The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-05-21

Oh oUO young men are daily looked af
ter, says the Christian Herald In hy-
glene Observance, quality, cooking and
serving OF the foodstuffs Uncle Sam has
the model kitchen and dining room of
the country. Wholesome and absolute.
~ pure are all viands. fluids and solids
served The great hotel keepers are
constantly sending their stewards and
chefs to inspect it and to study its
labor saving devices
The writer made a visit to the cadet
mess at dinner hour and witnessed the
perfect and quick method Of serving
food in a limited time. Should about
2oo American youths. every one of
them with the appetite of farmer S
son, march into a dining room Of any
one of the great hotels, with only
about forty minutes in which TO eat
their dinner, and only one waiter to
each twenty boys, the manager would
be likely to have a riot on his hands in
few minutes which would undoubted
~ stagger the chef and cause a STAN
Lede back in the kitchen. Suppose. in
addition, that back in the kitchen there
are only two cooks for these lads. Sup
pose that 500 portions Of roast beef
have to be carved between times, the
vegetables and the desert likewise
10 be served. the dishes of each course
to be turned out in orderly fashion,
with no confusion and with appetltes
satisfied. Yet this is what is done
three times day at the United States
military academy at West Point, and
there is not any riot in the mess hall
nor any confusion in the kitchen. The
cadet mess is IN Grant hall, situated Il
little TO the rear Of the academic build
ing. The cadets march TO the mess by
companies, after first lining up in front
of the barracks. The entire corps is
accompanied by the commandant of ca
dets. who, after seeing them seated.
dimes on the same fare in an adjoining
room, The time allowed for eating is,
for breakfast and supper, twenty five
minutes; dinner. forty minutes. The
spacious mess hall, when filed with its
rows of straight. athletic figures in
gray coats with glittcring buttons. en-
hvened by the hum of half thou
sand voices, presents q most animated
scene. Ten cadets are seated at a ta
bic, and no time is lost in waiting for
prciminaries. \ signal bell from the
chef sets the head waiter and his
trained assistants in motion. and, in Il
few moments after soup is served, ev-
cry table has its allotted pinttcrs of
meat ready sliced, several vegetable
dishes, dessert, fruit, etc, In readiness
on the cloth,
The sittngs are not permanent. as
each man is shifted several times a
year, being matched in height. Capt.
Thomas Franklin. treasurer of the mil
ltaTy academy and considered one of
the most efficient commissarv experts
in the army, has charge of the cadet
mess. He has introduced many labor
saving appliances, and has brought the
mess up to the highest state of hyGic
mic and economic perfection. The
army commIssary experts have by eX-
perimcnts determined the most whole
some kinds of food. the relative
amounts of waste material in differ
ent sorts the amount and composition
of the waste products and their rela-
tion to food and work performed, the
amount of work possible on Il given ra-
ton. and. in short. the best and most
economical food for maintaining the
body machine i'll perfect condition aud
enabling It 10 perform thc necessary
amount Of physical and mental work.
Notwithstanding the amount Of de
tailed labor spent in examining, pre-
pairing and cooking the food of the
highest class, il costs the govern.
ment only 63 cents a day TO furnish
meals to each cadet. His board bin
- =,
which is paid out of his government
allowance. For the whole corps, aver.
aging about 800 yearly, $4,000 is cX.
pended.
The kitchen is equipped with all the
latest culinary devices. The flooring is
of white tile The ceiling is high and
the room well lighted and ventilated.
Lining the sides are large broilers.
huge copper soup caldrons, coffee. tea
4 Il. 4.
connected, meat slicing machines. cut
ting hundreds Of slices in few mo.
mcnts. and I'm egg boiling apparatus.
where 500 eggs arc cooked in a few
seconds
One Of the most interesting of the
kitchen machines is the potato parcr
1t consists of a big hopper into which
bushels of potatoes are dumped. In
the bottom and along the sides are
what ii housewife would call nutmeg
gratcrs. The skin is peeled of the
potatoes, and a saving of so per cent
is made over odinarY potato pecIiug
The roast beef is carved by machine
making 800 cuts in less than Eve min.
utes The doors of the dining hall
! open and shut automatically as the
| walters pass through with their loaded
| trays.
One of the ingenious labor.savine
! contrIVanccs IN use, which would be a
| joy to the average American house
wife, is the dishwashing machine. This
is arranged in a horsesboe-like fash
| ion. The plates and dishes TO be cleaned
are stacked in round wire baskets 4
basket is lifted up by travelling de
vice, with hoops attached. aud ther
submerged for a short time in three
circular tanks, The first tank contains
soap and lullewarm water, the next
clear hot water. These two remove al
the meat particles The last is dir
into n boiling hot bath. This 6na
plunge serves for drying. so that nj
after.wiping with cloths is necessary
Two articles Of the cadet mess arr
especially noteworthy, namely, the mill
and bread More than 100 gallons ot
milk are consumed daily. Over across
the Hudson, some eight miles back
among the hills Of Putnam county
which are covered with wealth o.
green pasturage, the dairy is located
Here roam a herd of about 100 choice
cows whose milk is used exclusivel,
for the cadet mess. Every morning a
a. 1n a mule team leaves the farm