The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1908-11-10
The Commisgsry Department Of the

brought to pertect1On anu the Amerl-
can soldier to-day is better fed than
the man who bears arms under any
other flag on earth.
Veterans of the Civil War will re-
call the doggarel in which the fare
of the boys who wore the blue was
designated. 1t was
Beans for breakfast;
Beans for dinner;
Beans for supper;
Beans, beans beans!
The men who followed the stars
and bars we're not SO fortunate as to
have a regular diet of even beans
They frequently subsisted for weeks
at time on few pounds of parched
corn, and they fought we'll under that
diet, too But for years now the best
thought of the commissaries of the
army has been devoted to the inn
provement of the food conditions,
and Brigadier- General Henry G..
Sharpe, Commissary- General of the
Army, has prepared the following
article for the Illustrated Sunday
Magazine on the food of the Army, in
which he gives some interesting data
concerning the method of feeding
Uncle Sans defenders.
While in garrison the enlisted man
III the United States Army is entitled
to draw each day twenty ounces of
fresh beef or mutton, or twelve
ounces of bacon Should it be found
impractieable to obtain fresh meat he
has in lieu thereof sixteen ounces of
canned meat, or canned fish, four
teen ounces of dried fish or sixteen
ounces of picked fish. He may, on
occasion, draw from the commissary
can of beef and vegetable stew con
tanning twenty-eight and one-half
ounces. He is entitled each day to
eighteen ounces of flour or its equiva-
lent In bread, or in lieu thereof TWEEN
ty ounces of corn meal.
OF vegetable components he has
his choice of beans, peas, rice and
hominy and a pound of potatoes, on
ions or canned tomatoes. In addition
thereto he is supplied each day with
about an ounce and half of prunes,
evaporated apples or peaches. An
ounce and third of roasted coffee or
third of an ounce of tea is given to
each man as well as a little more than
three ounces of sugar, and sufficient
quantity of vinegar, pepper and salt.
This is the ordinary garrison ra-
ton. When located at army posts
convenient to city markets the mess
may exchange any portion of its ra-
tions for fresh vegetables, fruits or
other delicacies which strike the
fancy.
The field ration differs in its essen
t1al particulars only slightly from
that issued in garrison. Jam takes
the place of dried fruits and with
each portion of -four is supplied bak-
ing powder or yeast
1t has been the aim of the Depart
ment for some time past to improve
the method of feeding the troops in
the field. With this end in view a
lished at Fort Riley, Kansas, with
branches at the Presidio of California
and at the Washington Barracks, Dis
trict of Columbia. The men at these
schools are instructed in the art Of
baking bread of various kinds and in
general plain cookery, the idea being
to establish corp of army cooks who
can take the ordinary rations issued
to each squad and prepare them in
such manner as to tempt the appetite
of the enlisted men. The result of
this training is that the army cooks
to-day are able to prepare meals out
of the supplies furnished to each
mess which would do credit to an
ordinary hotel. The receipts used in
these cooking schools embrace a
dozen different soups, five or six
methods of preparing fish and oys-
tiers, ten or twelve sauces and gra-
vies, besides fifty or more ways of
serving the various meats and vege-
tables which are furnished as regu-
lar rations, to say nothing of the
numerous methods of making differ
ent kinds of breads, cakes, mullins,
buildings and pies. In short the men
are better served than the men in
civil life in like conditions.
The army cooking schools will re-
suit in the ultimate establishment of
corps of cooks and bakers capable
of preparing appetizing meals at all
times for the troops of the United
States and will assure to them. better
and more varied food than the SOL
diers of any other country can hope
to have. STILL we are, up to the
present time, behind the European
armies in the matter of movable
ovens. At the outbreak of the Span
ish War such contrivances were prac-
tically unknown to the Army. Our
soldiers were compelled to depend
largely upon hard tack for their
bread, although the German and
French armies had adopted the NOV
able oven long before that time. And
even now we have few Of these very
necessary adjuncts to the Commissary
Department, although it is likely that
under new regulations, recently
adopted. these will soon be supplied.
One of the longest steps forward in
the way Of providing for men of the
army on the march Is now being per-
fected by this department That is
the construction Of what is generally
known as "the fireless cooker, a
modification of the Norwegian hay
oven. For two or three years past
- We have been experimenting with