The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-04-12

ants, heretofore dubbed berth deck
cooks likewise are furnished and
subsisted entirely at the governments
expense, while extra issues of utensils
are made from time to time 10 meet
reorganized cuisine.
There is a chief commissary steward
on each ship, whose function it is to
manage entirely the culinary depart
ment. His principal assistant is the
commissary steward, and under the
latter come the various grades of cooks
and bakers, these being the men who
see that Jackie has his soft bread when
the ship is many days at sea and
leagues upon leagues away from shore
supplies. All of these cooks are full
ly qualified, not the makeshifts of the
old system, and there is no reason
why the food should not only be well
and appetizingly cooked, but just as
attra ctively served.
The commissary stores, apart from
the service ration features. are now
bought through subscription on the
part of the enlisted men concerned.
The first profits of these stores repay
the subscribers and the extra profits
are used to increase the stock in
hand. At the end of a commission the
assets of these stores are equally dis
tributed among the members of the
general mess. This, in effect is
something like an exchange on each
ship and permits Jackie to add to his
fare at a modest outlay.
The ships company is no longer di-
vided into d number of separate messes
of twenty persons each, with independ-
ent arrangements. They are still
grouped in bodies of about twenty, but
the ships company constitutes one
general or consolidated mess, and all
are fed alike.
Forty years ago the government
made the last substantial change in
the ration of the enlisted force of the
navy, and from that day to last year,
with the single exception of the acts
of 1872 and 1ss0-the first providing an
additional ration of tea or coffee md
sugar to each seamon an first turning
out in the small hours of the morning,
and the second providing or permitting
the substitution of "desIccated toma-
toes for dried potatoes-Jackie has
been fed substantially upon a diet
years behind the times 1t is true the
regulations showed certain variations
of the prescribed ration set by the act
of July Is, 1861; but there is a long
difference between a bill of fare and
the served dish, as we have all learn
ed in even the best of restaurants at
times, and Jackie's cook seldom If ever
processes to qualifications a bit in 3d-
vance of those demanded by the very
cheapest of boarding houses. There
was a desplorable loss due to wasteful
method or lack of method in prepar-
alton, and there was much sadder
loss caused by the univiting way of
serving.
The names that Jackie has given to
so many of his sea dishes told more
than anything else the color of the
mental glasses through which he view
ed them, and the skill in their prepar
ing-if the term apply at all-had re-
NAMED pretty much the same hit-and-
miss fashion for the last three-quarters
of a century, with some modest excep-
tions.
The term ration means the one daily
issue of food for the individual, an al
lowance, since 1870, having commuta-
tive value of 30 cents, and intended
to supply them all for three weeks. In
March Of 1894 Congress provided that
the ration per diem and for each day
of the week should be as follows:
Sunday-One pound Of bread, one and
one-half pounds of beef and one-half
pint of rice.
Monday-One pound of bread, one
pound of pork, half pint of peas and
beans and four ounces of cheese.
Tuesday-One pound of bread, one
and one-half pounds of beef, one pound
of potatoes or turnips and pudding.
Wednesday-One pound Of bread.
two opnces of butter or six ounces of
molasses, four ounces of cheese and
half pint of rice.
Thursday-One pound OF bread, one
pound of salt fish, two ounces Of but
ter or one gill of oil, and one pound of
potatoes.
Saturday-One pound of bread, one
pound of pork, half pint of peas or
beans and founr ounces of cheese.
And there are also allowed half a
pint of distilled spirits day, or, in
lieu thereof, one quart Of beer to each
ration.
In 1901, upon the reduction of the
navy, -four, suet and vinegar made
their appearance in the ration, and it
was forty years before another change
was made. BY that act, however, tea,
coffee, cocoa, sugar, pickles and cram
berries were allowed, while the spirit
ration was cut down to one gill, and
substitution of fresh vegetables and
fresh meat was authorized, and raislns,
which made plum duff possible, came
into the bill of fare.
At this time the communicative value
of the entire ration-i. e., the three
meals per diem-was 20 cents. Viewed
in the light of modern conditions and
realizing the stress and toll incident
to the navy of the forties. it is hard
to understand how the men were kept
fit for work. In fact, the records OF
the service show that they frequently
were not equal to their tasks, and the
stories of the sailors dread, scurvy,
are frequent, especially during the