502 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1221 



of the very high variation of food consump- 

 tion, ranging as noted from 2,300 to 4,300 

 calories per man per day. One reason for 

 this large variation is the availability of 

 extra foods at camp exchanges and adja- 

 cent restaurants. The table shows also a 

 high variation in the amount of waste and 

 is fairly typical of the difference we have 

 found between the National Army Camps 

 and the National Guard Camps. This dif- 

 ference is largely due to the fact •^hat, in 

 the National Army Camps, schools for cooks 

 and bakers have been in operation from the 

 very beginning and at the time these sur- 

 veys were made, the cooks in the National 

 Army Camps, although having had only "\ 

 couple of months ' experience, were already 

 much more efficient than the cooks in the 

 National Guard Camps who had not re- 

 ceived instruction in such schools. It 

 should be stated, however, that the National 

 ^rmy Camps are much better equipped as 

 regards their kitchens, they have better 

 ranges, better storehouses and more con- 

 veniently arranged mess halls than have 

 the National Guard Camps. 



The general public is naturally very 

 much interested in this matter of waste. 

 Numerous reports from civilians who have 

 visited the camps have reached our office to 

 the effect that there is gross and wanton 

 waste of food. These observations, as a 

 rule, are purely casual, and in many in- 

 stances, at least, are incorrect. In the con-- 

 struction period of the camps, the construc- 

 tion contractor was responsible for a great 

 deal of the visible waste of food. The ordi- 

 nary civilian visiting such a camp and see- 

 ing evidence of waste did not distinguish 

 between the civilian contractor and the 

 army. Whole heads of cabbage, whole po- 

 tatoes, spoiled hams, joints of beef, etc., 

 could be seen in the garbage pails, in the 

 garbage wagons, or garbage cans, and a 

 hasty conclusion was reached that the army 



was thus wasting food. Our officers have 

 now visited all of the large military camps, 

 numbering altogether in the neighborhood 

 of forty. They have very rarely seen in 

 any of the camps any such evidence of 

 waste as reported in these private letters, 

 which unfortunately have found their way 

 to the public press. It is a great exception 

 to see whole potatoes or large pieces of 

 bread, or bones with meat attached in any 

 considerable amount in any of the garbage 

 cans from the army mess houses. I have 

 personally visited 22 camps, and have 

 looked into thousands of garbage cans, and 

 bear witness that in the great majority of 

 these cans one does not see more waste pro- 

 portionately than can be seen in the gar- 

 bage of an ordinary household. 



We have recently had reports from Camp 

 Funston and Camp Sevier which show 

 that the waste has been reduced to such a 

 point that it is practically negligible. For 

 example, in one mess house in Camp Funs- 

 ton where more than 200 men were fed, 

 the total edible waste from three meals was 

 only six ounces ; at Camp Sevier the report 

 of our party working there at the present 

 time is that, in a considerable number of 

 mess houses, the total waste from a meal is 

 not over one half pound. This means satis- 

 factory discipline and, especiallj^, it means 

 inspection of plates at the end of the meal. 

 Conservation has been made a subject of 

 division orders in these camps and others, 

 the instructions being that men shall not 

 take on their plates more than they can eat, 

 violation of this order being made a cause 

 for punishment. Company commanders at 

 their discretion can compel a man to eat at 

 the next meal anything he has left on his 

 plate. It means also satisfactory serving 

 arrangements. It has been the experience 

 of our officers that the most economical way 

 of serving men in large numbers is by what 

 we call the squad system. If possible, men 



