Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-17

II must be wasted, for the regulations
say that the full quantity must be is
sued every day and no provision is
made for returning the surnIua -
store
The result is that tons of good meat
are given away to the poor of the
helghborhood or even buried in the
camps In England. and hundredweights
OF bread are carried off by the neigh
boring farmers and cottagers for mig
and chicken feed.
The same excessive desire to do the
soldier Well is shown in the rates al
lowed for billeting. when this method
OF housing is adopted. The householder
who takes in a soldier has his choice of
either providing him with shelter and
nothing else, or of boarding him
we'll IL he provides mere shelter the
payment is very small, but if he pro-
Vides food as well the payment is Just
under Sc a week per man. There are
good many people even in the United
states where living Is dearer and the
standard higher than in this country,
who would be glad to-. board an unlimit-
ed number of soldiers at IS a week
The actual cost in this country, of
course. varies with season and locality
put 1t is estimated to be somewhere in
the neighborhood of 81 a week.
In the field the cost of feeding the
soldier is a little less than in camp. as
everything there is supplied to him
dlrect by the army service corps and Is
bought in immense quantities., but 1t
cannot be less than from 80 to IS cents
a day.
No exact figures are available of the
amount spent for food by the German
government on its soldiers, but an
army quartermaster who has visited
Germany in peace time and taken an
intelligent interest in his own business
says that he would be glad to undertake
the feeding Of any quantity Of German
troops at 20 cents per day per head.
X
The same lack of organization and
waste prevails in the clothing depart
ment A few days ago one of the Ger
man commanders in Flanders ordered
his men to cease burying their dead in
their uniforms They were directed to
strip the corpses and send the uniforms
to headquarters. Dead men don't need
clothes. The living do" was the ex-
PLANTATION. In England this year the
writer has heard of horses being bed
ded on cast-of uniforms. Now even
worn khaki is worth more than $40 a
ton for working up again into shoddy.
and thousands of tons Of 1t are regu-
larry burned or otherwise DESTROYED
when the soldier has done with 1t. Old
saddles and harness are likewise
thrown or given away. although there
is a shortage in the country of good
leather, and the price is steadily rising.
In the matter Of soldiers pay. too.
There Is no need to put the English
soldier on the same basis as the
kaiser's men. who receive cent a day.
1t may even be argued that the rs
cents a day which Tommy" receives.
after everything has been provided for
MIN, is not too much, but where there
Is room for reform Is In the pay given
to certain specialist classes In the
army. Motor truck drivers, for In
stance. are paid $3.50 a day, which Is
more than they receive in civil en-
ployment, where they have to keep
themselves. Motor cyclists receive all
sorts of pay, according to the branch
OF the army to which they are at
tached. Some of them receive only the
ordinary rs cents. while others get rs
cents, and still others $3.50.
Grooms at the remount depots. who