The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1916-08-03
HOW OUR SOLDIERS ARE FED
Interesting Account Of the Manner in
Which Uncle sam ArranRes for
Feeding His Men at the Front

FNcntA8 QhaFfpFMN&ttr sergeant VIII
the lst VI Inf located al Eagle Pass
Texas, sent the following letter to tn,
Rutland Daily Herald telling Of tn,
method used Of computing ration cost
and Of the drawing Of ratioHs by the
company comissaries:
The feeding Of upwards Of 1000
men, and still more Of feeding $1,000
men, is some task. but that is what the
men in charge Of the commssary de-
partmcnt in the Eagle Pass district
are up against and | will try and tell
% a small extent the methods en-
ploycd. In our camp, the Vermont
regiment, we have nearly 1000 hsn-
CRY men TO be fed.
"To start the ball rolling, each l5
days the commander Of each company
hands o ration return which in the
total tells the total number Of men
entitled TO rafions from the company
for the 10 days. These returns from
the various companies are consolidated
az headquarters and upon this consoli-
dated return is based the amount Of
money allowed at the chief commits
sary Office for the regiment for the
period In other words, if you had
1000 men for Is days the allowance
would be $1,000 rations.
Cost Per Day TO Feed Men
Each month at the Office Of the
chief commissary the contract prices
Of various articles of food are obtained
and from that and the daily allowance
OF various foods for each man, the
daily ration per man is established for
the month. This month it is 2S.6l
cents per day per man.
Sometimes the allowance gets
down to % cents and sometimes up to
80 cents per man per day. This then
is what each man is allowad for his
food for a day. If there are 100 men
in the company the daily allowance
for the company is S2S.61. In other
words, the company cooks have got to
feed their 100 men today for S2S.6l
and they do it and at the end Of the
month they have some money coming
TO them from the commissary as a
rule.
every morning at Z o'clock our
commissary sergeant and his detail
take the auto truck and go down to the
railroad yard where a car of beef has
been set on the siding and there he
draws what beef is wanted in the regl- |
ment for the day BY the way, beef is
the only fresh meat issued In the
army. other fresh meats have to be
bought outside After the meat is
drawn the truck goes to the post bak-
cry and draws the bread for the day,
running about 500 loaves.
Twice a week other provisions, such as
coffee, sugar and all kinds Of canned
goods are drawn. These provisions
are brought to the regimental com
department where the mess
,ergeants of each company come and
lraw what things they have ordered.
"There are two cooks TO each COM
,any and with their two assistants the
meals are prepared. Each Of the com
,anies has a field range of good size
or their work and things are very ,
Some companies have |
company funds, which enable them
10 have more or better food |
han the ordinary or more ex- [
ras. The ordinary run of food con
lists of meat and potatoes, bread and =
am with vegetable of some kind for |
inner. Other meals are similar. I
'oifec, iced tea or lemonade generally a
orm the liquid part of the meal. S
,tews and soups figure in the bill OF I
are as they use up the small pieces
nd are very nutritious and these s
oints must be looked after in the
eld.
Vermonters' Appetites Good
Immediately after mess call three .
ines a day an onlooker may see lines 4
4 men in front Of the cook tents all ;,
nxiously waiting their turn at the
,od. There is generally enough so n
nat each man has all he wants and Il
lere is sometimes little left over,
ut not great deal as a rule as the ,,
zen are pretty hungry aad dcvour h
in sight h
The kitchens are kept very clean >,
I'd neat and all refuse is burned as IT Il
elects. Sanitary inspections of the ii
tchens occur twice daily and are :,
ade by the medical officers and any a
lult is Mt once rcmcdied The idea VI
screening the kitchen tent with wire m
reening has been started by Com G.
my + Of Mortified and before long :,
'ery kitchen will probably be screen VI
"At present we have details at five IL
ferent ranches in radius Of Is bc
lies and the provisions are carried 20
1t TO them three times a week by :.
Ito truck, so they are not having any IN
rider time Of life than we who re- 60
ain in camp. br
1T is not very often that any fault
found with either the food or the
oking, but even in the best Of famil- al
sometimes things do not turn out II
planned and some meals are not up ha
standard. On the whole there is m,
chance for the men to complain
her on the quality or the quantity =
the food.