The Minneapolis journal., 1905-11-18
PURCHASED FOR FORT
SMELLING SINCE JAN.

Pepper ............... 1900 pounds
| 6utter .............. o,uoo POUNDS
Sugar ......,..........z, z,r-..s,2 2 cars /
Pickles ......t.......... 2,oo7 gallons /
Tomatoes ........... 1850 cans /
BY CAPTAIN JOHN II. PARKER,
commlssary Twenty eighth Infantry,
4 81 I Fort Smelling ~ 9 w. vi
Thousands visit Fort Smelling an
nually to marvel at the precision of the
soldiers at drill and the wonderfully
systematic conduct Of the entire post
without once thinking of the elaborate
system employed in feeding the hun
dreds of men quartered at the post. They
have heard that the American soldier is
the best fed fighter in the world, but
the average person has little comprehen-
sion of the great labor of the subsistence
department to which is intrusted the
difficult task of feeding the hungry
regulars: E, +o,,,o a;ro. cana ida.
of the Importance Of the subsistence de-
,partment at Fort Smelling, but facts,
not contained in theS box, which are
daily encountered byU the c0mmissary
officer and his men would FILL a large
and interesting volume: :, i -
= The duties of the subsistence depart
ment consist in the purchase, issue and
sale, and accounting for all the articles
necessary for the subsistence of the
army. The work requires the services OF
small army Of officers, non-commls-
stoned officers, clerks and laborers to
do the work. The officers are the di-
recting heads, the on-commissloned Of
ficers are the expert accountants; the
clerical and manual labor is done largely
by the soldiers who are to be fed.
!. Costs se,25o,ooo a Year.
/ six million two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars were appropriated. by
congress for the subsistence Of the army
in 1905. All this money was disbursed
by commissary officers. A perfect check
on their operations was kept, to the last
dollar, in the office of the commissary
general at Washington. Not cent was
lost by misappropriatlon, nor was a
single complaint made during the year
| in regard to the quality of the rations
so far as is known.
The duties Of commissary officers vary
with circumstances. There are forty
| three permanent commissaries in addi
tion to the regimental staff officers, OF
whom there is one captain to each regl
ment temporarily on commissary duty
Some: ARE purchasing commissar!es
whose business it is to GO out in the mar
/ supplies required for the army. This il
done almost wholly by advertisement
and bids. The lowest responsible bidder
| is always successful. The advertise
ment specifies what articles will be re
quired, where and when they shall bt
delivered. Bids are submitted in sealet
, envelopes which are opened IN the office
of the purchasing commissary IN thu
| presence of the. bidders on the deslg
mated day. .-
when bids are opened is often stacked
full Of samples which must be compared
/ with each other before contracts ar
awarded, as the quality of the supple
is always taken into consideration. Buy
ing at Wholesale, in. large quntities, tn
! lowest prices are secured; and by tn
system of advertisements and bids 1t !
| guaranteed that business men shall hay
fair play and Uncle Sam get the wort
Of his money. There is one of thes
purchasing commissarles IN almost ever:
large city.
Condemn Adulterants.
Several commissaries are on duty a
Chicago at the great packing houses
l studying the methods of packing an
curing meat and it's products. 1t Is SAT
to say that since this custom has bee
inaugurated there will be no more tai
of "embalmed' beef or "rotten
| canned roast beef, such as that com
planned Of in 1898. y,
One of the regular .commissary off
GERS, Captain Murray is noted as
close Investigator Of everything tina
pertains to army cooking. He has estat
iished schools for army cooks and baker
at Fort Riley and is conducting man
experiments there with view. to IN
proving the ration. 1t was he VIII
brought the so-called freless cook stow
into prominence by his experiments, an
secured the adoption of machine 10
; kneading bread dough-,
About 1 100 men are fed at Fort Smell
mo: rather more than one-sixtleth
\ the whole army Its commissary dePar'
ment is a fair example of the work :! e
feeding the army. The commlssary on
Ger there keeps cash and stock booR
inst like any wholesale or retail groce
His business is like that of a Wholesal
, and retail grocer, but without profit
any one in the military service. IL
business is done under three heads
cash, sales and issues. HIS casn poof
Total sales October, 1905, 81 l.94; e
tai sales since Dec. l, 1904, $l0,121.l;
4 cash @ disbursed October, 1905, $2,979: 81
> total cash paid out since Dec. Z, 19o
u 900 57O83: cash received by transfe
: October, 1905, $1,S14.2S; total cash T
= ceived by transfers since Dec. !, l9o
: $22, ,e71.e$.
Milk and butter not being part I
= tbe ration supplied by the governmen
e off;cers and soldiers have to buy the!
:. articles. The commissary at Fort one,
: ING has recommended that they
added to the ration at the rates
: one half pint Of milk and two ounc
= of butter per man per day. Ii tn
;, suggestion be approved it will cost tt
Government about 31a cents per ma
Der day, in addition to the present co
Of the ration, which lis II cents p
man. per. day. The additional cost WI
: be 1923 per day per company. al
would foot up to the respectable hgu
of over $s00O00 year for an arm
of $4,000 men. S IS
r Americans Best Fed. sa
: TheSpresent army ration of the A1ne
!. lican soldier is acknowledged toabe I'll
!. best in the world; it is not to
q classed with the cup of soup and nan
q full Of miliet supplied to the Russia
! soldier, or the packet of rice, dried n n
o and tea given to the Japanese. 81
: neither is the daily food of the Amer
( can citizen to be compared with that
the common people in those countrle
4 It is thought that the people of tn
!. country are rich enough, and genero'
enough, to want the food OF the