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Show FEEDING AN AltMY." PEW REALIZE WHAT A OHKAT TASK IT IU. Xaon-ioas Qaantlllea nf Noppltaa xftt-l IU Con'Untly llnrrltxt to Ilia Mfln ami as ImwnM Amount o( l.abor U Knv rsautry, V It la very probable that 90 peoplo cut of every 100 think nf an army aa a great aggregation of fighting men, armed to th teeth wltb rifles, swords and what not, while they never once give a thought to the "men In the rear." Yet these men In the rear are an ImporUnt part of the fighting machine. ma-chine. When an army Is encamped In a friendly country there I not ao great a difficulty In feeding It aa when It la penetrating hostle territory and haa aeparated Itself from Its own country. And yet In either case It Is no light task to furnish and distribute) the food that la to keep, say 30.000 stomacha ratlsfled and 30.000 hearts In the right place. Thla la the work of tho commissary com-missary department. When an army division or on army corps Is encamped at homo the problem prob-lem of getting supplies la comparatively compara-tively simple. Sometime they are furnished fur-nished an contract, sometimes brought In largo quantities a week or more In advance of the time at which they will be needed. Tbo commissary general gen-eral Is responsible for tho procuring of these supplies and having them deposited de-posited at a depot within easy reach of the trnnns. Each company of a regiment haa lta cooka; each regiment haa IU commissary commis-sary depot, where supplies are kept sufficient for, aay, n week or 10 daya for all tho men. Men are detailed from each company to assist In the work of getting the supplies from the regimental regi-mental depot to the company kltchena every day. Othcra are detailed to help transport the supplies to the regimental regiment-al depots from the general headquarters headquart-ers whenever the store In the form rr are getting low. As all supplies are Issued from hrsd quartera only on orders and recelpta are given for everything secured. It can be aeen that there la an Immense amount of clerical work necessary to the smooth and uninterrupted work of the department Suppose an army to have landed on a foreign coaat The first move after tho landing of tho men and nrma la to aecure a convenient spot for a depot of supplies These are landed and piled high on the shore until there seems to be a mountain of boxes Inextricably In-extricably mingled In tho general mass. Gradually these are aeparated Into different plica and order beglna Jo,make HJPPrjraneeout n rhaos, iintirairthauppllcsTCre"IiropefIy housed, For nn army of 30.000 men and 10,000 horars for three montba It la estimated that there are necessary nec-essary 11,000 totns of food and forage. for-age. Thla fond la made up of palaUblo and atrength-glvlng supplies, sup-plies, with n proper proportion of meat, vegetables, coffee and flour for bread or biscuits. The meat la generally gen-erally canned although aldea of baron ba-ron are abundant, and even henla of lire cattle nro taken along for freah meat Whenever any Important move la to bo mado by the army each soldier la generally supplied with rations for n day, which he carrlea In his haversack. These ho la not to uae unleaa ordered to do so. There are, besides, two daya' rations carried In transport for each fraction of a command to tide tho troops over the march. In the English Eng-lish arm there are even wagon arrangements ar-rangements for cooking mcala on th march, reft quantities of stf-ip being heated nirj meat and potatoes being prepared while on the march. But, when tbe army movea away from lta base of supplies, then It Is that tho feeding problem becomes more com plicated. Thero are always a number of men detailed from each regiment to assist In the work of bringing up supplies, Tho keeping open of a line of communication commu-nication with the baso of supplies Is the first thing that a comtr-ander roust sen to, for It meana the aafcty of hla army. If thla line of communication la but a day's march, the work ll simple, sim-ple, and does not tako many men detailed de-tailed to wagon driving to replenish the Impoverished stock of the regimental regi-mental or division larder. But when tho dltUnco Is Increased to CO or 100 miles the trick Is ono of great difficulty. |
