The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-06-18
ARMY RATIONS
SOLD TO GROCERS
Signs of a Big Commissary
Scandal at San Fran
cisco.

Il D
quantities of United States commits
sary supplies are on sale in San FRAN
cisco, and the military authorities are
investigating the source from which
grocers obtain these goods.
The exposure of the ring at Manila
and the conviction of two officers
charged with selling commIssary stores
created unusual interest among gro
GERS and commission brokers in San
Francisco. 1t was generally known to
the trade that governmental supplies
were on sale in immense lots. Mer-
chants are curious to learn how these
goods come into the open market and
are now, and have been, openly sold In
any sized lots, from case to wagon
load, at prices far below wholesalers
quotations.
Cases of canned tomatoes, dried
peaches, evaporated apples and dried
prunes, and coffee and bacon Gall gov
eminent supplies) can be bought at no
| less than four grocery stores in this
city. 1t is possible, of course, that
these goods represent the savings" Of
volunteer regiments, and that the deal
ers obtained them Iegitimately by pur-
| chase, or in exchange for fresh vege-
| tables or other supplies that the sol
diers might prefer to regular army ra-
tons.
Suspicious AROUSED.
But the large amount of these ra
tions on sale has aroused the suspicion
of the army authorities, and men have
been detailed to ascertain where the
dealers got the cases of supplies,
which. being canned or dried, are sell
dom condemned, and, therefore, could
not have been sold from any Of the
commissary depots by orders from
Headquarters.
Major w H. Baldwin, purchasing
commissary for this department, who
issues all subsistence to the Preside
and to the transport service, has In
stituted an independent inquiry. Cap
tain Davis, commissary at the Preside.
has also checked up his stores and
regimental commissaries' accounts are
being gone over to see if there has
been any irregularity in disposing of
rations that were or should have been
| issued to the soldiers.
| ARMY STENCILS IN EVIDENCE.
! Under ordinary conditions soldiers
in camp save 20 to 30 per cent of GER
| tain rations, principally bacon and
beans But this ratio of saving of
these staple foods does not account for
storerooms full of imperishable rations
now held by four north-end grocers.
Canned tomatoes, for instance, are
| never COnQeHlESu ny lHe COiliiiliSSdiy y
| boards of survey, and this article is
included in the list of fresh vegeta-
bles" of the subsistence department.
Thousands Of cases Of tomatoes, pack
ed expressly for the army, and bear
| ing the official stencils of the subsist-
ence depot and Preside commissary.
have been sold in San Francisco at
from 81. 80 to 81. 65 a case. The whole
sale price of these Identical goods is
81. 90 a case.
Prunes, peaches and evaporated ap-
pies, also from the comm1ssary depart
ment, are on sale at the same rela-
lively low price. No. l bacon, army
packed, can be bought in any quaint
ty for IL cents a pound, which is less
than the government paid for it.
COFFEE AS CHEAP AS DIRT.
Soldiers consume nearly all of their
coffee issue, and commissaries don't
expect saving therein, yet army cot
fee can be bought in this city at Il
cents pound by the sack or by the
dozen sacks.
| The investigation by the army Off
Gals has just commenced, and so far
the explanations by the commissaries
and dealers are that these supplies are
savings" procured from volunteer
| regiments that returned from the
Philippines and We're mustered out
The War Department permits compa-
MES to sell or trade unconsumed ra-
tions, but the inexplicable circum-
stance in San Francisco is the great
amount of these supplies that have
| found their way into the Storerooms
and to the shelves of a few grocery
stores.