Food for America (ca 1941)

[Music] this is the world inhabited not by millions but by more than 2 billion human beings this is America stretching 3,200 miles from one vast ocean to another and 2100 miles from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico in this great expanse live 150 million people for whom this land must provide food and all the other necessities of life yes50 million people who must be supplied with food every day 365 5 days a year in theory each of us requires about 3 acres of fertile soil to sustain life but taken literally Chicago alone would cover 10 million Acres so it is not practical for each to provide his own Acres nor is he obliged to do so for some choose to raise the wheat While others manage and operate transportation some choose to develop the dairy herds While others choose to manufacture Goods some choose to raise the fruits and vegetables others process these Foods each contributes to the comfort and wellbeing of the other and while each succeeds on individual Merit and may be unaware of doing anything for anyone but himself our economic system is based on the contribution of the individual to the welfare of all this system grew and progressed with the railroads which enabled us to ship goods to far-flung markets and it grew because in our system the man with an idea could make himself heard when we can't go over mountains we go through them yes the American was ever the man who didn't know that it couldn't be done so he promptly did it our progress was the result of enterprising thought and many industries were built and those which were founded on Sound business principles and good management endured and prospered over the years but we're getting ahead of our story let's go now to the little church on Austin Avenue there's an important meeting here today Mrs Harwood is on the program and she has a surprising story to tell that's Mrs Thompson the chairman of the group when she's appointed her committees and reported on the current activities she'll turn the meeting over to Mrs Harwood Mrs Harwood scarcely needs an introduction she's among friends and neighbors who know her and her teenage daughter and 12-year-old son quite well but let's listen now when the subjects for our yearly papers were distributed last spring and I drew the dairy in industry I hardly knew where to begin and then while taking milk from my refrigerator one day I suddenly realized that the dairy industry is one to which we are really close the quart of milk I held in my hand was not many hours from the farm and had been processed not 10 blocks away so I went down to the metago plant to visit Mr Briggs the manager he was very helpful yes Mr Briggs showed Mrs Harwood and her son the operation of a milk plant including the testing of the milk on the receiving platform and All Phases of how milk is carefully processed and safeguarded every step of the way through the dairy to the customer's doorstep upon their return to the office Mr Brigg showed Mrs Harwood a milk flow chart which is a graphic description of how all milk produced reaches the public let's have Mr Briggs tell the story a certain percent of milk flows into the dairy where it is processed and delivered within a few hours this involves a large number of trained personnel and many types of service you remember Mrs Harwood out in the plant you saw the receiving platform where milk is first tested for Purity and richness if it meets certain definite standards it's poured into a spotlessly clean stainless steel receiving vat for those who to prefer the uniform creaminess of homogenized milk a certain quantity went into the homogenizer you saw how milk is Thoroughly pasteurized with up Toth minute equipment to ensure that every bottle of milk bearing the metal gold seal is perfectly pure and wholesome you were shown control indicators that ensure absolute Precision in time and temperature for the protection of the milk you drink in your home and you observed how bottles are filled and capped without the sterilized bottle being touched by hand a thoroughly streamlined operation which is a far cry from the old days when the housewife ran out with a pan when the milk cart came along and raw milk was ladled from a common container you saw how the Capper stamps out special aluminum foil caps which are Perfect protection for the bottle of milk you receive in your homeall and I hope you found some of the material you need for your paper and the things you saw today indeed I have and I was surprised Mr Briggs at the amount of work and care it takes well the service we render is the reason for our being it's not just something added it's our work our routine is one of constant careful service but the things you saw are only a part of the whole picture now another quantity of whole milk and cream flows from the farm to the ice cream plants where it's tested flavored frozen packaged and then delivered to your grocery or drugstore oh I see and some of the milk is separated on the farm and cream sent to our butter plants where it's weighed tested pasteurized cooled and ched into butter then it's hardened cut wrapped and delivered to homes and groceries well there's a lot of work isn't there in getting dairy products to our homes and there is more work than is indicated on this chart actually our service begins right on the farm our fieldman help the farmer with his problems of developing fine herds and producing pure wholesome milk sanitation on the farm is very important and our field men help and advise the farmer in this too yes I particularly notice that everything here in the plant is very clean it has to be that's our responsibility to you and to all our customers the equipment you saw today is washed rinsed scalded and sterilized after every using and cleanliness requires constant work and exacting care all day long I suppose all your plants do much the same work as I saw today the milk plants yes but milk accounts for about 26% of company business only 26% we have a variety of products Each of which is processed differently we're a food company and many different Company products are sold through grocery stores we have plants all over the country Mrs howood I wish you could see some of them well perhaps we can we're planning a trip this summer and some of the plants may be right on our way well say Mrs Harwood you shop in Chicago quite often don't you well yes I do next time you're there stop and see our president Mr Haskell he can give you a list of the towns where our plants are located oh I doubt if the president of a big company would want to bother with my problems he'll be glad to help you and if there's anything further I can do let me know goodbye Mrs Harwood and come in when you get back from your trip there are a lot of these plants I haven't seen myself and I'd like to hear about them well Goodbye Mr Briggs thank you so much for all your help and I will give you a full report when we return and Mrs Harwood accepts Mr brig's suggestion that on their next trip to Chicago she visit Mr hasell President of beatric foods company who can assist her in securing the information she wants for her paper Mr hasell will see our visitors right away in their walk to his office they pass murals on the walls which tell the story of beatric foods company and its many plants and show the organization at work Mrs Harwood and her two children Mr has Mr my daughter Helen Mr H and my son art how are you young far won't you be seated thank go well what can I do for you m Harwood first of all I should tell you that I'm preparing a paper on the economics of food and I've chosen dairy products as my subject that's Splendid now the children and I are planning to take a tour of some of the historical spots of the United States this summer and I thought of sort of working the two in together by stopping along the way and visiting some of the meowo plants but I'm afraid I'm taking up your time with something that must seem trivial to you Mr h not at all Miss Harwood I have spent most of my life in the dairy industry and to me every phase of the business is important now I'd like to ask a favor of you m Harwood when you come back stop in and see me again Mr Haskell gave us a list of the various plants around the United States and I noticed at a glance that we'd have the opportunity of visiting many of them as they were right on our itinerary and as we left Mr Haskell art made it clear that he was quite interested in the plants too particularly the ice cream plants while you're here Mrs Harwood why not begin by going through our metag gold butter plant and see our fine Laboratories and experimental kitchens all in the same plant oh that would make a fine start for my paper do they have any ice cream plants they certainly do young fell do they give away samples oh what really you choose your own flavors buy us High Goodbye Mr for thank you for being so gracious and Mrs Harwood is glad of the opportunity to see more of Meadow Gold right in Chicago here we find her in the butter [Music] plant this is one of the finest butter plants in the United States it is one of many Meadow Gold plants which help Supply the American people with butter in this Sparkling White tiled room giant churns with a combined output of 40,000 lb daily are in operation and Mrs Harwood learns that good butter begins in the receiving room where cream from the Farms is grated cream which meets all tests is pasteurized thoroughly cooled to churning temperature and then pumped into the churns by means of stainless steel pumps these huge churns are filled half full of Rich highr cream and then revolve at steady speed for 30 minutes let's have a look at that churn no Dashers here the revolving motion does it all and here a chemist from the control laboratory takes a sample of the freshly churned butter to test for compliance not only with government standards but with beatric Foods company's own high standards for Meadow Gold butter a sample from each churning is tested in the control laboratory when the butter gathers the buttermilk is grained off and is later sold to commercial houses for farm feed the butter is washed with water to remove any residue of Buttermilk and then the butter is deafly removed with smooth wooden paddles these specially designed baskets are lined with fine white parchment paper and as the blocks of butter are turned onto the truck each retains its protective covering of parchment each step is completely sanitary and efficient and the fresh golden butter is ready for the print room in the butter print room the Harwood see how the butter is cut quartered and packaged Meadow Gold butter was first to be cartoned by the pound and first to be divided in quter pounds this intricate packaging machine does all the work it wraps the butter in special aluminum foil to preserve its freshness and good flavor and now it's automatically put into carttons at the rate of 1104 lb per minute it is checked for exact weight and packed by neat meticulous workers whose dexterity is a pleasure to watch and Mrs Harwood learns that butter which is delivered both to homes and groceries constitutes 25% of company business in another part of this large Plant the hardwoods were shown the research laboratory research is a very important phase of any food product company which is constantly striving to serve the public better and doing their part in providing food for 150 million people these food technicians who are all graduate chemists are using their knowledge in experience to improve the beatric products of today and find new uses for them in the home it is here that new products are developed which will help the housewife in her daily problem of feeding her family their work is very important as the progress of any Institution depends upon its ability to make life more pleasant and profitable for the American people upon leaving the research laboratory the hardwoods were shown the bakery experimental laboratory in this department products are developed which enable Bakers to improve the quality of their baked goods for as every housewife knows dairy products are an important factor in the preparation of many breads cakes cookies and pastries the products offered the bakery trade must first be thoroughly tried tested and proved in actual bakingswifts wives have found this a most valuable [Music] service one of the most important Laboratories in the entire beatric organization is called the control laboratory this is the laboratory which is constantly on guard checking the products of all beatric [Music] plants as in the other Laboratories these men and women are graduates in bacteriology as well as in food classification their work is highly important and they render an invaluable service to every meow gold plant and to the public we must not forget the pilot plant this duplicates beatric plant equipment in miniature every piece of equipment necessary for the production of beetus products is duplicated here here constant effort is made to discover more economical ways to process the products of beatric and the resulting information is passed on to each plant so that they too may have the benefit of the most efficient and economical production methods Mrs Harwood has received here some idea of the tremendous amount of time and labor necessary to help the entire organization in the most efficient methods of serving the American people well school is out and the harwoods are on their way we of course are most concerned with the phase of this vacation tour which concerns Mrs harwood's paper on the dairy industry but let's join them in appreciating some of the lovely scenery along the [Music] way this is the black Hawk Monument seen from across the river it Towers 80 ft above the surrounding Woodlands this is one of Loredo tap's famous [Music] works let's catch up with the harwoods as they're about to visit the chocks plant chock as you know is one of meadow Gold's most popular food products here they learn how chocks is made from fresh whole milk and other top quality ingredients through the port holes they can look into the large stainless steel chamber into which liquid hot chocolate is sprayed under great pressure the heat of this chamber dehydrates the hot chocolate and the resulting solids or chocks is fed through stainless steel pipes to the packaging room Below in the packaging room each attractive chocks box is filled automatically to an accurate and uniform weight this is a busy place as the increasing demand for chocks proves the American housewife is appreciative of the extra quality and good flavor of hot chocolate made instantly with chalks and this filling machine does everything but think it fills small envelopes exactly seals them perfectly and folds them neatly they're packed ready for easy selection from the Grocer's counter and Mrs Harwood stops to thank the manager of the chocks plant for interesting material for her paper chocks is a real time saer for me and I was very much interested in seeing it made Mr White well the demand for chalks is increasing all the time along with other manufactured dairy products such as cheese and dried milk it accounts for about 7% of company business well they told me in Chicago that many years of research went into making and perfecting chalks yes and our years of research were well spent Mrs Harwood you can rely on chalks just as you can rely on Meadow Gold milk and butter and thanks to those years of research the chances of chalks being equaled or surpassed are very very small well we certainly like chalks at our house we drink it for breakfast the children love it after school and they always call for it when they have their friends over I've recommended it to many of my friends and they like it just as much as we do well just one thing better than a satisfied customer Mrs Harwood and that's an enthusiastic customer and in your church paper now don't forget to put down some of those nice things you've said about chalks well I certainly won't forget all right goodbye Mr White I'm very grateful for your help goodbye Mrs Harwood glad to be of help anytime thank and once again we're on the highways and here we find the harwoods getting a thrill out of crossing the Mississippi this great father of waters courses through valleys where a bountiful portion of the nation's food supply is produced and not only food but flowers and this wild flocks which attracted the harwoods seems also to have attracted bumblebees and at one of the beautiful well-kept Farms along the way the Harwood stop for a brief visit with the wife of a Dairy Farmer Mrs Harwood is invited into the Owens living room where Mrs Owens is quite willing to supply the Viewpoint of a dairy farmer's wife the dairy Farmer's Life is one of long hours and hard work no holidays but he is well paid for his efforts and they have every convenience on the farm that you have in the city lights gas Refrigeration radio and telephone the farmer today is a real businessman and in this little office off the kitchen Mr Owens and the Dairy Field man are discussing some current problem Mr Owens can put a finger on the facts he needs he keeps his accounts and Records on his herd in a book furnished for this Purpose By His me Gold Dairy plant he knows where he stands and is constantly improving his herd and his methods and while mother chats in the living room art gets acquainted with two prize Cales farmer Owens has a very fine herd of holsteen cows they produce more milk but it is not as rich as that of other breeds such as the gzy as the harwoods travel on their way they see many herds of gnes for many consider the gzy the queen of the dairy industry not only does the gery produce a satisfactory quantity of milk but its richness is exceeded only by one breed and that is the jersey and there's a herd of Black Angus they are both beef and dairy cows and are seen in growing numbers on American Farms and here's a herd of brown Swiss in charge of Shep Shep was instructed to bring the herd up where you could get a good look at it and evidently he understood your every word Shep has a part in the tremendous task of supplying food for America good work chef and as the harwoods travel farther on they see many wonderful sights for there is probably no land with such variety of beautiful scenery on their trip through the Rockies the harwoods meet meow gold trucks bringing fine meow gold products from Central plants to the smaller cities and towns this service is very extensive and permits communities which could not afford the fine equipment and help of the large Plant to share in the benefits of meow gold products this system of Rapid transportation makes meow gold products available everywhere in the next Meadow Gold town the harwoods visit a refrigerated warehouse and Mrs Harwood gets some important facts for her paper I'm not very clear as to how your plant fits into my paper on the food industry Mr Garden but if our service were to stop suddenly Housewives would soon notice the absence of many desirable foods from the grocery stores we're the great Community refrigerator Mrs Harwood just like the one in your home we keep perishable foods at the proper temperatures and distribute them when they're needed well I suppose then that's why some foods never go out of season yes the harvesting season on fruits and vegetables covers but one or two months of the year but during that time large quantities are picked wrapped and packed for use throughout the rest of the year but in order to preserve their soundness and quality they must be stored at keeping temperature ready for use well I suppose I hadn't really thought much about how food is stored and distributed most people don't think about it but while we've had many spectacular inventions in our time it's doubtful if any of these has added as much to your comfort and convenience as modern refrigeration such as we have here I hadn't realized what an important thing it is Mr Gordon I'd like to see the plant if it's convenient why of course it's convenient Mrs Harwood and the harwoods are provided with heavy coats before before they go into the refrigerated rooms here they see cold firm apples each in its own tissue wrapping and looking good enough to eat among the many foods Mrs Harwood saw were boxes of young Friar kept in rooms 20° below zero even with her heavy caps and sheep line jackets the worker stay no longer than 2 hours at a stretch in these frigid temperatures well Mrs Howard do you see that the refrigerated Warehouse is pretty essential in supplying the American housewife with Fresh Foods at all times of the year I certainly do Mr Garden I'm going to give the refrigerated Warehouse a very prominent place in my paper on food why it's far more important than I'd realized yes it's one of the very important phases of our business in fact our Specialty Foods and services in which storages included account for 14% of our business and poultry and eggs account for another 8% of company business well that's 22% in all beus foods company must have a great many refrigerated warehouses yes and if it weren't for refrigerated warehouses such as you saw today there'd be a great waste in crops and harvest and we not only use our warehouses for metal gold products but to accommodate other Distributors as well well I certainly have a much clearer picture of how perishable foods are stored and why we can enjoy our favorite foods the year round and thank you Mr Gordon for taking the time to show some of these things to me it was a pleasure to have you here Mrs Harwood a cold place like this doesn't attract many visitors there's always our warm welcome here for you don't forget that oh thank you goodbye Mr Garden goodbye Mrs Harwood and the harwoods are on their way again and here along the Route they're held by the peaceful beauty of a river winding through the green Countryside and in a little town in Ohio in the center of a fine vegetable growing Community we find the leoy plant which is a subsidiary of beatric foods company this plant produces grocery Specialties as well as veum one of the most popular of vegetable juice combinations here we see workers picking the red ripe tomatoes in the fields and trucks picking up the baskets as fast as they are filled these are taken to the leoy plant where they are graded by federal inspectors and then are placed in the Tomato Park ready to receive their first bath in the large Flume which carries them into the plant the plume has a water current of about 18 M hour and the tomatoes travel through it into the plant where they are picked up by a conveyor and given a stinging needle point shower by this time they appear to be thoroughly cleansed but for good measure they are taken through a very high pressure shower bath and they come out sparkling clean next they are sorted then crushed the fresh juice of the other vegetables plus a dash of real lemon juice is added and the vitamin Rich healthful juice is canned and delivered to the stores vom is a very popular item from the leoy plant well the hardwoods have seen many interesting meow gold plants but Art's been waiting for one in particular now of course we don't mean to infer that on this long trip art hasn't had his chance to enjoy Meadow Gold Ice Cream it's been a refreshing treat all along the way but an ice cream plant will be the next stop hear that art and in this plant the harwoods can see one of their favorite foods in the making early in the process ice cream is pasteurized and homogenized only the finest ingredients are used they have been tested for richness and Purity and carefully weighed and measured with laboratory Precision for uniformity here we see the ice cream being fed through stainless steel tubes directly into the large 5G containers which are supplied to so to fill the orders for sodas Sundays cones and the Meadow Gold special of the month which is always something new and tempting and here we see row after row and gallon after gallon of meow Gold Ice Cream being hardened in the 20 below zero temperature of the hardening room and the Harwood see other quantities of ice cream being packed especially for use in the home this really marvelous packaging machine turns out only the treay pack carton these treay packs fit right into the freezing compartment of the home refrigerator making it easy and convenient to serve meow gold ice cream on short notice and here's something interesting ever wonder how they get the sticks smacked in the middle of the ice cream bar well they first fill the molds with semi Frozen ice cream then the sticks are inserted when hardened the bars are removed from the mold and placed in chilling Chambers and when frozen hard they are removed from the chilling chamber and here you see them getting a bath of Rich sweet chocolate and they're on their way each ice cream bar with a smooth Smo coating of the rich chocolate a special machine quickly inserts the ice cream bars into their protective envelopes at the rate of 100 bars per minute and they are quickly packed for their journey by refrigerated trucks to points of sale and while mom goes up to talk with the plant manager art is keeping himself well occupied take your time Mom it looks like Art's got a full program laid out for himself we saw so many flavors of ice cream being made the children in a whir I don't know whether I'll be able to drag them away children aren't the only ones who are fond of ice cream we work hard to keep up with the demand ice cream accounts for a good share of our business about uh about 20% I believe well I'll jot that down in my notebook and that gives us a complete picture of the sources of the incoming dollar fluid milk and cream 26% butter 25% ice cream 20% Specialty Foods and services 14% poultry and eggs 8% and other manufactured dairy products 7% total 100% you seem to have that notebook pretty well build Mrs Harwood oh yes we've seen how milk is processed how butter and ice cream and chalks and vato are made we've met the people who do the planning and the ones who carry out the plans and I'm beginning to get a real idea of the size and extent of the food industry Mr Wells it must take a great deal of capital to run a business like this it's true our stockhold to supply the initial Capital when you come right down to it though it's the customer dollar that keeps us going and permits us to progress let me show you how we spend that dollar Mrs Harwood oh yes here it is we have a chart made up of figures based on our annual audited report representing one of the most profitable years in our history it shows how every penny of the customer's dollar is spent oh that looks interesting this represents the dollar that must buy all materials and ingredients pay all salaries and wages repair and replace equipment and take care of the many expenses necessary in the conduct of the business well from the way this is divided it looks like someone gets the Lion Share the Lion Share of course goes for our basic materials and takes about 68 cents of the incoming dollar jop these figures down as we go along they provide pretty interesting facts for your paper that's uh 68 cents for basic materials that's right over 68 cents of every incoming dollar goes to buy milk and cream from the farmer to purchase sugar fruits flavorings in fact any ingredient that we need for the processing or manufacturer of metagal products now let's add to that about 4 cents of every dollar for packaging that is the bottles for milk and cream the cartons for butter and ice cream and cans and all containers necessary to deliver Goods in a sanitary and convenient manner just for the basic materials and the packages to deliver them in we must spend 72 cents out of every incoming dollar but that only leaves um 28 cents that's right what's left must cover all our expenses equipment wear and tear on machinery and buildings wages and salaries taxes everything and of course we must have some profit left over in order to continue to operate successfully oh of course you remember Mrs Harwood that everywhere you went you met well-trained metalold employees you saw office workers taking care of the daily routine necessary to keep accurate records and accounts and to transact business you saw men especially trained to run the Machinery in the plants you met Ice Cream salesmen grocery product salesmen who were proud to wear the metag gold Insignia your own Rockman at home is carefully trained as are thousands of others to sell metal gold products and give good reliable service yes that's certainly true well the wages and salaries of all these employees represent almost half of what's left after we have purchased our basic materials and packages they receive the next largest cut or over 13 cents of the incoming dollar now what's left of our dollar Mrs Harwood there's a balance of just 15 cents that's right and what's left must cover many expenses you remember Mrs Harwood you saw the raw milk being brought into the plant oh yes first that milk must be tested for richness and Purity that means the the expense of special laboratory equipment and capable men to handle that equipment next it was placed in the holding tank where machinery and Refrigeration mean an additional cost and then milk and cream must be pasteurized pasteurizing machinery and all processing Machinery must be kept in top-notch condition so for the maintenance repair and replacement of all equipment and for the Steam and Refrigeration required in different steps of processing we spend a little under 4 cents of the incoming dollar uh now what have we left that leaves about 11 cents that's right now 3 cents of that goes to provide trucks and pay the operating expenses such as gas and tires and so forth included in this same amount of 3 cents is the cost of our advertising that covers all the colorful attractive store advertising you see advertising in National magazines Billboards and every means necessary to acquaint people with our products in order to progress every food company must advertise not only to acquaint present customers with new products but to get new customers for established products that same three cents also covers equipment and supplies necessary to give prompt and efficient delivery service to our customers I understand there's no delivery service in the world as efficient and economically run as Dairy Delivery Service yes our delivery service is something we can be proud of and now how much is left of the dollar I hope you don't have many more items to come out of this there's only nine cents left mhm and 2 cents of the nine goes for such items as overhead that is for rent for buildings where we do business also the Telephone and Telegraph service necessary to expedite business properly it covers interest paid and insurance on properties and as you may know life insurance is made available to our employees on a basis that they couldn't hope to duplicate individually only a short period of service is necessary in order to be eligible and the amount of insurance obtainable increases with the length of service and here's another recognition of service that I'm pretty proud to wear it means 20 years with metalold of course many others have a much longer record of service it must be a good place to work if so many employees have such fine records the food industry is a very dependable one It suffers least in times of decline for the simple reason that we all have to we to live it offers a steady future and real stability but to get back to our dollar or what's left of it there's only 6 cents left mhm and of that 6 cents about 3 cents goes for taxes of which there are many federal taxes state taxes real estate taxes City licenses and many others I hope you don't have many more items of expense there's only about 4 cents left we're down to our small smallest item of expense 1/5 percent of the incoming dollar goes for officers and director salaries a very small amount since these are the men who plan supervise and take the responsibility for guiding the business well I've heard my husband say that 95% of the businesses Fall by the wayside in a few years so to endure for over 50 years like Meadow Gold has there certainly must have been good leadership throughout that long period I guess the proper Management in business is a deciding factor between success and failure yes good management is certainly essential and any business that is to endure must provide against the laners too which brings us back to What's Left of the customer dollar we have left about 3 cents our stockholders receive a little over 1 cent of this amount the remainder or about 2 cents is reinvested in the business to buy new equipment to rebuild plants and so on I'm amazed at how closely everything is figured I'm glad I don't have to account for my household money down to the last penny I'm inclined to take my profits out first well you can't do that in business not if you want to stay in business metag gold is pretty proud of its 50 years but it's looking forward to the next 50 years too and from everything I've seen and heard in meow gold plants all over the country you have every good reason to be proud Goodbye Mr Wells and thank you very much goodbye Mrs Harwood and if you ever down this way again be sure to stop in and see us I'd love to thank you and in appreciation of the courtesies extended her by the meow gold organization Mrs Harwood true to her word visited Mr hll and told him of the very interesting experiences she had visiting the meow gold plants I hadn't realized before how many people are working to meet the food requirements of America and how much carefulness and cleanliness and detail goes into it yes we spare no time or effort in rendering service and fine products in return we receive the customer's dollar with which to continue our business and then Mr Haskell asked me if any of the plant managers had shown me how the sales dollar is divided I told him that they had and that I'd found it very interesting and it meant a great deal more to me after having seen just how much work and expense our involved in getting dairy products to our homes every day Mr Haskell summed it up in a few words he said that the dairy industry is the largest industry in the world millions of people depend upon it and the industry in turn depends upon the people it serves and when our trip was over I truly felt I had spent one of the most Pleasant and worthwhile Summers I'd learned a great deal that I didn't know before and I think I'm better able now to appreciate the tremendous job that people in the food industry are doing thanks Mrs Harwood for sharing your trip with us you made us feel as though we were all right along with you and I think we all realize now that supplying food for 150 million people 365 days a year is certainly a big job and while Mrs Harwood was talking I jotted down a few notes of my own imagine 40 million Housewives going to the store each day for groceries think of the millions of farmers working to produce the food then add to that millions of people in transportation who operate the railroads and the trucks then the many hundreds of thousands working in the food plant also there must be thousands of grocery stores ready to service that really gives us some idea of the tremendous scope of the food industry that's absolutely right Mrs Thompson and here's how beatric Foods company is fulfilling its share of the task in one year it produces enough butter to spread 3 bon5 500 million slices of bread enough milk for 1 billion 40 million generous glasses enough ice cream for more than 850 million delicious servings with these and many other Wholesome healthful foods beatric is doing its part to render a service to the American people in helping to provide life's greatest necessity [Music] food