Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-05
Beans on the Side, Makes Up
) a Soldiers Ration.
COSTS TWENTY.0NE CENTS
This Neal Provided Today and Yes.
! terday for Five Years.
BUT THERE ARE OTHER THINGS
..Commissary Swaps Surplus for Deli
( cacies-But Cost Is way Up,
and Stays So.

&: Estimates have just gone in Tor feeding
the army for the current year. The Gu
listed man is going to get just the same
sort Of a ration that he has always had
for 81 and fraction cents.
This may seem little surprising to the
private citizen who has been paying 81
rents a pound for breakfast bacon. For
the current conception Of the army ration
l. beans and bacon, with bacon and beans
by way of variety.
:: The fact is that foodstuffs of all sorts
have gone up. 1t is costing more per
man to feed the army than 1t has ever
cost before, but even at that the enlisted
man has the best OF the private citizen
in what he eats and what he pays for 1t.
Not the Lean Bacon.
=. Bacon costs more and the soldier does
not eat the sort of bacon that the house
holder insists on having with his eggs
in the morning. But the government
buys In such huge quantities and the
army contracts are SO sharply contested
Tor among the bidders that the commits
sary department is able to buy for much
less than the retail market price.
With pigs selling at 10 cents a pound
On the hoof, the more weight farmer
can make his pigs put on. the more he
will realize in the market. The light
breakfast bacon is made. are a luxury.
Nature would grow them. but the far
liner intervenes. The result is he feeds
Ais pigs to the waddling point.
: The army can get this fat bacon for
~ cents a pound. Five years ago the
:. apartment was paying from IL to ID
-Gnts a pound for the same bacon and
thought that was high.
:. Food Prices All Up.
:. The army officers who do the buying
Ray that everything else has advanced
lin proportion. Potatoes. flour and fresh
meat have all gone up almost in the
same proportion as bacon. The purchas-
ling onicers say there IL no prospect OF
their coming down. -
:. The dealers, the farmers and the Gus
toners have all been gradually educated
up to the higher prices. Farmers and
dealers are not going to let the educa-
lion 60 to waste, IL they can help it.
The consumer would like to forget
ii If he could.
In spite Of big crops and production
overtaking population. which It is doing,
according to the report of the Secretary
Of Agriculture, the commissafy officers
say no material drop Of prices is likely. ::
SO; the enlisted man keeps on being fed
as usual. The army ration this year is as
1t was five years ago. No healthy, hum
cry man could eat It all If he tried.
commissary Swaps Bacon.
It - MOI Intended that it should all be
eaten. At least not In just that: form.
Each company commander looks after his
own 1ness. What - left over, in the way
Of regular r4tiona not consumed, he is at
liberty to cosnmuta&e into other eatables.
So that. with the aid OF the uneaten
part OF the regular ration. the mess can
buy thinss not on the regular ration list
and thus secure variety. How much this
saving is and how great the variety de-
pends on tao managing capacity OF the
company commander and his mess SER
gent
They are housekeepefse Hike other house,
keepers. On their personal skill and At
teu1Son depend what sort Of q bill Of fare
10 served to the men.
30 prices have gone up. And the prob.
lem OF the commissiafy general and the
omcerS under him Is to make q dollar
do what 50 cents would have done a few
years 1to.
They are doing it as we'll as they can.
By buying crafty and In quantities, thew
have SO fer managed to keep the price
OF the ration down to figures that would
astontsh the average housekeeper.
inst 10 the reason the enlisted man stin
has bacon, even II II is fat. The Secretary
Of Agriculture says the housekeepers -of
the cities can solve the problem to some
extent by cooperative buying; hut the
question Ii whether they viii. y a.