tual consumption of food and the amount of waste. to stock during the period, and third, an inventory at the end of the period. The TABLE I Page from Statistical Report of Food Consumption in the Training Camps. The accompanying table shows one page out of our statistical report of actual feeding conditions in individual mess houses (Table I.). As shown on this page, in three messes in Camp Travis, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and base hospital mess and three messes at Camp Wadsworth, Spartanburg, South Carolina, the food consumption is expressed on the man-per-day basis. This is obtained by first making an inventory of the amount of food on hand in the company storehouse, at the beginning of a definite period, second, a list of accessions Consumed cost, 49 c. Waste cost, 3 c. second inventory subtracted from the sum of the first, plus accession to stock gives the amount of food used. Concurrently with this, the garbage is separated into several cans, one for spent bone, one for peel and other inedible refuse such as coffee grounds, egg shells and the like, and one for table or edible waste. This last fraction is weighed, sampled and analyzed. The total nutrients contained in the edible waste subtracted from the total nutrients contained in the food as supplied, gives the actual consumption of food. This table gives a good idea of the very high variation of food consumption, 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 adjacent 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 difference is largely due to the fact that, in the National Army Camps, schools for cooks and bakers have been in operation from the very beginning and at the time these surveys 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 received instruction in such schools. should be stated, however, that the National Army Camps are much better equipped as regards their kitchens, they have better ranges, better storehouses and more conveniently arranged mess halls than have the National Guard Camps. It 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 instances, at least, are incorrect. In the construction period of the camps, the construction contractor was responsible for a great deal of the visible waste of food. The ordinary civilian visiting such a camp and seeing evidence of waste did not distinguish between the civilian contractor and the army. Whole heads of cabbage, whole potatoes, 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 proportionately than can be seen in the garbage 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 Funston 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 satisfactory discipline and, especially, 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 should be seated by squads and should be served by their own squad leader. The essence of the system is, however, that the squad leader shall have authority over the serving of his men. He either serves the food himself on their plates or at least sees to it that no man takes more food than he can eat, and reports him if he does. It should be remembered that these company households are still very young. None of them in the National Army are more than six months old. To take a body of 250 men at random from the civilian population and train them in six months in the handling of this large quantity of food, so that there should be no undue waste, is indeed a fine accomplishment. Many problems are arising constantly in connection with our work. We were faced at the start with the fact that there is very little exact information on the amount of food required by the army in training or in the field. Such information as exists is obtained from the record of purchases in the Quartermaster Corps, or the corresponding departments of other armies, and not from the estimation of food consumed directly. We have, I believe, the first instance in the history of warfare, where the actual amount of food consumed is estimated directly in the camp and in the field where the troops are operating. This is made possible by our system of feeding men by companies. In this way, it is possible to check up closely also on the relative cost of the different foods. We find, for example, that where more meat is used the cost of the ration is always higher. Meat, so far as we can learn yet, represents the most expensive article of diet, but meat is also one of the most important articles of food, especially for soldiers in the muscling-up period of their training. Experiments by Thomas and others show that the nitrogenous waste of the body is most read ily replaced by the nitrogenous constituents of meat. Meat, then, is the most economical repair material for muscle and other active tissues. Next to meat comes the protein of milk and eggs, and below these the proteins of cereals, legumes, beans, peas, etc. It has been proposed by Professor Lusk to call these most economical proteins, proteins of Class A, meaning that they are most valuable for the purpose of repair and restoration of tissue, and hence also for the growth of tissue, in the whole list of food stuffs. We were faced also at the beginning with the question of what should be the optimum amount of protein in the ration. Authorities now generally agree that muscular work does not involve a breakdown of muscle tissue, rather the contrary. A man who has not been accustomed to work, when he begins actual muscular exercise instead of breaking down muscle will build up muscle and it has been abundantly proved by numerous experiments that the breakdown of nitrogenous material in the body does not increase in muscular work over the amount broken down in complete muscular rest. This is a surprising fact, but it is now quite incontrovertible. Muscular work is done at the expense of potential energy in the form of carbohydrate and fat. There is much evidence also that this energy can be derived most economically from carbohydrate food, especially from sugar, and this doubtless explains the craving of men in muscular training for sweets. These facts would indicate that a relatively small amount of protein or meat in the diet would be sufficient for muscular work. It is quite possible that our soldiers could get along with considerably less than they are using, although our investigations show that they are actually using much less than the government allowance. There are some facts, however, which deter us at present from recommending a radical reduction in the amount of meat in the ration. First of all is the fact that meat stimulates heat production in the body more than any other food stuff, and therefore assists in keeping the body warm in severe weather. There is some evidence that for a quick delivery of maximum energy, such as may be necessary in getting "over the top," a high protein diet is necessary. We certainly desire that the American soldier shall have plenty of "punch" to his fight, and if a high protein diet will insure this punch, nobody, I am sure, will grudge him all the meat he feels like eating. United States rations, both for ordinary encampment training and for field uses. The British field ration is the ration used in the training camps in France. When the men go into the trenches or engage in active operations, this is supplemented by the addition of pea soup, butter and sugar amounting to 300-500 calories. The Canadian diet No. 40 is taken from an actual weekly diet sheet as used in the Canadian training camps in England last September. The French normal ration is the training ration, the reserve ration corresponds very closely to our own reserve ration and their strong ration is their campaign ration. Other armies are getting along on less meat than allowed by the government to our army. The British army allows 1 pound per man per day, the French army pound, the Italian army only pound. Our allowance, you will remember, is 1 pounds, but the actual consumption by our army up to the present time in the camps in this country does not exceed pound. It would therefore seem that pound of meat provides a sufficiency of protein of this class. Table II. exhibits a comparison of the British, Canadian, French, Italian and Corresponding rations for the Italian army are the territorial and combating rations. The United States garrison ration as laid down by the regulations, provides as shown here 4,632 calories per man per day. When, however, this ration is made the basis of money allowance, certain substitutes are made, for example, 30 per cent. of meat is issued as bacon, 20 per cent. of the allowance for potatoes is issued as onions, and 10 per cent. as tomatoes. With these substitutes made throughout, the garrison ration, "modified" as we call it, provides 4,809 calories. Now, the average con information we can obtain to-day, is in the neighborhood of 9 pounds per man. Compare with this army ration, the average consumption of food as shown by recent family dietary studies made by the Bureau of Home Economics under Dr. Langworthy at the Department of Agriculture (Table III.). Note that the consumption of food per man per day in farmers' families is quite similar to that as already shown for the average allied soldier in training. The work of the soldier in training, therefore, so far as its intensity is concerned, may be 2 Through Dr. Langworthy's courtesy I am permitted to show these figures for the first time. 8"Man" all members of the family reduced to the basis of men. = 4 Average 110 families. Italian and American forces, in training camps about the same amount and in actual campaigns some 500 calories more. Another problem in which we have been greatly interested is whether the soldiers should be given all the sweets they crave. Our survey parties in the military camps have determined the actual consumption of food from the exchanges or "canteens," as they used to be called, as well as from the mess house. In one camp where there was but a single exchange, it was possible to determine the average consumption with a high degree of accuracy. In these canteens or regimental exchanges, the foods which are bought by the soldiers are for the most part candies and light drinks (the food value of which is represented entirely by a |