Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 158, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1919 — HOW UNCLE SAM FED HIS SOLDIERS [ARTICLE]

HOW UNCLE SAM FED HIS SOLDIERS

One Meal, oft One-Man Basis for War Period, Cost $727,- * 000,000. 9,000,000 POUNDS DAILY Doughboys Ate 800,000,000 Pounds of Roast Beef, ■ Smoked 425,000,000 Cigarettes and Ate 300,000 Pounds of Candy a Month. Washington.—“ Soldiers who fought against Spain in 1808 lost in weight an an average of 22 pounds each; the average American soldier at the end of the fighting in 1918 weighed 12 pounds more than he did when the selective •service act or his own volition.brought him into the army.” Thus the success won by' the army’s subsistence branch in. the great war Is epitomized in chapters of the official war “material” history made public by the war department. The food problem of an army of 1,700,000 Americans is visualized in the history by considering the force as a single man entire war period is one dinner hour. Articles compris’d in the army ration assumed these tremendous totals: Roast beef, 800,000,000 pounds; bacon, 150,000,000 pounds; flour (bread) 1.000,000,000 pounds; butter, 17,500,300; oleomargarine, 11,000,000; baked beans, 150,000,000 pounds; potatoes, 187,000,000 pounds; onions, 40,000,000 pounds; corn, beans and peas, 150,000,300 cans; tomatoes, 190,000,000 cans; prunes, peaches and apples (for dessert), 107,000,000 cans; sugar, 350,000,300 pounds; coffee, 75,000,000 pounds; evaporated milk,' 200,000,000 cans. The bill for this “meal" amounted to 5727,000,000 to December 1, 1918, the per capita cost having risen from 4 cents In 1897 to 48 In 1918. 9,000,000 Pounds Daily. At the time of the armistice, American soldiers in France were consuming 9,000,000 pounds of food daily. Moving this stupendous quantity over the 3,000-mlle communication was the principal obstacle to be overcome. This and the necessity for conserving cargo space led directly in the later months to the shipment of dehydrated regetables to the American expeditioncry force.

“The problems were solved only by the assistance of the American food Industry.” the report says, and while Instances were found of food specifijations being violated, these are declared to have been very few and in uost instances not intentional. The emergency ration of the American soldier, designed to be used only n cases of extremity, was perfected luring the war to consist of three Cakes of beef, prepared with a bread compound of ground cooked wheat, each cake weighing three. ounces; :hree one-ounce cakes of chocolate, ihree-fourths ounce fine salt, and one Irani black pepper. A special ration was designed for

the use of Invalid soldiers, including potted chicken, dried eggs, puddings, etc. Importance attached to the supply of fresh coffee for the men Is evidenced by the decision to ship the bean In the green form and have It roasted near the front. This led to the Invention of portable roasters, capable of handling several tons a day. “Noting that tobacco has established Its claim to a recognized place in the soldier’s life,” the report says probably 95 per cent of the American expeditionary force used the weed in one form or another. Monthly shipments averaged 20,000,000 cigars and 425,000,000 cigarettes. The soldier’s sweet tooth was satisfied by a monthly shipment of 300,000 pounds of candy during the early part of the war, but this was increased in November, 1918, to 1,373,000 pounds, and the following month the war de-' partment made candy a part of the regulation issue, one and one-half pounds being issued to each man every month. A close companion in popu-

larity was chewing gum, more than 3,000,000 packages a month being consumed. , Economies Effected. Interesting statistics are given of economies effected in changes in design. For Instance, elimination of lacings and eyelets in trousers saved $17,000,000,- and-- the redesigning of the coat cut the cost of this garment $5,000,000. Expert cutting reduced the consumption of cloth 23-100 of a yard, and saved 2,300,000 yards on the total order. Innovations resulting from shortages in material included the substitution of American dyes for the German product and the use of vegetable “ivory” in button-making. The activities of the quartermaster corps (afterward taken over largely by the bureau of purchase, storage and supply) included also the furnishing of hatsr shoes, boots, fuel, oil, paint, tools, harness, and harness equipment, and even music. Prominent composers volunteered for the work of selecting a “balanced ration" of jazz and mqre restraining orchestrations for the army bands. To give the American aviator the* surest fuel possible, the department took over every drop of “25.7 degree fighting naphtha” and confined Its use to the service of plapes actually on the front.