The National tribune., 1901-05-30
WITHOUT AN EQUAL.
Splendid Showing Made by
American Troops in China.
SUPERIOR TRANSPORT SERVICE.
Big U. S. Army Wagons on Schedule
Time while Others Abandoned Efforts
on Account of Mud.

had abundant opportunity for observing
the troops of different nations there as
sembled, in his report to Adj teen. Cor
bin. says regarding food supplies: In my
mind there We're none who had as excellent
or abundant Il supply of food as the
Americans. The Japs had rice, bread
dried fish and tea which they supple
mented by the use of the sheep and cattle
the country produced. They also had
American canned meats, but they were
not used with impunity and seemed to
be more of the nature of Il special or emer-
gency article of their diet.
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 three-quarterS pound alta
or -four, about one pound rice, one gill
ghee or vegetable oil, salt, and once a
week pound of fresh meat. bone and all
The SikhS only used mutton or goat, but
the Mohammedans ate everything except
pork.
The Russians had little besides black
bread and soup. They were given n quar-
ter pound can of some kind of meat pre-
paratiOn at intervals, much III the same
manner as the ]aps used American meats.
They had the finest cooking arrangement,
though, of any. Upon a springless car
rage was mounted an iron furnace under
q Semi-Spherical boiler, water jacketed.
The boiler was fitted with a tight-ftting
cover and the whole was very strongly and
compactly built. Into this they put all the
materials for soup or stew that they pos
sessed, and nothing came amiSs, screwed
down the cover, lit the fire, and away went
this perambClating soup tureen with It's
company.
When they made camp, all they had to
do was stack arms, and then march past
the soup machine, the COOK opening a
Il lii -Fr.
of hot, well-cOOked, thick soup; the assis-
tant cook inAthe meantime was choppiHs
up loaf of black bread with an axe and
each man got n liberal chunk. | tasted
this bread several times, and it did not
improve upon acquaintance. 1t seemed to
have been made of equal parts of bran,
sand, SawduSt and was sour besides. This
was an ideal and economical way 10 pre-
pare soldiers food, but | am afraid soup
three times a day is too much of a steady
diet for the American TO adopt. The Rus
sian thriyed on this, for they looked
hearty and strong"
POLICING OF CAMPS.
In cleanliness of camps the Americans
were far ahead. Capt. Franklin states
1.-The Americans kept the best pOliced and
cleanest camps, all garbage was religious.
ly removed and buried in pits at some dis
taIce. / believe it is a second nature with
make others do the same. Anyway, they
made life a burden to the Cinnamon by
insisting on John cleaning out his streets
and houses, which, Judging from their con-
dition, i don't believe had been done since
the visit Of Marco Polo, at least.
The British kept fairly clean camps,
but they seemed to do 1t by spasms. Let
it get dirty and then turn out about q
thousand coolies and do a weeks cleaning
In two hours.
The Japs kept their immediate quar-.
tiers clean but were not at all particular
of their environs. The camps of the Rus
slams and French were plainly perceptiblc
by the olfactOry nerves even at some dis
tance. Little attention was paid to camp
sanitation. Had it not been for the cool
weather that came in September, l think
they would have had trouble with sickness
from this cause.
The Germans kept their camps very
clean and seemed to thoroughly under
stand the value of sanitation. They had
stringent rules regarding the care of the
health of their men, but had the biggest
sick report, / believe, of any, mostly
diarrhea, dysentery and some typhoid, |
believe. This is surprising i'll view Of the
care they took"
TRANSPORTATION.
"In transportation none of the allies
could touch the Americans. Our amount
was limited at first, but this was soon sup
piled. Although we had only escort
wagons, their size and the amount they
hauled surprised the foreigners, and when
We told them that these were our light
wagons, sent because of the anticipated
difficulty of Chinese roads, and that at
home we habitually used a much larger,
stronger wagon, hauled by six mules, and
driven by one man with single line, they
listened politely but didn't believe it.
h0t1r bal Il,
with from $500 TO 1000 pounds, accord
Ing to the condition of the road. But even
Oh the days when the other nations stOD-
ped their trains because of the mud, ours
went through on schedule time. With our
system one man cared for four mules. and
each mulcd hauled from 700 10 1000
pounds of stores. With the cart systems
Of the others, this never exceeded 800
pounds per animal, and each animal re
quired one man to care for him.
Our pack trains also surprised them
great deal. The system of putting the
loads on so that they stayed there until
Unlashed was something new, the "Dia.
mond Hitch" being indeed a mystery to
them. Then, too the speed at which they
Travelled and the small number of men re-
quired to pack and drive the train was
equally surprising. But the one thing that
excited the most comment was the man.
ner in which the mules followed the bell
loose and kept controlled, especially on
herd, by couple of men was remarkable
but when ii came to driving them along
a crowded road and through the labyrin,
thine streets Of Chinese cities, without de
creasing the speed, losing mule, or stop
ping TO adjust loads, they simply marveed
THE JapS had a number Of pack-horse>
with panniers, fierce little japanese stal
lions with shaggy names and bulginG eyes
ench one led by 4 little soldier and horse
and man were generally executing a sort
Of waltz in the dust They were not muct
good. Their principal dependence wGrC
little, one-hOrSc carts, consisting of a light
platform and shafts mounted on two smal
wheels They had neither sides nor ends
and, though Of light construction, wer,
strong. They carried about 800 pounds
maximum load. Each horse was led by
soldier and they were well handled anC
very efficient, but not near so good as
fOur-wheeled vehicle like ours. However
they had plenty Of them and kept them
selves well supplied by their means ant
that is the main thing.
The Russians used twO-wheeled cart
considerably larger than those of the Japs
with laring sides and ends; it was yer,
rOomy and cOmmOdious and strong. The
were drawn by shaggy Manchurian ponie
of great strength and stamina. The
moved much faster than the JapS' carts
which were always led. They carried a
much as 500 pounds over very good road
and for short hauls, but 500 was the aver
age. This cart seemed to me to be e2
t.emely serviceabie, strong, handy an
fairly light and well constructed.