The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 2, 1900, Page 7

FORT RENO WHERE EXPERINENTS WITH NEW RATIONS ARE exter, who re- Okla., with a de- pe t & new-thing - but the pres er f being in 4if- fe of the three ra- ch tin are » three mtrast it is well to fon. This rder signed December 5 g as follows nder the auth y vested by section 1146 of the Revised 8 he President hereby estab. . emerger ration for troops rating for short perfods under cireum- ¢ h require them to depend carried upon their persons. nt parts are as foliows -16 ounces. 4 ounces, or an equivalent in al for making soup. es (roasted and ground), Secretary of War directs ration be resorted to ising in active opera- re use of the regular estab- 2 may be impracticable. That, its nutritive qualities permits its half allowance, it will not be so in cases of overruling neces- never for a longer period than ‘ays, and that not more than five s' emergency rations be carried on L persons at one time, Wanted—an Ideal Ration. T course, the United States army needs emergency ration for the use of troops sent euddenly into a hostile country be- yond a bese of supplies, where it would be possible to forage on the enemy. he ration should occupy & minimum space, should sustain the sol- dler’'s strength, preserve his health and bs palatable. The War Depastment has long sought such an ideal ration, but has fail- ed to find it. In the Philippines the reg- ular field ration was issued to troops sent on emergency expeditions, with the result that at the beginning of the war 20 per cent of the detalled men were out of ser- vice in two days. A greal many preparations of food were submitted to the board, but only three ra- tions were deemed worthy of practic: test. One was prepared by the board, another by a compressed food company in New Jersey and the third came from a Western packing concern. A single ra- tion was expected to keep a man in good condition for twenty-four hours. Bach of the three rations was contained in an air- tight box. The board’'s compound was made up of two cakes of sweetened chocolate and three cakes of a meat and cereal compound. The Eastern company’'s ration had a cake of sweetened tea leaves and a cereal compound for making soups or a sort of Hamburger steak. The West. ern ration had tea for a stimulant and extract in its food combinations, meat THE SUNDAY CALL. 1 N THE FIELD Each ration had a small quantity of.salt and red pepper for seasoning. Emergency Rations Practically Tested Twenty-five men of Troop A, Eighth Cavalry, were sent into the field to make the test. They were to subsist entirely on the emergency rations. They were sent away from Fort Reno to Fort Still, making detours on the way. Morning and evening of each day the men . were stripped, examined and weighed and thelr pulse and temperature were taken at In- tervals during the day. The record thus secured was used by tha board in determining how the rations af- fected the welght, health and strength of the men. At the end of the seventh day the men reached Fort Btill. Then the pe- turn trip was made under the same condi- tions, only substituting another of the ra- tions’ submitted. third trip . will - be made to test the last of the compounds, A D:msk OF THE FUTURLE, SAMED , PLEASE Pyss PP OPTTTTTTFT I 'Tha board was naturally inclined to re- gard its own ration with the greatest In- terest. The chocolate weighed four ountes.and the meat and cereal in com- bination ~respectively four and elght ounces, a total weight of sixteen ounces, besides tliree-quarters of .an ounce of salt and one grain of red pepper. The ration was contained in a hermeti- cally sealed can with rounded edges, like a flask, 6% inches long by 13x2 inches. The can is opened with a key. The ra- tion is to be part of the permanent equip- ment of the soldler in the fleld. It can be eaten in four ways, dry, as a soup or por- ridge, or the porridge may be fried. ““The board's ration was prepared under our own personal supervision,” sald Cap- tain Fountain in d:ll_ucussln! thé matter a RATION NOW BEING TRIED AT FORT RENO. o ’§ days, but arter that time they seemed to enjoy it. I think the report will encour- age the War Department to adopt the emergency ration. “Thoroughly cooked wheat was ground into coarse flour. This was mixed thor- oughly with desiccated beef that had been pounded to an impalpable powder, giving us the ideal food of the American soldler, bread and meat. This mixture was pressed into small cakes, each large enough for a single meal: This com- pound is a tissue.builder. It contains a mimimum of fat, for the reason that fat combined with a cereal or vegetable re- sults in rancidity unless prevented by chemical processes, and chemicals produce indigestion . and other stomach troubles. Originally our ration contained more than 13 per cent of fat, but we reduced it to about 5 per cent. We depend upon the fat already stored in the soldier's body to supply his needs. The German army uses large quantities of peas and beans, which contain much putrition, but we ‘found that they caused disorders of -the stomach unless thoroughly cooked, and only. the eating will tell how weil they have been cooked. Coffes Favorite Stimulant. “There was considerable discussion in choosing our stimulant. Eight out of ten Americans prefer coffee to tea or choco- . Few Americans like tea. There was an !msurmountable obstacle in the way of our choosing coffee—namely, that it loses its strength when parched. The board received a sugar-coated coffee pill which was highly recommended. The sugar was good, but the coffee was no longer coffee. A cake of parched and ground coffee, tightly compressed, came from Germany, and was reasonably good, but it took ?F too much space to’ pe used with the ration. In choosing sweetened chocolate the board got a serviceable stimulant. _Chocolate can be eaten like candy, and fire and water are not needed to prepare it for use. In addition to its stimulating quality, which is not_tlssue building, chocolate contains cocoa butter, 2 00d. “The question to be decided is whether our ration has sufficient quantity and 2}’“"! and will not nauseate when used one. Acting Commissary General Weston, to ‘whom the report was submitted In Wash- ington, and who will forward it to the o . AR L B % A %S S 8NN ANOTHER TYPE OF RATION.. ONE DAYS Secretary of War, with such’ comments as i sald while in New t .he result of the tesiy would undoubtedly be made *he basls ol adopting an emergency ration. But this ces not mea t an emergency ration be rated as a reguiar ration, no ma. ter hbow favorable the report may be. It is the of ihe Commissary De partment that it always mana an ample supply of the fui. accompanying every milita‘y ex however sudden the departure or rem the piace. When the new form of emergency ration is adopted its use will be made available by distribution at every army post. It will be hermetically sealed anc will keep in- definitely. The ration can be used whea an expedition is starting and if the regu- lar supE!les keep pace with ._e soldiers it can be returned. On each can-orders are printed that the ration Is not to be opened except by order of an officer or 1% extremity. Directions as to how to pre pare the food are printed on the wrappers and In case there are no ties for preparation the ration m: caten dry. Professor Atwater's Views. Many persons not army are interested centrated food. Prof the expert food anal versity, sald to the Herald rep that the G teresting the same rem critics made onne. fare would be. tion was likely in consequence. Professor Atwater observed that if the men were as actively ¢mployed as if they were in a regular campaign. engaged ' battle, more food would be required tha: if they were doi routine work. Then, too, the char of the ingredients of the conce: ed ration was a very im- portant factor. Anather professor said he was of tho opinion that a soldier would require more than a pound of food a day (the estimated weight of the new emergency ration), no matter how highly concentrated it was, for there appears to be no food that would furgpish an adequate ration for a fighting man that could be concentrated into s small a compass. All of the medical men, college demon- strators and military authorities who have been consulted agree that thess army experiments are of great value in any event, because they are certain .to lead sclentists to study the questions in- volved more assiduously than ever, 1t was conceded that the need of an emer gency ration was very great, but the health of the men should not be sacri- ficed for considerations of space or size of ration. It is felt on every hand that now, while the nation is at peace, the time is ripe to make such tests and that with the at- tention of the army and the medical fra- ternity pointed toward it no doubt be- fore long a ration will be deviséd that may bs condensed astcnishingly se that Toidiers, xplorers, aportsmen and sthers Continved on Pagu Eight,