Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-12

L " A2N' departments Of the
~ %S,N army, are sending in
NMtNT their reports, upon
which final conclu-
sions will be based. Problem: To make up
a food package of small bulk, which shall
render the fighting man Independent Of
supply trains for short period in case
of an exigency such might arise from
his being wounded or cut off with de-
tachment from the main command.
Experiments in this line are being made
by all the great war powers" said Major
Woodruff to a reporter of The Star at the
War Department yesterday. 'They are
trying everything imaginable for the pur-
pose. Here, for example. is an element Of
the British emergency ration. 1t looks like
| a dog-biscuit, doesn't it? Three ounces it
weighs and it Is four inches square. 1t is
composed simply of whole wheat solidly
compressed A condensed loaf Of bread
you might call it. The French have new
war bread which is to replace hard tack
for the use Of their army. Its ingredients
| and the processes for making 1t are a Sc
cret. When piece of it is put into hot
water or soup, it swells up like a sponge
and is said to be virtually the same as
fresh bread.
EvapOrnted Vegetables.
For emergency rations evaporated vege-
success. They are not nutritious enough,
and they Go not keep well. Here is a one
pound can of evaporated onions. Smells
strong, doesn't it? 1t ought TO, inasmuch
as 1t represents ten pounds Of fresh onions.
In the same way potatoes, carrots. turnips
and cabbages are put up. Desiccated foods
are now being produced on an enormous
scale by many firms in this country and
abroad. A good thing. which we may
adopt, is this desccated beef. One ounce
Of 1t is equal to five ounces OF ordinary
meat, because it Is absolutely water free.
1t Is too hard to cut with knife without
trouble and so the soldier chops of
small hunk of 1t. He puts the piece into
a little machine like coffee mill and
grinds it up. 1t comes out in fine shavings.
ready to be eaten on bread or to be used
for soup stock.
Beef tea, used as a stimulant, is good
thing for soldiers. For an emergency ra-
ton 1t is put up in capsules. one of which
makes cup. Each capsule contains the
necessary seasoning and costs two cents.
Beef tea contains almost no nntriment.
but only the favorng and stimulating
qualities Of the meat
Canned Foods.
ut Is certain that canned foods will
play an important part in future wars.
The Belgian iron ration is a ten-ounce
can of corned beef, put up in liquor that
Is favored with vegetables. The German
emergency ration is a one-pound can of
preserved meat. with hard bread and pea
sausage. A biscuit composed Of meat and
flour has been tried for the German army,
but the soldiers would not eat 1t. The
biscuit was supposed to furnish the fight
ing man with everything necessary for his
physical support, water excepted. To be
satisfactory, ration must be palatable
as well as wholesome and nutritious. A
dietary for troops cannot be settled on
basis of theory only; it must be tested in
practice. What will satisfy soldiers of one
The Pea Sausage.
Every likely United States soldiers would
not put up with the German 'erbswurst'
Yet that species of pea sausage is said to
have been a leading cause of the success
of the German arms in the Franco-Prus-
sian war. Without it the troops could not
have endured the fatigue to which they
were subjected. The sausage is made Of
pea meal, fat and bacon. 1t was devised
by German cook, from whom the inven-
ton was purchased by the government for
preparation. by which the article is rem
dered proof against decay. Each sausage
is eight inches long and makes twelve
plates Of nutritious soup. There could
hardly be better emergency ration.
Condensed Soups.
Among other things under consideration
by our own War Department are condensed
soups. This little packet, which looks
somewhat like bundle of cigarettes, con-
tains just three ounces of desiccated pea
soup. You observe, 1t is so compressed as
to be quite hard. 1 break it up and throw
it into this saucepan. To it 1 add one
quart of water, and 1 place it on the gas
stove here to boil. For fiavoring, though
it is not necessary, let US add small
mt nf fhnca tod
the course Of fifteen minutes I will offer
you a plate of very excellent pea SOUP
Soups. you understand, are most useful In
rations. For health 1t is not sufficient to
put certain amount of. nutriment into
the body; the stomach must be distended
Soup does that. Incidentally, the soldier
who consumes one of these rations absorbs
one quart of Sterilized water.
Cor dersed soups may be purchased in
tablets three inches square and half an
inch thick. Each tablet weighs four ounces
and makes six plates of soup. In food val
ue one tablet is equal to one and three
quarter pounds of potatoes. Bean, mock
turtle, green corn, barley and potato SOUPS
are desiccated in this form. Tomato, vege-
table and fish chowder soups are similarly
prepared. What do you suppose this fsa
1t looks like a button, doesn't it? It is a
cup of tea condensed. All you have to do
Is to drop it into a cup of hot water and
stir it up. The sweetening is in the but
ton with the tea. No. the sweetenine fs
not sugar, but saccharine.' Coffee is put
up In the same way, with saccharine as
well as in a shape that looks like black mo-
lasSes.
What an Iron Ration is.
IAN iron ration is short-weight and
highly concentrated diet intended to cover
only a brief period. 1t is not to be used
except when the regular food supply can
not be obtained. Supposing the army sup.
plies to be regularly furnished the fighting
man ought to return from the campaign
carrying in his haversack the same emer-
gency ration with which he started out
originally. But it may happen that his
regiment or brigade is cut off from the
main body, and in that case the emergency
rations may be literal salvation. Or he
may be left wounded on field of battle, un-
able to obtain anything to eat for days,
unless he has 1t with him. During the re-
cent war with China the Japanese found
emergency rations a necessity in active