Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1916-07-28


American soldiers in Mexico bull
protection against the winds and sun.
of soldiers with loaded rifles will
stretch along for nearly mile. After
the mule teams come the pack mules.
There are six trains of these, each or
So mules. Up in the mountains, where
motors and teams cannot go, wind the
long pack trains. somber. plodding
mules wisely following leader, from
whose neck hangs a changing cowbell.
The mule takes his work philosophic-
ally. After he has plodded all day and
the pack is removed he first lies down
and rolls over and over again. kicking
the air hilariously like baby on its
back, then, with a succession Of snorts,
he jumps up and runs away until he
finds place to Craze, and a swearing
pack driver brings him back several
hours later.
The division quartermaster, Capt.
Lawrence d. Cabell. who has figures
at his finger ends. says that for every
three men in the field there is one man
in the rear or on the road attending
to the supplies. One-fourth Of the army
is caring for the other three-fourths.
That shows that feeding an army is
big task. That fourth also does not
include the mess crews who have
stoves built and Chow" cooking Is
minutes after camp Is reached, ovens
built, with bread and cake baking a
day later, and in a few days fully
equipped open-air Kitchens, protected
by windbreaks of brush and crude
dining tables for officers. The Mexi-
can army has no commissary.
Villa Ragged and Worn.
The little comparison Of what villa
needs every day holds for his entire
bandit band, for each man gets or tries
to get his own and his horses supply.
As to the American army, the COMPARE
son shows only q part Of what must
be transported in the way Of supplies.
1t includes only the bare necessaries.
Feeding the horses and mules is the
big Job in the American army. Each
animal is allowed IA pounds Of hay
and 10 pounds Of oats daily. In rare
cases Of emergency. when supplies are
short. the animals are grazed on the
country. The motor trucks must be
fed Just like the army mule. only their
sustenance is gasoline and oil. Those
now in service consume about 5000
gallons of gasoline daily. The big
metal drums deliver 36,400 pounds
every "a hours. 1t cannot all be loaded
on at the railroad and supplies must
be hauled to the different bases. The
latest innovation is tank-car trucks.
like those on a railroad, to haul the
fuel.
Rations for the Troops.
Each man is allowed on a basis of
81 pounds Of rations a day. He is al
lowed a pound of meat, which may be
either bacon, fresh beef, corned beef.
salmon or canned roast beef. Then
there is a pound of bread, which may
be either fresh from the portable camp
bakeries, or hard bread" cracker.
like substitute for the old bareback.
Four pounds Of coffee are doled out
for 100 men. Then there is an allow.
ance of tomatoes. salt, beans, prunes,
potatoes. pepper sugar. ETC.. making
up the rest of 81 pounds.
Anyone who has seen the busting
quartermaster's stores at one of the
army's bases can understand why the
punitive expedition could not dash
across the border and into Mexico as
fast as horses could gallop. This com.
missary feature tells the need of caring
for the army when 1t is hundreds OF
miles from the borders of the United
States and In a dry, dusty, cold and
mountainous country, which already
has been ravished of its scant re-
sources
At the main base the stores form a
village, like busting open-air rail
road freight depot which has sprung
up over night. more than 100 miles
from the base of supplies or from rail
road trains All that was there the day
| UclOIc was q lltllC 0QOOC nut ohu ~ &c
sufficient only for the mess supplies
of the men who are working day and
| night at the depot.
Long piles of food higher than a
mans head stretch in parallel columns
In one, there are potatoes in sacks
| Others contain boxes, corned beef fol
stew, known as slumgullion, cans Of
salmon from the cold Northwest. bis
bales of salt bacon which 1t takes two
men to carry. hard bread in waterproof
tins. roast beef and other nourishinl
food, each In its separate column
Beans are in an immense uncovered
bin. it's sides built up by boxes, from
which they are measured out with I
shovel. Then there are other big col
umns Of wood for the mess fires ant
scattered around are miscellaneou
supplies, each In its proper place.
Order Out Of the Chaos.
IT. -. ~, looo MT uudorcf q nd IN,