Evening star., 1901-05-11
Americans Better Fed and Clothed
Than Any Others.
THEIR CAMPS WERE CLEANEST OF ALL
Capt. Franklin Points Out the
Need Of Reform''in Packing.
SMALL PACKAGES ARE BEST


| commissary of subsistence. U. s. ", who
| accompanied the China relief expedition.
| has made frank and highly interesting re-
| port to the adjutant general of his OBJ
servations Of the conditions and efficiency
| of the allied forces. 'As there is no doubt
| in my mind" says Captain Franklin. that
the American soldier was the best fighting
man Of all the allies. 1 shall only draw
comparisons (from which we can benefit /
believe) between his needs and supplies and
those of his Quondam friends.
in the first place he required more and
better food than they, and he got it. This
fact astonished the European troops above
all else. A British officer said to me: How
often do you give your men this excellent
bacon? Twentyone times week. if they
want it, said 1. and he didn't believe me.
Reform Needed in Packing.
But while our food and other supplies
were infinitely more generous in quantity
| and quality than that Of the others, it was
not packed with the same scrupulous care
for safe carriage and quick handling. In
this particular the Japanese and British
were without rivals.
THE Japanese allowed few packages to
exceed 100 pounds in weight or about three
cubic feet In volume. All boxes generally
except ammunition cases, etc, were COW
cred with rice-straw mating, neatly sewed
with the same material at the corners and
tied in two directions with a rome or
braid of the same. Sacks We're also pro-
tected with a like outer covering. This
material is light, strong and very elastic,
and protected the inner case or sa elk so thor
oughly that their loss from broken mack
ages was practically nil. Then, also. the
| smaH size ana moderate weight of the
| packages permitted Of rapid handling, and,
whether it was at the TRANSPORTS side
twelve miles off shore in a heavy swell nm
Loading from lighters to wharf or rail at
TongEu or Tien Tsin, or from little river
Junks to store piles or wagon or pack trains
at 1ung Chow 1t aroused the envy of an
American QuartermaSter to see the randi
1ty with which these homogeneous packages
were handled They fitted the coolie la
oorer and the cool1e fitted them actually,
for everything is carried on head or
shoulders. Contrast this with a case of
stationery, weight COO pounds, put up In a
thin, fi1nsy white pine case and which
from rough handling and its own weak
ness mas come to pieces in the bottom of a
junk Think Of the time and stores lost in
repack1ng, for the coolie never fails to
steal. even if he knows that the bamboo
and the loss of his much priced cue is the
inevitable result Of detection It's q gam
bic with the coolies be he Chnaman. Jana
nese or festive FHipino,i and they are all
gamblers. If this particular case had been
put up In SIX lto-pound boxes they would
nave arrived in good order and have been
unioaded In tithe of the time
The british Hniian army practice is
very much the same. Small uniform pack
ages. with heavy jute sacking instead of
the Jap rice-straw mating. One hundred
and sixty pounds is the load for their
pack mules, hence (as their transportation
was nearly all pack-trains) their nackaees
averaged about eighty pounds
The Russians did not seem to have
much or any stores except a liberal sup
ply of ammunition, which, was the prac-
tice of all the powers was put ND in small
neat, StTOnR packages of about ipbt
pounds.
The French. that Is those who came at
mrst, VIZ; Marine infantry, 1 believe from
Tonkin, had a miscellaneous collection of
stores of all shapes and sizes, seemed to
have been purchased for the occasion In
various east Asian ports, Judging from the
later had regular supplies, generally nicely
packed, but not with the same care as
those of the British and Japs. They also
had some mean packages to transport viz:
Claret casks of great size and weight 1t
was common occurrence for the monot-
ony of our teamsters life to be broken
by the sight of obstinate Chinese mule
an 1rate Frenchman and an overturned
Pekin cart with it's load of one wine cask
at the bottom of some gully.
The foregoing remarks apply to the
Italians and Austrians as We'll.
The Germans were as bad ourselves;
they mad their stores in big fiimSy cases
ana, IN consequence, l saw many broken
at every shipping point. AS they had lit
Tie or no transportation except what they
slowly gathered In the country thev we're
put to much trouble in trying to make a
four-foot box fit three-foot cart.
Subsistence stores Well Packed.
LAS a rule our subsist ence stores were
very well packed in strong cases Of mod
crate weights and volume. Sacks were all
double sacked and were quite strong
enough
"Quartermasters' supplies, as rule,
were very poorly put up, cases too large
and much too heavy More proportionate
breakage of cases occurred In this class
than any other. Then, too. the cases
should be made with reference to fitting
an escort wagon.
Most all of the ordnance stores were
put up in very bulky and heavy packages
L remember several cases of powder that
weighed 400 pounds net, and 1t took all
the coolies that could crowd around it to
llft 1t INTO wagon. 1OO-pound case
would have been much better. Medical sup
plies were better put up as regards weight
and volume, but many cases were Of too
| flimsy material to withstand the hard
usage of such long and complex transpor-
tation
None Fed So Well Our Troops.
"Reverting once more to the food ques-
ton, in my mind there We're none who had
| as excellent or abundant supply as the
Americans. The Japs had rice, bread,
dried fish and tea, which they supplement-
ed by the use of the sheep and cattle the
country produced. They also had American
canned meats, but they We're not used with
impunity, seemed to be more Of the nature
of a special or emergency article of their
diet.
1.-The British white troops had a ration
similar to ours in quality and quantity
but not so varied or flexible. They used
tea instead Of coffee The British Indian
troops had about q pound alta or -four
about I pound rice l. gill ghee or vege-
table oil, salt and once a week a pound
Of fresh meat, bone and all.
The Sikhs only used mutton or goat, but
the Mohammedans atee everything except
pork.
The Russian RatiOns.
"The Russians had little besides black
bread and soup. They were given one
quarter-pound cans of some kind of meat
preparation at intervals, much in the same
manner as the Japs used American meats.
They had the finest cooking arrangement,
though, Of any. Upon a springless carriage
was mounted an iron furnace under d
semi-sphericai boiler, water -jacketed. The
boiler was fitted with tight-titting cover
and the whole was very strongly and COM