The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 20, 1918, Page 9

R S SRR -signed without. looking, too. _ through when we signéed our B e me—— Taking Army Life With a Happy Smile The Nation’s Job of Feed- ing and Clothing Millions Impresses a Recruit BY E. B. FUSSELL IFE in the army is just standing in one line after another. Anyhow, that is the idea I got in my first few days, after I had been sent to Jefferson Barracks, 17 miles south of St. Louis, for “examination, equip- ment and completion of enlist- ment.” We stood in line, when we got there, to get a bath. We stood in line to get blankets and cots, and first marched downstairs and then some one sent us upstairs. The cot and blanket supply gave out before half the line had got them and they turned us fellows in the last half of the line around and started to march us back again and the fellows .who already had blankets and cots started to give as the horse laugh. But then somebody ordered the fellows who had got their cots and blankets to ‘pack them upstairs and put them back again. And as they trudged upstairs with them we gave them the horse laugh. Finally somebody decided there was enough room for us in some barracks where iron beds and blankets already were laid out, so they marched us over theére. Next day we stood in line for breakfast, which they call “mess.” Some of the fellows, who ex- pecteil grape fruit and poached eggs on’ toast, said the name was about right, too, but it tasted mlghty good to yours truly. And then we stood in line to marc!g up to the bmldmg where they give medical - examinations and stood in line to take our clothes off and stood in line to have numbers painted on our chests and stood in line to get measured and weighed and have our eyes tested and ears tested. And then we stood in another line to have our knees tapped and our bellies tickled to see if our nerves were in good working order. And then we got in another line and hopped around a chair, first on one foot and then on the_other, and then they listened to our hearts and lungs. And then we got into some more lines and went through any number of other stunts and finally they said we were all right and we signed some papers—a lot of them. : IT"S A WAY THEY HAVE IN THE ARMY What were they? I don’t know. I know nobody ought to sign a paper without lookmg at it, but there were half a dozen young lawyers in the bunch that went through with us, and I noticed they all Maybe the reason was that we were tired of standing in line and wanted to get through. But I think the real reason was that they were hustling us through at pretty high speed “They,”—that is, the hus- tlers, were a bunch of regular army sergeants and, believe me, they kept that bunch mov- ing. “Dod gast it, get into line,” one would yell, only he didn’t say “Dod gast it.” - “Get your card, ding bust you, get your card, you jug- head,” another hollered, only he didn’t say “Ding-bust you.” If we thought we were names half a dozen times we .~ were: fooled. We got in line again and first they shot some juice in our right arm to keep .got out at the end of four days. -stay three, four or five weeks, besides which there E. B. Fussell is known to all the read- ers of the Leader. They like his arti- cles as well as he likes the farmers who read them. A few weeks ago, Mr. Fus- sell volunteered and joined the United States army. As soon as he had time, he wrote this letter to the readers of the Leader. It was submitted to his commanding officer and passed without change. us from getting typhoid, and then scratched our left arm and rubbed in some stuff to keep us from getting smallpox, and then we signed some more papers and rubbed lampblack on our fingers and rolled our fingers on a piece of paper to get our finger prints. And then they told us we could go. It took a lot longer to do than to tell about; we: were paradmg around in our birthday clothes for about six hours altogether. But they weren’t through with us yet. Next we’ went to another building to get measured for uni- forms and stood in line again while they measured our feet and our calves and our heads and every- thing else. We certainly expected, from all the measurements that they took, that we -were going to get suits that would fit llke wall paper, but next day, when we went down to get the uniforms, it looked as if they had just given us anything that . was handy. My overcoat was about three inches short in the sleeves, but another fellow had one that was too long for him that fitted me fine, and so we traded. TWO. THOUSAND EAT AT ONE TIME = The other fellows traded, too, and after a while we got something somewhere near real fits. But there were some peculiar combinations. I got a canvas coat and wool trousers; some got canvas trousers and wool coats; some all canvas, some all wool. There were three or four varieties of shoes and every shade of olive drab shirt from a rich mahogany brown to .a pale Gérman gray green. It all goes to show how great the demand has been upon clothing meén in equipping the new army; Uncle Sam, generally a pretty particular cus- tomer, has had to take pretty nearly anything, in the color line, at least, that he could get. I started to tell something about “mess.” First let me explain about Jefferson Barracks. This is a receiving barracks, where they take men who have just enlisted, equip them, give them a little preliminary training and then send them to some regular camp. When I was there new men were coming in at the rate of 300 to 400 a day. We Some have to are two or three companies regularly stationed there to do the depot work. *So with the holdovers - Indian wrestling—a good p'rev'entive of writer’s cramp. ) ' “PAGE NINE : Uncle Sam Does So Well Because He Abolishes the Middleman and everybody, there are about 2,000 enlisted men who sit down, three times a day, to get their meals. They all eat in one big building that can seat about 2,500. There are big doors opening in every di- rection so that no time is lost in getting in, and ‘the food is already on the table, so there is no time lost in starting the real business of the day. Say, it must be a great sight to watch 2,000 men in that big hall, eating at one time. I say it must be a great sight, because I never saw it myself. I was always too busy eating. WELL FED ON FORTY CENTS A DAY . They spend about 40 cents a day per man for food. Now a person wouldn’t think much of a meal could be served for that. But there is this to be said for all the army food that I have run up against so far—there is lots of it, it is whole- some and well cooked, even if there isn’t all the variety in the world and a lot of French sauces and the like. Take dinner, for instance, served in the middle of the day. There is generally stew or boiled meat of some kind, potatoes, either soup or else another vegetable, gravy, white bread and butter, some kind of dessert and coffee. And there is as much of everything as any one wants to eat, with plenty of privates, detailed for “kitchen police,” waiting around to fill the dishes as soon as they are emptied. They are more anxious to fill them up again than regular waiters would be, I guess, because next day they will be in the eating line instead of the wait- ing line, and they know how hungry buck pri- ° vates get. Supper at night is about the same as dinner ex- ‘cept that there isn’t any soup and tea is generally served instead of coffee. At breakfast there is mush of some kind instead of dessert. On Sunday the mess boys spread themselves and serve an extra fine dinner, generally with soup, roast meat, two or three kinds of vegetables, gravy, bread and but- ter, dessert and some apples or oranges besides. And all this is. done on 40 cents.a day. It used to be done for about 30 cents a day. That was before prices began to soar. - 3 But look at the other side a minute or two. I'm not eating army grub. right now, because tech- nically I'm on furlough, taking a special course of instruction for ordnance work, which means the handlmg of artillery, rifles, ammunition, and fight- ing equipment generally. Away back when the regular army ration cost 30 cents a day, they decided that when a man was on furlough he ought to be given the 30 cents a day to buy his own food, as the government would save that much by not feeding the soldier. And while the cost of the average army ration has been increased to about 40 cents (it varies a little at different places) the furlougn ration is still 30 cents. That is what I get during the time I am here at Berkeley, Cal.,, getting my army in- struction. NO MIDDLEMEN FOR UNCLE SAM How far does 30 cents go in buying meals at a restaurant? Well, anybody who reads this will know that he won’t need a telescope to see how far it goes, B e To get as much food as