Influenca 1918 on PBS January 2

‘Influenza 1918’ on PBS
Gail Dever, Genealogy à la carte
 
As part of its American Experience series, PBS will air the documentary, Influenza 1918, on January 2^nd, likely to mark the 100th anniversary. A bit of Googling indicated this 60-minute program was first broadcast in 1998.

In September of 1918, soldiers at an army base near Boston suddenly began to die. The cause of death was identified as influenza, but it was unlike any strain ever seen. As the killer virus spread across the country, hospitals overfilled, death carts roamed the streets and helpless city officials dug mass graves. It was the worst epidemic in American history, killing over 600,000 — until it disappeared as mysteriously as it had begun.

The Spanish influenza of 1918 has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history.  The first outbreaks of the Spanish influenza occurred in the spring of 1918. The infection travelled back and forth between Europe and North America on the ships carrying troops fighting in World War I. These troops then introduced the disease into Asia and Africa.

Caused by a viral infection that attacked young, healthy bodies, the influenza killed more people than the First World War. An estimated 20 to 50 million people died from the flu worldwide. In Canada, more than 50,000 people died, and all parts of the country were affected.

A 2001 issue of Legion Magazine noted, “In Toronto, 1,682 people died between Oct. 9 and Nov. 2, 1918. Montreal was hit so hard that it had to adapt a trolley car to carry bodies because the city’s hearses could not meet the demand. By October 1918, influenza was claiming 1,000 Canadian lives a day. During the same period, the country’s battlefield losses averaged about 100 deaths a day.”

From the OGS newsletter December 30, 2017  

World War Wednesdays: A Taste of 1918

   
      My sincere apologies for the lack of a post last week! Right after I told you all I'd never miss a week too. After some very frustrating technical difficulties we're back up and running and all is (hopefully) right with the world again. Let's get right down to business!
      I once had a professor who would make the whole class recipes from wartime and Depression-era cookbooks as an excuse for her to test out some risky historical concoctions. Since I can't do that for all of you, I thought it might be just as fun to take a look at some First World War recipes from the 1918 book Foods That Will Win the War and How to Cook Them. It was published in New York by C. Houston Goudiss, Food Expert and publisher of The Forecast Magazine, and Alberta, M. Goudiss, director of the School of Modern Cookery. Its foreword begins with:
     "Food will win the war, and the nation whose food resources are best conserved will be the victor. This is the truth that our government is trying to drive home to every man, woman and child in America. We have always been happy in the fact that ours was the richest nation in the world, possessing unlimited supplies of food, fuel, energy and ability; but rich as these resources are they will not meet the present food shortage unless every family and every individual enthusiastically co-operates in the national saving campaign as outlined by the United States Food Administration."

     Obviously, the work served a double duty as a patriotic source of encouragement for the American folks on the home front. For us today, it's a fascinating glimpse into what was being asked by everyday citizens in terms of lifestyle changes for the purpose of saving resources for the war effort. In general, Goudiss and Goudiss recommend one wheatless meal a day in every family, two meatless days per week, and each person to use one teaspoonful less of sugar each day. 

     Here's what they argued in terms of the economy of wheat:
     "Waste in your kitchen means starvation in some other kitchen across the sea. Our Allies are asking for 450,000,000 bushels of wheat, and we are told that even theirs will be a privation loaf. Crop shortage and unusual demand has left Canada and the United States, which are the largest sources of wheat, with but 300,000,000 bushels available for export. The deficit must be met by reducing consumption on this side of the Atlantic. This can be done by eliminating waste and by making use of cereals and flours other than wheat in bread-making." 

     Alternative ingredients for bread-making include cornmeal,  oatmeal, rye, barley, and mixed grains. Here are some of the bread recipes I thought might actually be fun and rewarding to try:

Oatmeal Muffins
1 1/3 cups flour
2 tablespoons molasses
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fat
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 cup cooked oatmeal

Sift dry ingredients. Add egg and milk. Add fat and cereal. Beat well. Bake in greased tins for 20 minutes.

War Bread

2 cups boiling water

2 tablespoons sugar

11/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup lukewarm water

2 tablespoons fat

6 cups rye flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cake yeast

To the boiling water, add the sugar, fat and salt. When lukewarm, add the yeast which has been dissolved in the lukewarm water. Add the rye and whole wheat flour. Cover and let rise until twice its bulk, shape into loaves; let rise until double and bake about 40 minutes in a moderately hot oven.

