Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 254, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 October 1918 — TROOP SUPPLIES 3 MONTHS AHEAD [ARTICLE]

TROOP SUPPLIES 3 MONTHS AHEAD

Tours. —The American army in Europe could be fed and clothed and all its creature comforts looked after for three months if not another pound of supplies was secured. This was the statement made here ipjf officers of the army which directs this mammoth work of supplies. It gives an idea of. the vast stock of reserve resources stored in the miles of warehouses stretching from the coast inland to the fighting line, and it is a comforting assurance, too, that this huge reserve will be kept up through the coming winter period, so that the American soldier’s warmth, as well as his food and clothing, will be fully looked after. Some Big Job. It is a huge undertaking to feed a million men even for a single day—a million men scattered to a thousandl points, in trenches, on battlefields and camps, along 300 miles of front and for a depth of 500 miles. And when 1 are added housing and clothing and the period is extended through the winter months of cold and frost, with the prospect that another million or two of men may be headed this way before long—with these elements one gets iome idea of the magnitude of the supply problem for a- million or more men'

Here at the center of the system, where the receipts are regulated and the distribution made, there was an opportunity of learning some of the details of how the system operates. Tn the food branch alone it takes over 4,000,000 pounds of food every day to feed the army. This prodigious daily consumption of'food xembraces 1,000 pounds of flour baked into a million pounds of bread every day, 875,000, pounds of fresh beef, 875,000 pounds of potatoes, 200,000 pounds of sugar arid 125,000 pounds of tomatoes. The pepper and salt for a single day is 42,500 pounds. Army coffee is roasted at the rate of 70,600 pounds a day, and it takes 20,000 pounds of solidified alcohol to cook this coffee through the month. The beef is the bulkiest product used each day, and occupies a daily space of 45,000 cubic feet, or about the dimensions of a business block, of solid meat. Flour comes next, VfequlrIng 25,000 cubic feet of daily and potatoes about the same.

A Few Daily Item*. These are only a few of the main items. But the list runs all through the many requirements of the oversea army ration, with vast quantities In each case. Here are some of the other daily items: Bacon, 225,000 pounds; beads, 75,000 pounds; rice, 50,000 pounds; onions, 250,000 pounds; evaporated fruit, 70,000 pounds; jam,. 70.000 pounds; milk, 62,500 pounds; vinegar, 40,000 pounds; lard, 40,000 pounds; butter, 31,000 pounds; syrup, 40,000 pounds. These being Included in the oversea ration, every one of the million

men is entitled to his full allowance, and it must go forward to him wherever he is. So that besides the vast daily stock there is’the question of unfailing daily delivery, first by railways and camion trains, and then to the individual soldier. Besides this 4,000,000 pounds of food moving forward dally to the troops, each man "carries with him two days’ emergency ration, 5 pounds to the man, an additional 5,000,000 pounds of food for an army of a million men. Of the emergency ration, carried on the back, there Is outstanding every day 2,000,000 pounds of corned beef and 2,000,000 pounds of hardtack, 300,000 pounds of sugar, 62,500 pounds of coffee, 20,000 pounds of salt, and 500,000 pounds of solidified alcohol for heating and cooking while on march.