St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-04
FEEDING AN ARMY
How the SIikndo5s Soldiers Ara
Supported.

HOW the Mil>ndO7S Soldiers Are
Supported.
Washington Star.
10 feed an army properly in the
field is always a problem of much
difficulty and the greatest possible
Importance. Soldiers do not fight
unless they are satisfactorily fed.
During the late civil war the boys
in blue were provided with such a
very liberal ration that Thackeray.
in one of his books, speaks of it as
wild extravaganza.
1t is interesting to compare the "a
tons of the United States army at
present with those allowed to the
Japanese soldiers who are marching
VIGOROUSLY through China. In re-
spect to quantity no difference is OBJ
servable, though it would be difficult
to draw a line on this point owing
to the fact that the Japanese are
furnished with food in kind alto
gether dissimilar. The staple of their
diet is rice, which, for the sake OF
convenience. is made up into balls.
1t is first cooked and then COM
pressed by means of appliances
somewhat like lemon squeezers. and
operated on a like principle. Thus
considerable amount of the vege-
table is condensed into comparative
ly small compass.
The rice is eaten by the soldiers
in various ways. Most commonly
it is put into pot with hot water.
and thus subjected to a process of
recooking, in the course of which it
expands to perhaps four times its
compressed bulk. The balls. which
are about as big as ones two fists.
are sometimes cut into slices. and
the latter are T. oasted When there
is no fire at hand, or time is short
the rice balls may be cut up and con-
sumed without further preparation.
being already cooked and in whole
some condition.
While on the march the Japanese
soldiers subSist almost wholly on rice.
dried fish and canned meat Recently
d chicago packer filled an order for
an immense quantity of canned beef
to supply the invading army in China.
Inc soldiers of Japan all eat meat
regularly, though the diet of the peO-
pie at large is vegetarian. At every
garrison town in Japan beeVeS are
slaughtered at stated intervals for the
soldiers. On that account, foreigners
travelling in the dominions of the mi
kado ind 1t convenient to be at or near
town where troops are stationed, for
otherWlse they may have difficulty in
obtaining meat for their tables.
Ihe dried fish furnished to the SOL
dlerS are of several species. In japan
there Is no lack of fish, the rivers and
seas Astounding in finny game. More
priced than any other, perhaps is
the tai, which resembles the white
hsh of our Great Lakes. The common
squib, or cuttlefish, which supplies the
Sepia OF commerce, as we'll as bones
Tor canary birds to sharpen their
plils upon, is regarded as a delicacy
OF the first order. The Japanese can
their own salmon, which have flesh
redder than those of the Columbia
river and thes fishes are brought alive
to Tokyo in tanks for sale
canned salmon is a very satisfying
1000 ana serves we'll for rations. but
1t is furnished to the soldiers only
when they are at home. The same re-
I Ia propaply applies to pickles. The
Japanese are extremely fond of pick
les winch serve as relishes to accom-
pany the stable diet of rice. They
pickle all sorts of vegetables, among
tneln d Klhd OF turnip that has the
shape OF a radiSh and grows to a
length of more than three feet. When
picked in the proper way it smells so
horribly that no foreigner would
touch it. Nevertheless, the Japanese
are extremely dainty as to their eat
ing They Will not touch mutton ar
all Until the Portuguese landed in
Japan sheep were unknown i'm that
country. and various unpleasant leg
ends connected with those animals
nave much to do With the DonuIar
prejudice against this kind OF maat
Japanese women who become the mis-
tresses of foreigners are contemDt-
uously called ''muttons."