Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-30
No Wonder Germany Quit
BY MAJOR FRANK G. MAHIN
OF the Army Recruiting Station

When the American soldier
went to war against Germany he
took his appetite with him. The
task of keeping that appetite salts
ned with food (and the soldier,
therefore, contented and well) fell
to the Quartermaster General. The
average American soldier at the end
of the fighting in 1918 is said to
have weighed IL pounds more than
he did when the Selective Service
Act or his own enlistment brought
him into the Army This is the
complete testimonial to the quality
and quantity of the food served to
the American troops in 1917 and
1918. Assuming 3,700,0O0 to have
been the greatest number of Amer
leans under arms, this average in
crease in weight means that the
beans and bacon and fresh meat of
the American Army ration were
transmogrified into some 45,OOO,OOO
pounds of Yankee Drawn to be the
basis of untold resources of health
and energy during the coming quar-
ter of century. The American
fighting man of 1917-1S was a good
feeder. He ate nearly three-quar-
ters of a ton of food each year. or
over ten times his own weight.
Without counting any transporta-
ton costs or the expense of hand
ling at all, each mans yearly sup
ply of food cost more than S165.
In spite of the most rigid and pains
taking economies in the purchase
of this subsistence the American
people were paying at the peak of
Army expansion more than $780,
600 per day to feed the troops. Con-
slider these millions of soldiers as
one composite, gigantic man in
khaki; compress the war period
into single hour, the dinner hour;
and it will be seen that the Ameri-
can fighter consumed what might
be called sizeable meal. Let us
say that he started off with the
main course. The roast of beef
weighed over S00,000,000 pounds. 1t
was fianked by rasher of bacon
weighing 150.000,000 pounds. over
1,000,000,O0O pounds of flour went
into the loaf of bread, while to
spread the bread there was a lump
of butter weighing 1850, 900
pounds and another lump of oleo-
margarine weighing 1000, 900
pounds. AS a side dish this giant
had over 150,00O,00O pounds of
baked beans, half of these coming
in cans ready baked and favored
with tomato sauce. The potatoes
weighed 4S7.OO0,0OO pounds. To add
gusto to his appetite there were
100000 pounds of onions. Then
scattered over the table were such
items as $50, 0,000,000 cans of corn,
peas, and string beans; while the
salad contained 50,0OO,000 cans of
salmon and 100000 tins of sardines.
Then there was huge bowl of can
ned tomatoes, nearly 100000 900
tins supplying its contents. For des-
sert he had 67,000,00O pounds of
prunas and 100000 pounds of
evaporated peaches and apples.
The sugar for sweetening various
dishes weighed 350,00O,0O0 pounds.
He washed 1t all down with a draft
made of 100000 pounds of cor
fee thinned with 2O0,OOO,0OO cans
OF evaporated milk. The bill for
the meal, paid by the American
public, amounted to $727,O92,43O.44.
this figure to December 1, 1918. To
get another idea of what these fig
ures mean, consider; if the steers,
necessary to supply the amount of
beef eaten, were herded close to-
bCthClt lhSS WOuiu CONeE fUU acres,
If you ate pound of bacon every
minute of your waking hours 1t
would take you about 35 years to
eat the amount the army ate; 1t
would take about 5000 full loaded
freight cars to carry the -four, -
enough to whiten the surface of the
whole State of Connecticut; spread
as you would on bread, the butter
used would cover an ordinary width
of road stretching from the Atlantic
Coast to the Pacific; if all the baked
beans were in one pound cans, you
could pave the sidewalks on both
sides of all the streets in Harris
burg; there were enough potatoes
and onions to supply about 20 of
one and of the other, to every
person in the U. s.: the canned corn,
peas, string beans, salmon and sar-
dimes, tomatoes and milk would
cover the Island-Fosters Island at
Harrisburg, eleven times; the cof-
fee used would make a cup a day
the year around, for every person
in this State;- or a cup a day for a
month for everyone in the u. S.;
with the sugar used, we could make
a five yound box of candy, for every
one in the u. s.: and to pay the
| bill, nearly 100 dollars per person
would be needed, from everyone in
Pennsylvania. , All of this consti-
tutes another formidable side OF
war making. which Germany had
to contend with"