El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-07-27

and the coffee is served in tin cups.
In these dining-rooms the men are fed
for 40 cents a day, or 1914 cents per
meal. For this they have a dish of
soup. plate of roast beef or other
meat. and a half loaf of bread A
common dish is a stew of rice with
meat or macaroni as a base. 1 re-
member a dinner I had yesterday with
a lot of Spaniards. I was given
quart OF soup which alone was enough
with a great chunk of roast Chicago
beef and potatoes. 1 had also a half
pound of bread and a full tumbler of
wine, the latter equal to that you pay
a dollar quart for at any hotel
The Ration Which Digs the Canal.
I have talked with Col Wilson about
the ration of the silver laborers. 1t is
a pound OF beef, a pound OF potatoes,
one-sixth of a pound of flour, one-half
a pound of rice, and four-tenths of a
from day to day. The staple diet or
the West Indian at home is Goldfish,
rice and sugar. During the past year
Uncle sam has sold $4,000 pounds
been bought by the West India
negroes. At the same time we are
teaching them TO eat beef, and when
the government finds a man who does
not seem strong enough for his work
he is asked as to his food. If he is
not living at a government kitchen he
is given tickets and told that he must
do so. Within short time he begins
TO fatten, and his work comes up to
standard.
The West Indians and also the
Spaniards and Italians eat but little
for breakfast, but they make their
main meals at noon and night. The
actual cost of the kitchen meals is a
more than cents meal. Uncle sam
gets cents, but he has TO pay for the
service.
As to the bread furnished this is
made in the government bakery and
IL is better than any you can buy al
most anywhere in the United States
The flour and all the ingredients are
chemically analysed and full pound
Of bread is put to the loaf The flour
used is a blend of Kansas hard wheat
flour and Dakota hard wheat flour
The loaves sell for cents each. and
they contain as much bread as one
gets for cents in the states. The
Spaniards eat about 90 percent more
bread than the negroes, and the av-
erage consumption of bread in the
hotels IS two-thir0s of a pound per
person a day. 1t is found that the
native American eats more meat than
either the European or the West In
dian, the latter, to great extent, max
ing starch and sugar take the place
of meat.
one Years Hotel Bills.
All Of the supplies for the hotels and
kitchens are bought in quantities, and
handled through the commisSary. The
government here has the biggest and
most complete cold storage plant of
the world, and it sends out a train
OF p cars every morning in to carry
provisions to these hotels, and to the
various families which live in private
houses throughout the Canal Zone It
is estimated that more than 100000
people are regularly supplied by the
department
At present the government is operat-
ing these is line hotels, 16 of the 40
cent-a-day messes, and II of the Ia
borers' supply kitchens. The total
number of meals served last year al
the hotels was 2.216.O00, and the total
number of ratiOns given out in the
European laborers' messes was more
than million, while the rations served
IN the kitchens was less than half a
million.
The number of meals served to the
silver men is steadily growing less,
and this is especially so as to the
negroes. They are building shacks
out In the jungle, and you see their
little one-story huts scattered over
the hills and valleys of the Canal Zone.
They do not like to live in the dormi-
tories, and they prefer to have their
own females" as they call their
women. with them. and to do the cook
ing themselves Such cooking is all
done over charcoal. and the ordinary