Potato Pancakes

2 cups chopped potato

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

5 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups of hot water

Boil potatoes in the skins for fifteen minutes. Pare and chop fine or put through food chopper. Mix potatoes, milk, eggs, and salt. Sift the flour and baking powder and stir into a smooth batter. Thin with hot water as necessary. Bake on a greased griddle.

     The book's section on meat saving is probably one of the most fascinating, as it includes some "scientific" opinions from the time that make the reduction of meat consumption sound fashionable and attractive:

     "Dr. Harvey W. Wiley has stated that the meat eating of the future will not be regarded as a necessity so much as it has been in the past, and that meat will be used more as a condimental substance. Europe has for years used meat for flavor rather than for nutriment. It would seem that the time has come for Americans to learn the use of meat for flavor and to utilize more skillfully the protein of other foods."

     This section also calls for an increased use of organs in meals, and outlines some methods for preparing such things as brains, heart, kidney, liver, tripe, and pigs' feet. Here are some of the meat-related recipes that wouldn't actually turn your stomach at the thought:

Actually, never mind. None of them sound appealing. Here's a meat alternative main dish that the authors recommend:

Macaroni with Cheese

Over 1 cup of cooked macaroni, pour this sauce:

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons fat

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup grated American cheese

Melt fat, add dry ingredients. Add liquid slowly. Bring to boiling point. Add cheese. Stir until melted and then pour over macaroni.

Let's skip to the sugar-saving desserts to round off the meal:

Oatmeal and Peanut Pudding

2 cups cooked oatmeal

1 cup sliced apple

1 cup peanuts

1/2 cup raisins

1/3 cup molasses

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

Mix and bake in a greased dish for 30 minutes. Serve hot or cold. This is a very nourishing dish.

Wartime Fruit Cake

1 cup honey or corn syrup

1 tablespoon fat

1 egg

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 teaspoon cloves

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped dates, figs, prunes, or raisins

3/4 teaspoon soda

2/3 cup milk

Cream fat, honey and egg. Sift dry ingredients. Add alternately with milk. Bake in loaf 45 minutes in moderate oven.

Soft Cinnamon Cookies

1 cup molasses

2 tablespoons fat

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon ginger

2 tablespoons cinnamon 

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cloves

Mix molasses, fat, and boiling water. Sift dry ingredients. Add the liquid. Add enough more flour (about four cups) to make dough stiff enough to roll out. Cut and bake about 15 minutes in moderately hot oven.

Wartime Taffy

2 cups corn syrup 

1/2 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon water

2 tablespoons vinegar

Boil the syrup for fifteen minutes, then add the soda. Cook until a little snaps brittle when dropped in cold water. Add the vinegar when this stage is reached and pour into oiled pans. When cool enough to handle, pull until white; make into inch-thick rolls and clip off into neat mouthfulls with oiled scissors, or chill and break into irregular pieces when cold.

"To provide adequate supplies for the continuing year is of absolutely vital importance to the conduct of the war, and without a very conscientious elimination of waste and very strict economy in our food consumption, we cannot hope to fulfill this primary duty."

-President Woodrow Wilson

     I hope this little glimpse into the First World War kitchens across America was an interesting and useful venture! Some of the desserts would make great Christmas gifts for that history buff on your list who continuously asks for outrageously-priced war relics and artifacts from niche market dealers in faraway countries. If you're interesting in sharing a little piece of 1918 this holiday or if you'd like to read more of this fascinating book, it is available as a free eBook through Project Gutenberg. If you do decide to whip up one of these recipes, please share a photo of the finished product! Happy cooking!

    Thanks for reading, 

Delany (@DLeitchHistory on Twitter)

World War Wednesdays: "In-Flu-Enza": The Spanish Flu Epidemic, 1918-19

     I had a little bird,

its name was Enza.

I opened the window,

and in-flu-enza

-Children's skipping rhyme, 1918

     Some fascinating and tragic elements of the First World War are the devastating events that occurred on the home front during that period. After four long years of unprecedented global devastation, the war ended in 1918 with a raging influenza epidemic which was partly spread by soldiers returning home. Ultimately, at least 20 million people around the world succumbed to the disease, including an estimated 50,000 Canadians. 

