CONVICT LABOR FOR ROAD WORK. 167 



tomatoes, white bread, and rice. These foods are now served as 

 follows : 



Breakfast: 



Hominy grits. 



Fried bacon. 



White bread. 



Molasses. 



Coffee with sugar. 



Canned tomatoes (average two days a week). 



Salt herring (average one day a week). 

 Dinner: 



Stewed beans, or stewed cowpeas, or Irish or sweet potatoes, or cabbage 

 (rarely), or green vegetables. 



Boiled rice (daily). 



Boiled bacon. 



Bread (very seldom have bread for dinner). 

 Supper: 



Hominy grits. 



Fried bacon. 



White bread with sugar or sirup. 



Com meal is very seldom used at this camp. Fresh meat is sup- 

 posed to be served once a week, but it is not always possible to obtain 

 it as often as that, and at the time of the visit the cook said that no 

 fresh meat had been served for two months. 



After this diet had been in use for about a year, two cases of pella- 

 gra developed. They are reported to have recovered after two or three 

 months with no special treatment and no change of diet. From that 

 time up to 1914 sporadic cases have occurred, but have seemed to 

 recover. In 1914 four more cases of pellagra developed, all at about 

 the same time. Two of the stricken men had been in the camp for 

 more than a year, and the other two for about four months each. 

 Two of these cases died in about six months from the time the dis- 

 ease was first noticed, and the other two made an apparent recovery, 

 and were discharged from the camp at the expiration of their terms. 



The following tables are fair examples of the meals served in con- 

 vict camps in the Southern States : 



Virginia: Cost of Ration about 11 Cents per Day. 



The food materials and the quantities in which they are intended 

 to be used are as follows : 



Ration 

 (ounces). 



Salt fat pork (plates) 7 



Fresh meat (Sundays and holidays) ] 2 



White flour 8^ 



Com meal 7^ 



Dried beans or peas 5J 



Saltfi-sh 4 



Potatoes JO 



Cabbage 13 



Ration 

 (ounces). 



Salad 13 



Turnips 16 



String beans 13 



Rice 14 



Dried apples or peaches 2f 



Sugar i 



Molasses 4 



Coffee J 



