bill of fare should be prepared for inmates of any home or
institution in order for both health and economy. Most wardens would
cut out the Sunday pie. Something more nutritious and wholesome could
readily be substituted. The loaves of bread are reported to weigh 2
lbs. each.
Expert Opinion.
In this connection we are glad to call attention to a portion of an
editorial from the Journal of the American Medical Association for
November, 1916:
“So long as it was held that a prison is merely an institution for
the safe detention of criminals, it was not to be expected that the
hygienic conditions prevailing in such a place would be in harmony with
the best experience or the newest schemes of sanitary science. Food
in such an institution was intended solely to keep the prisoner alive
and enable him to perform his allotted daily tasks. Penal institutions
are beginning, however, to be the seats of active reform. With the
acceptance of such a program as part of the function of our prisons,
the problem of nutrition can no longer be neglected entirely. It may
reasonably be contended that good housing conditions and suitable
diet do not of themselves secure reformation of the misguided or the
habitual criminal; but without some consideration of the necessity of
proper food, the best ends of the imprisonment for crime cannot be
attained. Malnutrition may or may not contribute to the production
of criminals; in any event, the physiologic and psychic conditions
attending the lack of palatable food and a well-balanced ration are not
such as are conducive to those mental attitudes that lead to improved
conduct and more wholesome life. It has been remarked that while a
prisoner is not incarcerated for the purpose of being fed an ideal
diet, nevertheless he should be fed so as to insure good health and a
stable nervous system. * * *
“It seems extraordinary that so little judgment is shown by prison
officials in varying and improving the dietary. The same unappetizing
stuff is served day after day and year after year, with no variety in
food or manner of preparation. A large number of the prisoners have
stomach troubles from this cause alone. Canned food is served when
fresh vegetables would be just as cheap. The meat is cooked to death
and is covered by a so-called sauce. The kitchen keepers are not to
blame; it is the fault of the system.
“_The remedy for this fault is to be found in the appointment of
trained dietitians._ So long as hospitals and other establishments
which incidentally cater to mankind have been slow to appreciate the
need of expert services in the planning and preparation of meals as
well as in the purchasing of rations, we can understand the inertia
of the prison management in this respect. But the time has apparently
come for the introduction of such efficiency and supervision as will
lead not only to economy of service but also to physiologic well-being.
If the dietary is as important as the coal supply or the construction
accounts, it deserves a dietitian rather than a stoker or a skilled
mechanic to be placed in charge of the food problems.”
MICHIGAN STATE PRISON.
We have received the Report of the Board of Control of the Michigan
State Prison at Jackson. It is a pamphlet of 140 pages, including 40
full page cuts. There are also four folders of the farm plots. It
is a report which reports. We have already spoken of the 26 pages
reporting the menu for every meal for a year. We may learn the names
and duties of the 90 officers, and their salaries. One table gives the
age, nativity, crime, sentence, residence and previous record of each
inmate. The names are wisely withheld. The average population was 986.
Twenty-five men had escaped in the last two years. We are informed of
the date of the escape and the part of the farm and premises from which
they absconded. The date of their return is specified. Ten were at
large when the pamphlet was made up. They are confident of apprehending
these ten. They have _no barred windows, no locked doors, no armed
guards_. The men work over a plantation of more than three thousand
acres, of which 2,137 belong to the institution. They rent 900 acres.
They had 507 cattle when the report was made, having just sold 146
steers for $14,600. The dairy of 200 cows supplies the institution with
abundant milk and butter. Horses, hogs, bees and poultry are also in
evidence. “The banner record in poultry this year was made by an inmate
* * * who without an incubator was responsible for hatching and raising
more than two thousand chickens.”
By no means do they confine their attention to farming. To put a
thousand men on a farm of three thousand acres and expect them to
support themselves and have a surplus is an absurdity. There are
various industries.
Twine plant, product 1916 $106,820.79
Canning factory, product 1916 62,949.58
Granite shop, product 1916 16,385.79
Brick and tile plant, product 1916 52,866.44
Brooms, product 1916 5,696.25
The net earnings in two years were $206,206.18
They had paid to the efficient workmen 65,009.35
In the year 1917 they were anticipating a canned pack of $100,000.00.
Of the products of the farm “_they eat what they can, and can what they
can’t_.”
Canning Factory.
“The intensive production of fruits and vegetables on the farms created
a surplus which had to be cared for. * * * Hence the necessity for the
canning plant. This industry * * * has accomplished more than any other
one industry in the prison to insure the industrial success of the
institution.
“From the standpoint of a prison industry it ranks first, inasmuch
as the entire produce except the can is the direct result of prison
labor. While other industries require the purchase of material for
manufacturing, in the canning plant, the material, coming from the
prison farms, is also produced by prison labor.
