Plentywood herald., 1931-09-17

ton taken by the assistant commissary
subsistence officer defined.
It is evident, from a further reading
of the correspondence, that the quality
Of the foodstuffs and goods received
was not guaranteed Soldiers, who are
addicted to the use of tobacco are
quick to detect inferiority in the prod
uct.
Lieut.. Randall, on June 18, 1877,
writing to the commissary general Of
the army, said, complaint having been
made Of the tobacco, send the state
ments of two intelligent officers who
use plug tobacco. do not use plug
tobacco, and am not a judge of it. 1t
is only when the plugs are cut open
for use that the defective quality is ap-
parent. These complaints are so gen.
eral, that / beg leave to call the at
tention of the commissary general to
the subject"
Two of the expert and intelligent"
tobacco chewers directed their COM
munication embodying their complaint
to Lieut.. Randall.
II have the honor to state" wrote
William H. Walsh, private, Co. F.,
22nd Infantry, that the plug tobacco
issued at the present time, marked
Harris, Beebe and Co., Quincy, ILL.,. is
full of sand, or grit, and / have at
various times found small pieces of
cloth, pieces of wood, and occasionally
tacks, or nails, and when used for
smoking purposes it seems to collect in
hard lump in the bowl of the pipe,
and unless it is mixed with other to-
bacco, it is impossible to keep it lit.
This statement was corroborated by
David Ryan, private, Co. G., 5th In
fantry. II fully agree with the remarks
made by Private w. n. Walsh, Co. F.,
22nd Infantry, and would also state
that the outside leaves of the plug to-
bacco used are apparently the only part
fit for use, the inside, or heart Of the
tobacco in the plug being, in my opin-
ion, worthless. AS 1 am at the present
time employed in the commissary at
this place, I am able to say that this
is the general verdict of the enlisted
men of the command"
Additional river steamers arrived at
the cantonment during the latter part
of June, each unloading miscellaneous
lots of subsistence stores and commits
sary property. The list of river craft
includes the Kate Kinney, June 26
which brought along, besides foodstuffs
number of pieces of office furniture
A mackinac boat arrived the same day
with nearly 1000 pounds of potatoes
from Fort Ellis, M. T. Canned fruit and
a box Of bluing and case Of linen were
unloaded from the Steamer Arkansas
on July 2. The Steamer Ashland, or
June 20 brought hard bread and bacon
in considerable quantities, as did also
the Steamer John M. Chambers, load
ed heavily with its cargo which was
unloaded That same day the Steamer
Peninsula brought its cargo which II
part, was made up of dried fruits, fol-
all of which the subsequent CORE
spondence shows that receipts were
mailed to the headquarters at st. Paul
4 Forwarding subsistence stores anc
supplies to the troops in the field L
the subject of correspondence also
while the movement that had for it,
purpose the enlargement of the facil
tiles at the cantonment for baking
bread and conserving the supplies, a:
well as the unique method adopted tx
weigh cattle and instructions given fol
their transport on hoof, will be de-
tailed in the next installment of thL
series of sidelights on the feeding o.
the army in operation in the Indian
infested territory of the northwest {
half century and more ago.
(To be continued