The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-21
THIS BEEF CANNOT SPOIL.
now UNCLE SAM PROTECTS HIS
SOLDIERS FOOD.


-. rt,eru,ometers Inserted in the
NIe,t IN Get the Temperature-T0
be Kept Frozen and Again Ira"s-
fcrred to a store House Now Being
uaiIt Mt Manila With Only Ten
Minutes, Exposure to the Outside
Air.
Nov York. MAY 1.-TWO million pounds
If beef which cannot spoil has left New
York for the Philippines this week
Scandals. Investigations and politics can
have no effect on this. Whether or not
our soldiers have been properly FED MIN
erto this food of a necessity Will be good.
When the Cuban campaign began time
was too short 10 make preparations. Now
the government has not only had time
but has learned lessons. 1t realizes that
Kitchener, who took three years to or
ganize his Khartoum campaign for Eng
land was wise, because he took three
years. Our war ended in 100 days.
And so 100000 pounds of fresh meat
left New York this week for the Philip
pines.
All went in one vessel for the feeding
of the navy and army engaged In opera
dons in and around Mania. The problem
of supplying good fresh food to the sol
diers and sailors so many thousand miles
away from home was wisely entrusted to
the navy department, which has invaria-
bly, proved its efficiency.
The problem of sending fresh provls-
ions to the Philippines was much greater
t1rafa frrnTa
difficulties had to be overcome. One was
distance, the other was climate. The
simple device of keeping the meat fresh
by placing 1t in rooms cooled to 30 de-
grees, which is sufficient for short trip
and moderate climate would be absolute
ly worthless if attempted for a long trip
and the high temperatures through which
a vessel must pass in going to the Philip
pines. To overcome the difficulties a ship
specially built for carrying fresh mutton
from Australia to England was purchas-
ed She is now the United States refrig-
orator vessel Glacier.
She proved herself practical for that
work. and is, therefore, not even an ex-
pertinent now that she is TO do similar
work for the United States troops at
Manila. The navy department adver-
Used for sealed bids for between 100000
TO 100000 pounds of prime beef for the
vi ~ VI tiiS Vessel tuSl month. Inc con-
tract was awarded to the Swarzchild &
SulzbeTger Company of New York. which
Immediately started its preparations for
carrying out the project. Experiments as
TO the shrinkage in weight of frozen meat
were made, proving that there was not
more than one-quarter of one per cent.
loss in the process of freezing These
tests showed that the whole substance of
the meat must remain in 1t, or there
would have been far greater losses in
weight. Orders were then dispatched to
the agents of the company in the West to
purchase $500 of the very best stall-fed
| beeves These were loaded on 100 of the
best cattle cars and shipped to New York.
| Here they were unloaded, kept for a
few days until they had recovered entirely
from the trip and then slaughtered Each
| animal was carefully examined and if
| found in any way defective was rejected.
AS each carcass was passed it was hur-
riedly quartered and slid into the refriger-
ating room, where, hanging on huge hooks.
| il was gradually cooled. Tests had been
made here also to ascertain how long il
would take these quarters to freeze
! through to the bone.
II was at first thought that when sub
mitted to a temperature of is degrees
! only seventy-two or ninety hours at most
| would be necessary to freeze the meat
! through and through so hard that knife
could not be pushed into it. Experiments
proved that from five to six days were
needed for absolute certainty, so all of the
| 100000 pounds of beef have been frozen
| for six days before being loaded on the
! Glacier. The method of testing the freeZ-
ing is itself interesting. A brace and Bit
! is used, just as if you were going to bore
a hole into an oak door to put on the
hinges. AT first the bit is sunk only four
inches in the thick hind-quarter- 1t il
| drawv< out and then a small thermometer
like those used by physicians in taking
the temperatures is inserted. 1t IS left
In a few minutes and when drawn Out
should show a temperature of about Z
| degrees Then the hole is bored deener
going right to the bone, the thermometer
is again inserted. and If it again registers
20 it is certain that the quarter Is frozen
| through.
After the first lot of 100000 pounds was
well frozen the task of loading began
The slaughter houses and cooling rooms
Of Swarzchild & Sulzberger Company were
on the banks of the East river. The Gla-
| cier was lust on the other side of the
river at the navy yard. The superintend-
| snt waited until at least two hours after
shutdown before beginning work. hoa'
| with a number of refrigerator cars, re-
duced to the lowest possible temperature
| by being packed with ice ana SAT-, was
moored alongside the refrigerating store
house. Swiftly the men rushed the
swinging quarters Of frozen beef along
the overhead trolleys into the cars, an6
as fast as one was filled it was CLOSED
tight. The cars on the float having beer
all filed, IL was quickly ferried over tC
the navy yard and hauled up alongside
the Glacier. Then, one at a time the cars
were opened, the huge cranes work lift
ing the quarters of beef and lowering then
into the hold where they were carefully
packed away in the freezing atmosphere
The engines of the refrigerating appa-
ratus on board ship had been at work
the pipes running all around the sides. the
bottom and top were heavily coated will
frost-if you wanted 10 go In there yoI
had to wear a heavy overcoat. 1t was
arctic and was meant TO be. Night after
night this process was repeated, 25OO0'
pounds of beef being packed away eact
night BY the use of the re.
frlgerator cars for transporting
across the river not one of the
quarters of beef is exposed TO the air foi