“The refuse from the factory in the lines of fodder, husks, etc., from
the sweet corn; vines and pods from the peas; tops from the beets, and
pomace from the apples press, furnish largely the ensilage ration for
the large herds of cattle.
“The management is adding each year some new item to the pack of canned
goods, until now it includes all varieties of fruits and vegetables,
apple jelly, sorghum molasses, baked pork and beans, spaghetti, and the
generation of pure cider vinegar. (They may soon rival the 57 varieties
of Mr. Heinz.)
“The sanitary conditions in the factory are perfect. Any man, in order
to be eligible to work in this factory, must have a clean bill of
health from the prison physician. To further the sanitary conditions,
the equipment and entire interior of the plant is painted white.”
* * * * *
Consumers and any one interested may inspect this plant at any time.
Here they see the men, preparing the vegetables for canning, in a white
room, dressed in white caps, white coats, white shirts, and white
aprons.
They have copyrighted the label “Home Grown,” and adopted as their
slogan: “We grow, pack, sell and guarantee our own product.”
Their goods are sold in the open market, being very popular throughout
the State and in adjoining States.
They have long ago abolished the contract system which was really a
system of slavery. They have gone beyond the policy of raising produce
or manufacturing articles for State-use, but transact business on the
State-Account plan, disposing of the product wherever they can find
a market. They claim that under their system of employing convicts,
outside labor has nothing to fear from competition. Contract labor
may have been somewhat of a menace to labor on the outside, but these
men earning wages are engaged in honest production and the product
is distributed just as the fruits of any other industry. Let me
illustrate. A man working on a farm, in a canning factory, in a cotton
mill, commits a fault and is secluded from the community but continues
his work on another farm, in another canning factory, in another cotton
mill. He receives wages which maintains his family. Competition is
neither increased nor diminished. When the man is released, he may
return to his old job. High authority in the labor unions has stated
that there is no objection to a system which affords fair play to the
prisoner and also to the working man. Laborers have justly opposed the
exploitation of prisoners under the lease and contract systems. They
have not been opposed to the development of prison industries on a fair
basis. They present no objection to a “State-Use” method, and we trust
they will not oppose the development of a few industries organized
under the State-Account plan which appears to have been so successful
in the Michigan State Prison.
Fair Exhibits.
The products of the prison industries and of the farm have been shown
at a number of County Fairs and also at the State Fair, and the
public has thus been informed of their activities and greatly pleased
therewith. Nought has been heard but favorable comment.
Kitchen and Dining Room.
The culinary department is managed on the most approved sanitary
scheme. None but healthy men are employed. They use every vegetable
which will grow in Michigan, as long as the season lasts, and the
canned product when the season is over. Every sanitary precaution is
taken in the preparation of the meat from the pasturage and feeding of
the stock, the slaughtering and handling of the carcass, in the cooking
and serving the various viands on the dining table.
Objects.
It is not the object of the officers to exploit the men to the
advantage of the State. In the last two years they may have returned
to the State about $9,000, but in the same time they paid out to the
men the sum of $65,000 in wages. They are spending their surplus in
betterments. They have built dormitories, with rooms, not cells,
avoiding particularly the menagerie appearance. They aim to supply the
men with a wholesome and natural environment, believing that thus they
may accomplish the main object of a penal institution which is the
reformation and restoration of the offender.
A. H. V.
THE PRISON AND THE PRISONER.
A Symposium, edited by Julia K. Jaffray, Secretary, National Committee
on Prisons and Prison Labor. Boston. Little, Brown and Company. 1917.
$2.50.
A volume of 216 pages, containing eleven chapters contributed by
fourteen men of high repute. Judge Wadhams, of New York City, comments
on the Indeterminate Sentence, favoring a liberal application of the
principle. Doctor Glueck and Doctor Salmon describe the necessity for
psychiatrical studies of the convict in order to determine the best
treatment for his welfare and also for the interest of the community.
Thomas Mott Osborne briefly delineates the self-government plan
as instituted by him at Auburn and Sing Sing, and E. Kent Hubbard
describes a similar system adopted in the Connecticut State
Reformatory. “The Honor System” is condemned and there is no word in
its defense.
We commend the book to all those who wish in brief compass to know
what progress has been made in humanitarian ideals for the reformation
of prisoners and what the scientific analysis of modern conditions
indicates as the best measures to attain the cure and prevention of
crime. Like other compilations, however, the various themes are not
treated with equally judicial tone or comprehensiveness.
THE OFFENDER.
By BURDETTE G. LEWIS, Commissioner of Correction, New York City. Harper
and Brothers. 382 pp. $2.00.