The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1884-10-10
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Canned Foods.

BY JOHN p. HAWKINS, C. s., IRvT. MAJOR
GENERAL U. S. ARMY.
The army posts throughout the United
States have been for long period, now near
ly 20 years, supplied with canned articles
fruits meats, vegetables and preserves. Many
of the posts are located where it is not posi-
BILE TO cultivate gardens, either on account
of poverty of the SOIL lack ofrainfall, or rigor
of climate, and, as a consequence, there is
hardly q military station in the land where
officers and soldiers and their families do not
habtually use canned foods, and as a class,
army people are without doubt the largest
consumers of canned articles in proportion
to their number of any other in the country.
While one occasionally sees an article in q
newspaper telling how some one has been
taken sick by reason of having eaten some
thing from a can, yet, in all my army expe-
rience land for many years have been Chief
Commssary of military department. and
as such had charge of supplying posts with
all their subsistence,) have never known or
heard of case of canned goods poisoning in
the army.
The canned foods used arc not of any par
ticular packing either. We buy good arti-
Gle, and from any packer that will furnish a
proper quality, and there is considerable com.
petition among packers to furnish us. Nor
are canned foods purchased in any particular
section of the country, but usually from the
packer or manufacturer who converts the
crude material into the canned article, and
our points of purchase extend from Maine to
Texas and from the Atlantic to the Gulf So
it will be seen that our army supply is drawn
from the same sources that supply the people
at large, and that civilians and our army con
sumo the same canned articles and under the
same circumstances. | recently inquired
of our medical director, Lieut.. Col. John E.
Summers. Surgeon, U. s. A, q careful and
skilled observer in his duties, and of large
experience in his army profession, whether
he had ever known of a case of poisoning in
the army which might be attributed to can
ned goods, or whether any of his medical
officers at military posts had ever reported
such case to him. To both inquiries he
answered, No; he had never known or heard
of such case. AS in his official capacity he
has been for many years in the constant re-
ceipt of formal reports concerning the health
and mortality Of all the posts throughout the
country, and statements as to causes operat.
ing to influence the health of every COM
mand, it would certainly follow that if ever
there was suspicion on the part of a medi-
cal officer that any canned food was the
cause of a sickness or disorder, there would
be every probability in favor of its being re-
ported and known to him and to the entire
medical profession of the Army.
A further important fact in this connection
is that soldiers often report sick to the sur.
geon for very trifiing ailments, and as a class
they are under more watchful scrutiny than
any other class of people and so if case of
poisoning which could justly be attributed to
canned goods were ever to occur among them,
even if not fatal or serious, there would be
but a small chance that it would not come to
the knowledge of the Post Surgeon 1t would
be almost an impossibility that he would be
ignorant of the case and causes
Deduction from the foregoing NAV be
fairly made that the reports Ofpoisonirg by
eating canned food are not to be believed or
are only TO be believed when it may have &C.
Cured by reason of the person having eaten
from can the food in which was evidently
spoiled and so spoiled that the appearance
of the can would surely have indicated
the unsound condition of its contents to
a person exercising ordinary care If a
| person buys tainted meat from the butcher
and eats it, knowing it to be little off,
| and is taken sick, he must blame himself
| for trifling with his health and likewise
| if he buys canned food of suspicious appear.
ance, he must expect to pay in health for his
careleSsnesS OF lemerlty. therefore, having
no apprehension as to the method of packing
an article, whether in tin or in glass, whether
soldered with the aid of an acid, or soldered
inside or outside the can, there is every reason
to consider canned articles as good for food
as any food can be. The experience of our
army ought to be conclusive on this subject
And no person having a decent knowledge
of what Is good or bad, sound or unsound
| could be misled into eating an improper arti
Gle from can, any easier than he could be
induced into eating decayed potato, or
tainted piece of butchers meat.