It includes a discussion of the cost of owning and operating a freezer, the design, construction, and refrigerating mechanism of typical kinds and suggestions for using this piece of household equipment. Tables have been formulated to enable families to determine readily the size of freezer they need. 9. Effect of fiber content on serviceability of a staple household textile.—Laboratory evaluation of seven bed sheetings containing various proportions of cotton and rayon showed that as the proportion of cotton in the sheetings increased, the breaking strength, resistance to abrasion, and dimensional stability increased. 10. Serviceability of cotton clothing fabrics differing in construction.-Nearly a thousand work dresses made under contract from a uniform pattern but utilizing percales of different quality (based on thread count) are being examined at regular intervals during wear at Washington, Kansas, and Michigan State Colleges, and at the University of Maryland. Marked differences in the fabrics' resistance to wear in different parts of the garments are being observed. Some high-count percales withstood 60 wear periods (equivalent to about 28 months of average wear and laundering by a homemaker), whereas in many instances the medium and low-count fabrics were worn out after 45 wear periods (equivalent to about 21 months of ordinary service). 11. Studies of family clothing supplies.-The clothing inventories of 514 Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. families, classified by income, have been analyzed in a recent report. Figures are available not only for the average number of still usable garments (about 55 items) in the wardrobes of family members, but also for garments made of cotton, wool, and other fibers. 12. Financing house improvements.-Based in part on a study of the experiences of a group of families of North-Central States, a new bulletin, "Using Credit to Finance Farmhouse Improvements," outlines financial considerations important whether the financing is with credit or with cash. The pamphlet was written primarily for extension agents, teachers, and others who help farm families plan remodeling and modernizing of their houses. 13. Housing needs and preferences. More than 4,000 rural families in 43 States have been interviewed regarding their housing needs and preferences in a survey by the Bureau and 29 State agricultural experiment stations. The northeastern regional report has been published, the north-central one is in press, and the southern and western ones are in preparation. The data will give guidance to architects and others concerned with planning houses adapted to rural family life. 14. Household utensils.-A buying guide for homemakers has been published which discusses materials, design, and construction features of utensils needed for cooking family meals. The lists were established by a Bureau study in cooperation with California, Nebraska, and Rhode Island experiment stations to include both minimum and desirable standards of need. RESEARCH AND MARKETING ACT, TITLE II Mr. WHITTEN. You have certain other funds here from the Research and Marketing Act, title II. You say it is contemplated you will continue to receive that through this coming fiscal year. Is marketing going to be as important in this period as it has been in the past? Dr. STIEBELING. With the $10,000 available to us under title II we are giving assistance particularly to home economics groups in the States who are carrying on the home economics aspects of regional and State problems of marketing. We are not conducting research on our own. We render advisory assistance, such as passing on techniques that we have learned through the years. The problems under study are problems of State and regional importance. RESEARCH UNDER SCHOOL-LUNCH FUNDS Mr. WHITTEN. You have $25,000, "Nutritional requirements of school feeding programs." I readily recognize the value of that, and of course through the 150 years or more of our existence in this country there has been some change in eating habits. But has that got to be an annual program, or should we get some returns on that which would last at least for a few years? Dr. STIEBELING. What we are doing with that money, Mr. Whitten, are these things: First, we are developing recipes for special commodities that are distributed by the Government directly to schools. If they are not familiar ones, for instance, or if they are commodities which the children ordinarily do not like very well, we try to develop ways of cooking and serving them so that the children will like them and eat them. The recipe development work, however, is a very small part of the total. Another study which we have under way is completing a comparison of the cost and nutritive value of the food children eat, under two different kinds of school situations: One, where they are served a type A lunch and there is no choice on the part of the children; the other where there is an array of foods available and the children choose what they want. Those who are responsible for administering the school lunch program are concerned to know what are the differences in consumption, under the two types of lunch arrangements, and what the difference is in nutritive value and in cost to children and to Government. Then a new project, which the Food Distribution Branch has asked us to undertake, is to develop a series of training slides, to help school lunch cooks do a better job of preparing certain kinds of foods which now are not readily accepted in the schools, and of which there is a good deal of plate waste. All of the researches which we undertake under the school lunch funds are those that the Food Distribution Branch, charged with the responsibility of school lunch, feels would contribute to more effective operations. PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS Mr. WHITTEN. About the supply of personnel: Do you anticipate losing personnel to the Military Establishment? In some instances the pay is rather high, and in others the patriotic motive enters into it. Dr. STIEBELING. We have lost one or two up to now. However, I think that our staff feels that on the jobs on which they are concentrating they are making as important a contribution in the long run as they would be able to make if they were in a defense organization. Many of the studies which we are undertaking are related to those which in the last war the Armed Forces supported through contract with governmental agencies or others. All of our studies on food and fabric utilization we feel are extremely important. We believe it is as much of a contribution to defense to use effectively the things that are produced as it is to produce things, and since a large proportion of production goes into civilian consumption, we feel we have a real contribution to defense to make in our own shop. Mr. WHITTEN. I am sure that is true. Are there further questions? DEFENSE ACTIVITIES Mr. ANDERSEN. Do the armed services, Doctor, ever inquire of you for information relative to their feeding of the manpower in the services? Dr. STIEBELING. Yes, sir; we have just completed, at the request of the Army, a special table of food composition for use by the Armed Forces. This was paid for in part by the Office of the Quartermaster General. It intended to cover the cost of the preparation of this publication but it took more time than we had anticipated to develop information on the nutritive value of some of the special items of the Army ration. We also are in process of preparing a manual at the request of the National Security Resources Board for civil defense, on mass feeding in connection with possible disaster. Mr. ANDERSEN. I have just heard you make the statement that it was just as patriotic to use well what we have produced as it is to produce additional food. I certainly agree with you. Along that line of thought, I am thinking about the huge amount of waste in the armed services when it comes to feeding the men, and if there was some way that your Bureau could eliminate some of that waste in the kitchens, which I personally have observed at times, we could save the taxpayer a good many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Dr. STIEBELING. We have been a part of a committee that has been considering, under the leadership of the National Research Council, the research needed to determine how much food must be procured to put on the soldier's plate the nutriment he needs. We proposed a piece of research that we felt would help to give answers to that question-of course, not on the entire front, but a piece of it that we felt we were in a position to do. Exactly what character of work we may be asked to do this year we are not quite sure, because it is still being negotiated. There is concern on the part of Army, Navy, and Air Force for information on procurement necessary to provide ade quate diets and I am sure that when studies are made the matter of waste and the points at which some savings could be made will come out. Mr. ANDERSEN. That is all; thank you. Mr. WHITTEN. Thank you, Dr. Stiebeling. We are glad to have had you folks before our committee. Dr. STIEBELING. Do you care for further insertions on progress beyond what you indicated? Mr. WHITTEN. I believe that will be sufficient. BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY WITNESSES DR. B. T. SIMMS, CHIEF, BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY DR. S. O. FLADNESS, ASSISTANT CHIEF, BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY DR. HUGH C. MCPHEE, ASSISTANT CHIEF, BUREAU OF ANIMAL DR. A. R. MILLER, ASSISTANT CHIEF, BUREAU OF ANIMAL DR. M. R. CLARKSON, CHIEF, INSPECTION AND QUARANTINE K. A. BUTLER, ASSISTANT CHIEF, BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY RALPH S. ROBERTS, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND BUDGET OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE |