Frances Perkins: “City Diets and Democracy”

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

Survey Graphic was a journal that covered topics related to social reform. The publication grew out of the late-nineteenth-century urban reform movement that shaped Perkins's background in New York and Chicago. During the 1930s, Survey Graphic carried articles that explained many of the New Deal programs and served as a vehicle for those who called for additional reforms.

Perkins's article is interesting in that it was published at a time when Americans' thoughts were turning toward war and away from social issues. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act in March of 1941, giving the president authority to funnel military aid to any nation deemed vital to the defense of the United States. Lend-Lease effectively placed America on the side of Great Britain in the brewing global conflict. As the nation nervously shifted away from neutrality, employment increased in anticipation of war production. Nevertheless, the economy was far from robust, and Perkins, although busy managing labor disputes, published this article calling for urban reforms in the American diet.

Perkins opens the article with a question that points out the disparity between rural and urban Americans. Many New Deal programs targeted people who lived in the country; during the 1930s the government sent “home demonstration agents” to help teach marketable and domestic skills, such as canning and sewing. Farmers with land were encouraged to plant gardens and were provided with seed and other supplies to grow food. Perkins notes that city wage earners do not have land to plant gardens, nor do they have government agents coming to them to illustrate how to grow and preserve healthy food. This opening question sets up her article, which calls for the extension of government programs to the urban worker.

As she does in most of her speeches and articles, Perkins makes her case with statistics gleaned from research. She notes that although Americans have a high standard of living in terms of diet, economic conditions still prevent many from receiving adequate nutrition. She cites statistics gathered by her own department to show the burden on wage-earning families.

Once she has made her case with data, Perkins presents her solutions, arguing that even in the face of war such efforts are important. Note that she advocates government intervention in the distribution of agricultural products. Her attitude with respect to private industry comes through clearly in her recommendations; her early experience with the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and subsequent investigations of industries in New York led her to lean toward the belief that business could not necessarily be trusted to do the right thing. Government, armed with the proper information and expertise, could find the solutions.

Perkins discusses “food consumption subsidies,” which we know as food stamps. Early in the depression, the government instituted a number of programs to attempt to stabilize food prices, including a program to buy surplus food and distribute it to relief agencies. The formal Food Stamp Program began in 1939, and, as she notes, its goal was to eliminate agricultural surpluses while also providing urban families with proper nutrition. Perkins argues that the program should be continued; in fact, the Food Stamp Program remains part of what is now called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, formerly known as welfare.

Perkins also calls for a continuation of the school lunch program. Early federal support for school lunch programs derived from the same concerns about agricultural overproduction as did the Food Stamp Program. Schools received surplus products, and the number of children receiving lunches grew steadily. By 1940 the government had assigned a representative to each state to work with school districts to expand the lunch program. Signed by President Truman after Perkins had left her position, the 1946 National School Lunch Act made her vision a reality.

As in her address on social insurance and her remarks to the silicosis conference, Perkins places importance on building coalitions to solve problems. She closes this article with a plea for a “delicate balance” of interests in the cause of democracy. This recognition of various interest groups is a hallmark of her political and rhetorical style. While other social reformers were more confrontational and challenging in the language they employed, Perkins was keenly aware of the need to negotiate among often diametrically opposed parties. Although her audience for this piece was primarily kindred social reformers, she still uses the language of a skilled negotiator in making her case.