Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-23
Written for The Star.

| Written for The Star.
Only seven years ago the entire country
! was stirred up over the question of the sol
| d.ers food. Every paper in the country
| printed page after page on the subject. and
people discussed IT in street cars and at tea
parties and in church. Yet not one person
| in every thousand knows how the regular
soldier is fed. Most people think that he
| eats beans, salt pork and bareback three
| times a day and year in and year out AS
| a matter of fact. the soldier of the United
States army is one of the best fed men IN
the world. The Russian soldier eats black
bread and cabbage soup. The Turk eats
| what he can beg, borrow or steal: the Eng
lsh Tommy Atkins has his roast beef, and
the German soldier has sausage and beer;
but Uncle Sans regular has a course din
ner served in bulk and followed by dessert.
Regular Army Ration.
Each soldier receives what is known as
| ration, and the army regulations say that
a ration lis the allowance for the subsist-
ence of one person for one day. and con-
sists of the meat the bread, the vegetables.
the coffee and sugar, the seasoning and the
soap and candle components.''
One mans ration for one day consists OF
twenty ounces of fresh beef mutton,
eighteen ounces of flour soft white bread,
half ounces OF beans peas or rice, six
teen ounces of potatoes or five ounces of any
fresh vegetables, one and one-half ounces OF
coffee, two and a half ounces of sugar or
syrup, vinegar, salt and pepper and soap
anG candles. That is the soldiers ration,
and it certainly sounds dry and uninterest-
ing, does it not? But see what il can be
made to do. No man can eat nearly two
pounds of meat in one day or eighteen
ounces of potatoes, or nearly two pounds of
bread. Nor can he use all the coffee or
sugar or baking powder. So these things
that part of them which is not used-are
sold back to the c0mmissary. who buys
them back at the price the government is
paying for such articles at the time. Then
all the profits of the post exchange are di
vided up among the different companies.
The money, together with that received
from the sale OF the rations, is devoted to
what is known as the company fund. This
fund is devoted to buying extras for the
soldiers table.
Soldiers draw their rations every ten
days. and when the company commander
wishes to draw he makes out what is
known as a ration return.
The company quartermaster sergeant
then sends some men with little handcarts
after the rations, and when they arrive he
separates what is required for the use of
the company and sells the rest back to the
commissary officer In three months one
comrany-G, of the 2lst Infantry-m de Sill
from the sale of rations they could not use.
More than that amount was received as it's
with the two amounts this company ran
| bills in the city with butcher, baker. milk
man, grocerman and laundryman. AS a re-
suit of all this they lived well.
Representative Bills of Fare.
Every day the quartermaster sergeant
makes out bill of fare for the next three
meals, and after it has been approved by
the company commander it is entered upon
the slate in the kitchen. A file of these
bills of fare is also kept in the orderly
room. That you may see how the company
lived L will give you in full a bill of fare
for three different days. one holiday, the
other two ordinary week days:
Washingtons birthday - Dinner - Oyster
soup, with crackers: roast beef, mashed po-
tatoes, brown gravy, tomatoes. celery, APP
PIES bread, pickles and tapioca pudding.
December %, week NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
baked with bacon, vegetable soup, cucum-
Der pickles. bread, pie.
Tor breakfast that day the men had NUT
N stew bread and coffee, and for supper
they had hot cakes with syrup, stewed ap-
pies and bread and coffee.
On December II, also a week day, this
company had beef la mode, bread dress
ing, boiled potatoes, vegetable soup, bread
and water.
But the great dinner at the military post,
as everywhere else, comes on Christmas.
On this day, beside each mans plate, was
little menu card, and the bill of fare for
dinner read:
Celery, roast turkey, cranberry sauce
mashed potatoes gravy la turk, crack
er dressing. mince pie, currant cake, ice
cream, oranges, bread, tea and cigars"
There are certain rations that cannot be
sold back to the commissary, and which
the men must eat. Among these is salmon.
which is issued in cans 1t is the very best
grade of salmon, and the only reason the
men do not take kindly to it Is because in
the Philippines they live largely on fish,
both fresh and canned. and now hate the
very sight of fish in any form.
The Good Old Days.
Before the sale of beer in the post ex-
change was stopped by act of Congress the