The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-05-21
~"HARDTAcK" OF TO-DAY.
Old Time Brard wn ch stopped Bullets
Has Gone Forever.

S''PRso "s'N
Has Gone Forever.
Nothing so delights the veteran of
the civil war just now as the relation
of tales of woe concerning bareback"
He will expound the miseries suffered
by himself and his comrades in their
efforts at reducing the hard commits
sary bread to such a degree of soft
ness as would make il eatable. He
can tell narrowing stories of the bis
cult. Ii pleases him to tell gaping
crowds how lives We're saved because
the men wore one or more of these
biscuits inside their blouses. Bullets.
according to the veteran. were turned
back in their flight by the food.
This same veteran has been eating
soft bread ever since ne left the army.
He would feel that SOUP Is not soup
IL crackers were omitted from the bill.
But when IL comes to bareback he
grows positively eloquent. He can tell
more about ii even than he can of
the mistakes made by the general who
commanded his brigade. division or
corps during the war. If all the re-
ports of the bread be reliable-and
there is little reason to doubt a part
of their truth-the men did suffer TO a
considerable extent.
But the bareback of to-day. the off,
cial commissary hard bread now being
issued to the troops, is by no means
such a bugbear. Men will eat bread
soft and fiaky three times "A day for all
of their lives and never complain. The
bareback of to-day is really a very
good article of food, made of the best
of materials and, aside from the mon
otony of such a diet. is easily eaten.
1t has none of the bad features
ascribed to its predecessor. for it is
nothing but a cracker of fine wheat
flour mixed with water. 1t is palatable
and by no means so hard that "A man
will lose his teeth in eating 1t.
BY courtesy of Major q. NJ. Smith.
commissary of subsistence in charge
of the depot in Chicago. a reporter for
the Chronicle was able To obtain a sup
ply of the hard bread, as IL Is officially
designated. Not only did the reporter
obtain the goods, but he also secured
the official description of the materials
used and the manner of preparation.
Here is the description as furnished by
the department at Washington:
Hard bread made from the very best
straight soft winter wheat four. mixed
with water only, baked in crackers one
inch long by half an incl wide and
about three-eighths of an inch thick.
packed in alright cartons made of
strong strawboard so processed as to
be grease proof. One end of the car
ton to be closed with an easy opening
nap one anu Ont-HdH infneS Wlut.
Cases of 40 cartons To be made of wood
that will not impart odor.
The foregoing is the official bareback
prepared for field use in times of peace
or when the commissaries are not
crowded with rush orders. as is the
case at present. But in such times as
those of to-day the officers whose duty
it is to provide for the subsistence of
the army have no time to be particular
ahotf tha little naGfahnar nd hnvaG The
crackers now being furnished TO Major
Smith are of the usual soda cracker
size. made according to the specitica-
tons as set forth in the foregoing par
agraph. They are packed in cases of
about so pounds each.
1T has been "A long time" said Ma
jor Smith. since we manufactured the
old biscuits which are popularity known
as bareback. The regulations now
specify the size as well as materials
and the small cracker is the official
style. But we are rushe night and
day TO get field rations ready and have
no time to wait for boxes for packing.
We are purchasing large quantities of
the hard bread made in the usual
cracker size packed in large boxes. so
that one box has N days rations for
about so men. One pound of the stuff
is the daily ration for N man. Or
dinarily IL would come in the little
cases in the boxes. but now we are
glad to get enough without going to
the added trouble of putting IL into
the small cases. 1t is not bad food
and. aside from the monotony of a
continuous cracker diet. would never
disturb anybody"
The crackers even after they have
been packed for several months do not
become so hard as to wreck the teeth,
although they are so manufactured as
to develop all the resisting power of
the wheat. The dough is mixed with
pure water only and is absolutely de-
void of the shortening" which the or
binary cracker a Salt Is not mixed
with the mass, another fact which
makes the food pail upon ones palate
after a time. But IL is of good mate
rails and clean, is well packed and pre-
sents few If any of the objections
which the traditional bareback is pop
ularly supposed to offer.
The dough is made stiff enough 70
develop all the gluten of the wheat, is
rolled out INTO thin sheets and cut into
the required size and form. Then IL
is baked until IL is thoroughly cooked
and well Drowned. III IL is used willis
fresh il crackles readily under the
teeth. After IL has been packed for a
time the gluten renders IL tough and
its fra bility is much reduced. The
the man who must eat IL has some of
the troubles Of which he has heard for
80 years or more. But, all told, the
man who lives on bareback as pre-
pared now lives on good, wholesome
food. although the lack Of salt may
make IL in a measure unpalatable for