     Uniquely lethal in its tendency to attack young, healthy bodies, the Spanish Flu was spread through bodily fluids and moved quickly through the population. It manifested itself through fatigue and cough but quickly escalated its attack, creating mucous build-up in the lungs that was impossible to expel. Victims of the disease could be dead within days of contracting the illness.

     The Flu came in three waves: the first in the spring of 1918, the second (and most lethal) in late August, and the third and final during the winter of 1918-1919. Contrary to its name, it did not originate in Spain at all. Wartime censorship meant that combatant armies did not release any information about the flu in an attempt to maintain civilian morale. Since Spain was a neutral party during the war, it had no reason to impose censorship, leaving Spanish newspapers free to report on infected citizens. As a result, Spain was tagged as being the origins of the virus. 

"The 1918 has gone: a year momentous as the termination of the most cruel war in the annals of the human race; a year which marked, the end at least for a time, of man's destruction of man; unfortunately a year in which developed a most fatal infectious disease causing the death of hundreds of thousands of human beings. Medical science for four and one-half years devoted itself to putting men on the firing line and keeping them there. Now it must turn with its whole might to combating the greatest enemy of all--infectious disease," (12/28/1918).

     Canada's flu dead included soldiers who had survived the fighting in Europe only to succumb to the disease upon their return to Canada. In addition, thousands of family members who welcomed them home also perished soon after their arrival. This horrible reality hit close to home in Dunwich Township with the death of returned soldier Harry Bateman Blue of Iona Station in January 1919, He is the only confirmed local soldier who succumbed to the virus according to my database and research this past spring. 

     In addition to the widespread fatalities, the epidemic caused severe social and economic disruption. Children were orphaned, many families found themselves without their chief wage earner, and armies on both sides of the war were temporarily debilitated. Businesses lost profits from both a  lack of demand for their products and a reduced workforce. In an attempt to halt the spread of the disease, municipal governments closed all services except those necessary, and provinces enacted laws regarding quarantine and enforced the wearing of masks in public. Although the Canadian population happily accepted these restrictions, it opposed the federal government's request that victory celebrations be postponed until December 1. 

     Although decreasingly virulent, the Spanish Influenza strain remained active in Canada until the mid-1920s. While crippling in the majority of its immediate effects, the epidemic is credited with leading to the establishment of the federal Department of Health in 1919. In addition, since pneumonia contracted by a patient who was weakened by influenza became a major cause of death, the discovery of penicillin greatly weakened the impact. 

Timeline of the Spread of Flu and Movement of Soldiers:

The Limits of Necessity: Public Health, Dissent, and the War Effort during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic notes the spread of the virus was connected to the movements of soldiers. This piece provides some great insight on the social climate at the time and the ways in which military efforts defined Canadian life. Some interesting quotes and notes follow.

• “[Carol Byerly] suggests that military physicians and government officials were caught between their obligation to protect the public health and their duty to prosecute the war effort. According to her analysis, health and war became competing interests.” 
• The first wave of flu broke out in ranks of Canadian Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium in May 1918,  and sickened Canadian soldiers stationed in England a month later 
• Infected soldiers sailed for Canada on June 26 on the Araguaya, the last Canadian vessel to ferry wounded soldiers back across the Atlantic until the end of September 
• Arrived at Halifax harbour on July 7, 23% of its soldier-passengers were infected.
• ”The second and more deadly wave of the flu first appeared among American soldiers at Camp Devens outside of  Boston on 8 Sept. 1918. By the month’s second week, it had already spread across Massachusetts and into New York State.” 
• 17 September→ broke out among Polish American recruits at a camp outside of Niagara-on-the-Lake
• 20 September→ soldiers began reporting sick at St. Jean Military Hospital.
• “In the midst of this crisis, MacPhail requested her father’s permission to sign on for active VAD service. Now a certified VAD nursing assistant, she argued that the city was “crying out for helpers and being young and strong I feel I ought to” despite the fact that the flu showed "no respect for youth.” 
• “In this era," Nancy Bristow argues, "there was a presumption that women, whatever their nursing qualifications, would put themselves in harm’s way to fulfill their natural caring role. Certainly, many women came forward to nurse influenza victims, despite the risk to themselves.” 

     Many thanks to the Canadian War Museum, The Canadian Encyclopedia, and the University of Waterloo's Department of Drama page, "Contagion, Pandemics, and Humanity" for the information and images used in this post. 

     Thanks for reading,

Delany (@DLeitchHistory on Twitter)