The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-12-20
REPORT OF ARMY OFFICERS
ORDER FROM GENERAL MILFs
REGARDING MILITARY POSTS
Soldiers at Fort Douglas Now Hav-
ing a Comparatively Easy Time
The Christmas Tree at the Post.

necessary nOurlSnfn6nt, at the same tlfne
occupying little space and having but lit
tie weight The subject is one of vast
Importance and interest to the army, and
it has been found absolutely necessary to
adopt some kind of i ration which can be
| easily carried upon the soldiers PACK,
and which will Keep mp life and strength
for five, or, if necessary, ten Gays at d
time.
Last October a detachment of the Fifth
infantry made 4 test Of an emergency "a
ton but the officers IN command OF the
! department declared It to be failure
| These reports called out severe comment
/ from Lieutenant Colonel Charles smart,
deputy surgeon general who conouctea
some previous experiments IN the fali2 on
Following is the report OF CAPTAIN II:
X. Bailey, commanding company Il, Oh
! the Fifth infantry:
THE conditions upon which the ratio
| was used were not favorable for a 1alr
| and thorough test TO be made. me men
had been paid the day before we LETT the
| post. and had sufficient means 10 pu[-
chase such edibles as they desired, anu,
as we were marching through q country
! abundantly supplied with milk, DuIter'
poultry and eggs, they awaited themselves
of the opportunity TO purchase suclI a. ~; "a
cleS as they wanted. Six OF the companies
We're living on the field ration, ana nao
fresh meat and bread nearly every u5 3;y
Under such circumstances, 1t was nafuiy
to be expected that men would nNe on Tue
same monotonouS Diet for five Gays, eS-
pecially when they were constantly peius
Invited by their comrades OF other com
panieS to share their, meals. some Oh titeih
were unable to live on the ration after
the first dav Others would use only part
of the ration. experimenting II WIN Looo
thew had purchased On the 1ourtn o iIS
one of the men, who had lived upon the
ration exclusively up to that time, lalhleu
in ranks. and had to have ms equipments 1
cared for by a comrade Inc TOUR men
who had lived upon the ration the entlre
time were men of long service on the
frontier Injured to all its hardshiDs, and
accustomed to the old field ration Inc
commissioned officers OF the company De
longed to a mess consisting of the officers
of the two designated companies, ana the
surgeon of the command. all OF Wnom
days In my opinion, the ration is sufl-
/ cient to sustain strengths and Vigor Tor
five days and men were not required TO
carry heavy loads or make too long
THE component parts of the ration are
as follows:
Bacon. ten ounces. Quantity ample and
| might be reduced two ounces, but 40 not
recommend any reduction.
Hard bread, 16 ounces. Quantity can
be reduced one-fourth. 1t is recommended
that the square hard bread formerly IS
sued to troops on the frontier be substl-
tuted for the small cracker now used. The
former can he soaked, fried in bacon
grease and a faYorite army dish pre-
pared. l believe that hard bread in that
shape is more easily carried.
Pea meal, four ounces. Quantity could
| be reduced One-fOurth. Some seasoning
should be put into the meal II II can pc
done without causing deterioration. In
its present shape it is unpalatable, and
soon becomes nauSeattng- Salt and pep
per improve it somewhat but an addl-
! tional condiment is required. l personally
2 experimental with the meal by adding q
I slice of raw onion on one occasion. and
a spoonful of vinegar on another occa-
sion: both added materially to the palata-
bility of the meal. AS neither of these ar
ticles form part of the ration, some means
1 should be adopted. if possible OF embody-
. inS something of the kind in the meal
!. Coffee, OF. Quantity ample and OF
.Saccharine. > tablets. The sweetenfng
U qualities are too great. One tablet to
r quart of coffee is too much for the aver
S age man. a half or third of tablet be-
i ing sufficient. The boxes in which these
q tablets are carried should be of more
= durable material than pasteboard.
. Salt. 64-100 OF. Should be increased tc
: an ounce.
| Pepper, 4-100 OF. Should be increased
Tobacco. y OF. Quantity ample but il
Z ! should be of a kind suitable for botf
: chewing and smoking Many men only
t smoke tobacco. It might be well to issue
; a certain percentage of smoking tobacco
n if kind suitable for both purposes can
not be procured.
The reports of the officers of the Other
departments were practically the same as
= the above. When the reports were sub
NllILeu deputy SUL-5OI Ocllei1i SINAI L II
. his endorsement which was concurred il
. by Surgeon General SternbeTg and Com
missary General Bell says:
These reports show a total naisappre
hension of the objects of the expedition
and illustrate the necessity for Instruct
= ing company officers. if the emergency
= ration is TO be Of value in times of actua
q war. The five days ratonS, according
s to the views of the emergency board
contain food material sufficient to sus
. tain troops for five days under the max
a who has roughed it on hard bread. bacor
J., and coffee. viii acknowledge that there i.
o ! enough. Troop e, First cavalry, made {
Il ! ten-day march in May last on five days
= ratons ana the men were in fine spirit.
q and excellent athletic condition at it:
close. There is no question, therefore
a OF the ability OF flYe Gays railons TO sus
i tain men for five days: nor Is there any
question CT the ability of troops to econo
mize their five days ratiOns as 70 make
: them suffice for a longer period, if thu
n over the diet of the men.
THE experiences recorded in the en-
r closed reports cannot be accepted as il
any way a test of the emergenc.
+ ration. They are, if anything
= a test of whether men making
y light marches could eat and digest in fiv'
y DAYS what was intended if need be TO las
y them for ten days. AS might have beef
expected they could not. They found tn,
= hard bread and pea meal too much TO
y them: but their recommendation that tn,
y quantity of each in the emergency ration
be reduced has no value, because mad
. in the evidence absence of an understand
- ing of why the quantity in the ration wa
= larger than they could eat during thei
y march.
q The aims of the officers of these com
y mands in making this march as a test o
the ration should have been to see tina
the men lived on that ration and on tn
articles of the ration alone; to see that a
= the men had more than enough at com
II mand they did not do themselves harm
- by pNeT-eatln2. and to that
- Of the ration was destroyed or thrown
- away. so that at the close of the march 4:
- report could have been made of how mucl
- of each article had been used under tn
conditions of their fve-day march An
) other of the objects of a test march b.
:. infantry should have been to determin
: the best way for the soldier to carry hi
: ration. One report says that there is NJ
:, difficulty in carrying five days rations
e but the best method of packing is no
- specified; while from another report
{ is gathered that only half a days ration
:; was carried on the person. Obviously a
y the most elementary points connecte
~ with testing the value of the emergenc
= ration do not seem to have been appre
- ciated on this march. the reports of tn
- march have no bearing on the suficienc
y or insufhciency of the ration
- The following general order, dated ad
jutant generals office. Washington D. c.
Dec IA. 1897 is published for the informa
ton and guidance of the army:
/ Military posts. stations and resarva
d tons have been selected for occupatio
d by the military forces, not only for imme
&c date and temporary use, but in mos