The Nenana daily news., 1919-06-13
WASHINGTON.-"Soldiers


 fought against Spain in 1898 lost in weight on an average P pounds each; the average American soldier at the end of the fighting in 1918 weighed twelve pounds more than he did when the selective service act or his own volition brought him into the army"
 Thus the success won by he army's subsistence branch in the great war is epitomized in chapters Of the official war material" his tory just made public by the war department.
 The food problem of an army of 3,70G,O00 Americans is visual 3ized in the history by considering i the force as single man and the entire war period as one dinner hour. Articles comprised in the army ration assumed these Ire mendous totals:
 Roast beef s0O,0OO,0oO pounds bacon 15O,O00,000 pounds; flour fbread) 1000, 100000 pounds; but ter 17,500,000; oleomargarine Ill., 000,000; baked beans 150,000,0G0 pounds; potatoes 4S7 100000 pounds onions 4O,OoO,000 pounds; corn, beans, and peas 150,0o0,000 cans tomatoes 19O,oOo,000 cans; prunes, peaches and apples (for dessertl 107,000,0 ,000 cans; sugar 350.0O0,90j pounds; coffee 75,000,00O pounds evaporated milk 200, O,00o,0o0 cans.
 The bill for this "meal' amounted to s727, 100000 to December 1, 1918, the per capita cost having risen from 1 cents in 1897 to 48 n 1918.
 At the time of the armistice, American soldiers in France were consuming 9,o00,000 pounos of food daily. Moving this stupendous quan- tity over the 3,000-mile line of com munication was the principal oh- s stacle to be overcome This and necessity for conserving cargo srace led directly in the latter months to the shipment of dehydrated vepe- tables to the American expeditionary force.
 ''The problems were solved only by the assistance of tne American food industry" the report says. and while instances were found of food specifications being violated these are declared to have been very few and in most instances not in- tentional.
 ! The emergency ration of the American soldiers, designed to be used only in cases of extremity, was perfected during the war lo consist of 3 cakes of beef, prepared with a bread compound of ground cooked wheat, each cake weighing ounces three 1-ounce cakes of chocolate :; three-fourth ounces fine salt and 1 dram black pepper.
 A special ration was designed for the use of invalid soldiers, including potted chicken, fried eggs, pud- dings, etc. .- |; Importance attached to the supply of fresh coffee for the men is evidenced by the decision to ship the bean in the green form and have it roasted near the front. This led to the invention of portable roasters capable of handling several tons day.
 Noting that tobacco has estab- Eshed its claim to a recognized place in the soldiers life,' the re- port says probably 95 per cent of the American expeditionary force used the weed in one form or an- other. Monthly shipments averaged 20,000,000 cigars and 425,00o, 900 cigarettes.
 { The soldiers sweet tooth was sat isfied by a monthly shipment of 300,000 pounds of candy during the early part of the war, but this was increased in November, 1918, to 1,373,300 pounds, and in the follow ing month the war department made candy part of the regulation