The evening times., 1898-08-05
ARMY KATIONS.
What In Required by Skaters Men
for Two Months.
(From the indianapolis News.

from the Indianapolis News.)
To provide for an army such as that
of Gen. Skaters for two months would
require 1,500, 900 rations, allowing for
three meals daily. The troops would be
served with 25,VO0 daily. According to
the usual propoI tions, IT would require
to supply these ratiOns, l,500 pounds of
pork, 5000 of bacon, 14.000 of beef. 22,oO0
of flour, 10000 of hard-tack, ], 500 Of
beans, 900 of rice. $4,000 of potatoes.
1900 of onions. 1,6O0 of coffee. 5000 of
sugar, 1000 of vinegar, 800 Of soap, sou
of salt and 50 of pepper In other words.
an army consumes enough in one day
to stock fair-siZed grocery and meat
market. This. of course. does not in
clude what might be called the luxuries
which are supplied to the officers, or
the extras which the soldiers can pur-
chase in liquid and sold forms. II the
army continues in force around San
tiago for sixty days it will have con-
sumed Is tons of pork, 80 tons of ba-
con, i20 tons Of beef. 6I5 of flour. 500 of
hard-tack. $50 of potatoes. 4S OF coffee,
supposing the regular ration to be given
out. Large as are these figures, the ac-
tual expense is not SO much as might
be imagined for food merely. In round
numbers, it amounts to $2S5. 900. or
about $50 a day. To this must be
added forage for the animals. and
dozen other items. which may come
under the head of subsistence. but for
which the commissary department does
not provide, which would undoubtedly
swell the total amount to $685. at
least.
In shipping meats to Cuba an effort
has been made to transport fresh meat
| in large quantities. Owing to the mod
ern plans for preserving meat in
warm climate this has met with great
success. Several of the transports are
fitted out with refrigerating depart
ments, in which are stored meats of df-
| ferent kinds, and which are kept fresh
| until it reaches Santiago, or a neighbor-
| ing port. Arrangements have already
been made to construct refrigerat ns
plant at or near Santiago. in connection
| with the store-house, by which the m at
| can be kept in a good state until need
| ed As heretofore, troops at distance
| from the producing centers have been
compelled to depend largely upon
| smoked and salted meats. The change
| is very beneficial. The development of
| the vegetable-packing industry has
been of great benefit to the commissary
| department, which has been unable to
| buy tomatoes and other canned vege-
| tables at such low price as to place
| these articles of food within the reach
of ALL They are in hermetically-ss aled
| cans and can be transported in the
| warmeSt climate without injury to
| their contents, unless the cans become
broken.
| While wagons are used In furnishing
| supplies to the camps of mobilization
| in this country. the roads in eastern
| Cuba are so poor that. as already
| stated, the army conducting operations
| before Santiago was obliged to depend
| largely upon provisions packed over the
| hills on the backs of mules. Only a
person acquainted with the capacity of
| the average mule can realize how much
one of these little animals can carry
| along paths which seem almost impas-
| sable. They would carry loads averag-
| ing 500 pounds with ease. and a train of
l50 mules could transport enough sup
! plies to feed Skaters entire army for
one day. The mules used in the Cuban
| campaign for draft purposes were
| transported from Florida. where they
| were broken in to carry what is
| termed by the Spanish an "aparejos," :"
a certain kind Of package made Of
| leather carried over the back in such
a manner as nearly to conceal the body
of the animal. 1t will hold anything
from a barrel of sugar to three or four
| sacks of corn meal. In trains Of twen-
| ty or twenty-five. guarded by soldiers
/
| imals would leave the seashore, climb
the steep hills and move along at an av-
| erage of three or four miles an hour.
| following the leader without a single
hitch The fondness of mules for horses
has been put to practical use in the
system of pack trains, as they are
| called. The leader in each case Is a
| mare, usually gray or white. which is
led or driven by one Of the attendants
| While in Florida the mules intended to
| follow it were placed in the same in
| closure with the mare. and became ac-
| customed to following her. In this way
| no difficulty was experienced in driv-
ing them from the coast to the hills
above Santiago, and had 1t not been
| for the mule trains. it is a question 4
some of the American troops had not
given out from sheer starvation. In
transporting food by wagons about $50
are required for provisions alone to pro-