Bread & Powder

P: When all the bakers of Athens struck last week, Greek soldiers were ordered to knead and bake; Athens continued to eat fresh bread. Soon foxy old Prime Minister Eleutherios Venizelos had an even better idea. He announced that he would call the striking bakers to the colors, enroll them for compulsory military service, order them as soldiers to return to their bakeries.

P: In Paris, savants of the French Medical Academy ruled upon an appeal by French bakers that they be allowed to use baking powder in bread. To support their appeal, the French alleged that baking powder is used by U. S. bread-bakers (most U. S. bakers use yeast) and that the health of U. S. bread-eaters has never been impaired in consequence. The use of baking powder, they declared, is an "efficient method," a "laborsaving device" and a ''time-saving expedient'' because it makes possible the elimination of manual kneading.

France eats four times more bread per capita than any other nation. French breadmaking has long been regulated by strict laws. French gourmets have always stood for hand-kneaded bread raised without baking powder. Therefore last week the French Medical Academy faced a grave responsibility, their decision was awaited with a popular interest.

"It is impossible," ruled the French Medical Academy at last, "to make sufficiently extensive experiments to determine whether such chemicals as are contained in baking powder are harmful." In view of this impossibility, the Academy felt bound to refuse to take any experimental action whatsoever, last week, about baking powder.

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