THE FREEDOM WAY
(Page 16 of 26)
During the depression of 1907 a Boston newspaper reporter,
Elmer Rice, made a carefully checked demonstration of how a
working man could eat satisfactorily at a total cost of
only one dollar a week. Food costs were, of course,
considerably lower than in our day, but the chief factor in
Mr. Rice's success was the stove, an unpatented device
known as the "Atkinson stove." Since cooking costs were
included in Mr. Rice's allotment and he was restricted to a
low-cost-sleeping room of the type then used by so many
unemployed it was important that his stove be efficient,
simple and economical. The Atkinson stove was all of these.
Heat was supplied by an ordinary, inexpensive kerosene
lamp. The stove proper consisted of an insulated metal
cover which rested on a grill a few inches above the lamp,
so as not to interfere with the air supply. The slow gentle
heat accumulating under the insulated cover cooks casserole
dishes without shrinkage or burning and retains and blends
food flavors in a way that can hardly be duplicated.
RELATED CONTENT
The Atkinson stove can be used as readily for frying,
boiling or baking. Set on a table, the lamp could supply
evening light at the same time cooking is done. Costs are
surprisingly low, depending upon the cost of kerosene.
Doubtless the stove could be adapted very easily to use
with a charcoal pot, alcohol, gas or gasoline burner. The
essential element is the insulated metal cover, and this
can be contrived by removing the bottom, from a five-gallon
motor oil can, setting it inside a corrugated cardboard
carton with a two-inch airspace between the can and carton,
and packing this airspace with lightweight glass wool for
insulation.
SECTION V
HOW YOU CAN EARN A LIVING
"I have never been able to find one good reason for
working at all, except for bare subsistence or for the fun
of it. "
- Charles Allen SmartOf course, even a meager living requires money, and money
comes only in exchange for work of some kind, so you have to
give some thought to the problem of earning a living, if ever
so simple.
And simple it is to earn a simple living, which is all you
need.
This man, Baker, for instance, comes back into the picture
once more. As you have been told, he had less than $100,
was 64 years old, decrepit and discouraged when he set out
on his simple living jaunt. He didn't know whether he would
be able to make a go of it or not. Besides, he lived 40
miles away from the city in an isolated mountain region.
His only training was that of an office man and surveyor,
both of which aren't badly needed in the hinterlands where
he settled. So he had many hours during his first month or
two to worry about whether they'd one day find a lonely old
man starved to death in his cabin.
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