The St. Johns herald., 1900-06-16
FEEDING AN ARMY.
An Enormous Task That Involves
 Much Labor. r
Great 0uaatittea Os sappiies Cen-
 StantIy in Demaad ard aa ARmY oS Men and H0rses tO HRndle TheR.

out of every IOO think of an army az
 s great aggregation of lighting men.
 armed to the teeth with rInes. swords
 and what not, while they never once
 give thought to the men in the
 rear" Yet these men in the rear
 are an important part of the fighting
 machinery. says the Detroit Free
 Press
 When an army Is encamped In .
 friendly country there is not so great
 a difficulty in feeding it as when it
 is penetrating hostile territory and
 has separated itself from it's own
 country And yet in either case if
 is no light task to furnish and dis
 tribute the food that is to keep. say
 3O.OU0 stomachs satisfied and 30,U0L
 hearts in the right place This is the
 work of the commissary department
 When an army division or an army corps is encamped at home the prob
 lem of getting supplies IS compara tlvely simple. Sometimes they art furnished on contract, some times bought in large quantities a week oI more in advance of the time at which they will be needed The commissary general is responsible for the procur ing of these supplies and having them deposited at depot within easy reach of the troops.
 Each company of a regiment has its cooks; each regiment has its com missary depot, where supplies are kept sufficient for. say. week or ten days for all the men. Men are de tailed from each company to assist in the work of getting the supplies from the regimental depot to the company kitchens every day Others are de tailed 10 help transport the supplies to the regimeutal depots from the general headquarters whenever the stores in the former are getting low
 As all supplies are issued from head quarters only on orders and receipts are given for everything secured. it can be seen that there is an immense amount of clerical work necessary 10 the smooth and uninterrupted work of the department,
 When the troops are In barracks the work of the kitchen can be better at- tended to than in the field. Ranges and nll necessary utensils are on hand and hot meals are served 10 the different mess tables with regularity. When in the field, either field stoves are used for cooking or partially covered trenches are constructed. with an open ing for the huge coffee kettle and al oven for the baking Of bread.
 Whenever any important move is |. be made by the army each soldier is usually supplied with rations for : day. which be carries in his haveI sack. These he is not to use un less ordered to do so. There are, be sides. two days rations carried iI transport for each fraction of a com mand to tide the troops over tn, march. In the English army ther, are even wagon arrangements fo; cooking meals on the march. grea quantities of soup being heated an' meat and potatoes being prepare while on the march. But when tn, army moves away from it's base O. supplies then it Is that the feeding problem becomes more complicated
 There are always number of men detailed from each regiment to assist in the work of bringing up supplies The keeping open of line of com with the base of sup plies is the first thing that com mander must see to, for it means th. safety of his army. If this line o; is but days march the work is simple. and it does no, take many men detailed to wagoi driving to replenish the Impoverished larder. But when the distance is in- creased to 60 or 100 miles the trick is one Of great difficulty.
 There are along this line of com two lines of transport wagons constantly on the move and in opposite directions. The one line Is for wagons filled with stores and supplies for the army. The other is made up of empty wagons going back to the base for other loads. Easy stages are made of the journey.
 Within easy reach of the army is established a second base of supplies where a great amount of stores is in order to enable the lrmy to extend it's operations further rom it's principal base. Of course. a 'ailroad makes the thing doubly sure and quick But there is usually a good deal Of wagon hauling to b. lone even with the railroads, because t is not often possible for an army Q confne its operations to the line