A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



The story of our absolute unpreparedness, and of 

 our little handful of regular soldiers, is too well 

 known and too pathetic to be rehashed here. 



The foregoing may indicate my close contact with 

 the commissary department for nearly twenty years 

 previously to the Spanish War, during which time, 

 among its many able officers, there were two: Gen. 

 Weston and Gen. Alexander, who stood out with 

 commanding force. Both were practical in commer- 

 cial knowledge and instinct; both would have been 

 among the great merchants of America, had their 

 lives fallen in that direction. Gen. Weston was a 

 brilliant, aggressive, do-it-yesterday type; Gen. 

 Alexander was a calm, methodical, far-seeing man. 

 They were perfect foils for each other. Their work 

 threw them much together. Both were fair, exact 

 and practical, with none of the army ego or red tape 

 arbitrariness about them. I have never known two 

 men in any walk of business life more delightful to 

 deal with. 



As acting commissary general, Weston shared with 

 the quartermaster department the first great prob- 

 lems of the Spanish-American War. Stocks of 

 canned corn beef were small, and the process of 

 curing meant time. Canned roast beef, really boiled 

 beef, required only the time for killing, cooling and 

 boiling. Gen. Weston seized upon it as immediately 

 available, while corn beef was being cured, and in- 

 tended to use canned bacon for the major meat 



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