Essays; Political, Economical, and Philosophical Part 17

lb. loths.

2 0 of beef ... ... ... 15 2 30 of semel bread ... 15 1/2 0 18 of fine flour ... ... 3 0 1 of pepper ... ... 1 0 12 of salt ... ... ... 1 0 2 of sweet herbs ... 0 1/2 2 24 of ammunition bread 3 1/4 2 16 of water to the dumplins ------ Cost 39 1/4 creutzers.

The meat being cut fine, or minced, was mixed with the semel or wheaten bread; and these with the flour, and a due proportion of salt, were made into dumplins, and boiled in the soup.--These dumplins when boiled, weighed 10 lb. which, divided into 12 equal portions, gave 20 2/3 loths for each.

The soup weighed 15 lb. which gave 1 lb. 8 loths for each portion.

--Of dry ammunition bread, each person received 1 lb. 8 loths, which cost 2 1/2 creutzers.

Recapitulation.

Each person received this day

lb. loths. Creutzers 0 20 2/3 of meat dumplins, and ] ... 3 13/48 1 8 of bread soup ]

1 8 of ammunition bread 2 1/2 --------- ------- 3 4 2/3 of Food Cost 5 37/48 creutzers.

In Avoirdupois weight, and English money, it is,

lb. oz. Pence.

0 12.77 of meat dumplins, and ] ... 1 300/1584 1 8.76 of bread soup ]

1 8.76 of ammunition bread ... ... 0 10/11 -------- ---------- 3 14.29 of Food Cost 2 1/10 pence.

The results of all these experiments, (and of many more which I could add,) show that the Bavarian soldier can live,--and the fact is that he actually does live,--upon a little more than TWO THIRDS of his allowance.--Of the five creutzers a-day which he receives in money, he seldom puts more than two creutzers and a half, and never more than three creutzers into the mess; so that at least TWO-FIFTHS of his pay remains, after he has defrayed all the expenses of his subsistence; and as he is furnished with every article of his clothing by the sovereign, and no stoppage is ever permitted to be made of any part of his pay, on any pretence whatever, THERE IS NO SOLDIER IN EUROPE WHOSE SITUATION IS MORE COMFORTABLE.

Though the ammunition bread with which he is furnished is rather coa.r.s.e and brown, being made of rye-meal, with only a small quant.i.ty of the coa.r.s.er part of the bran separated from it, yet it is not only wholesome, but very nouris.h.i.+ng; and for making soup it is even more palatable than wheaten bread. Most of the soldiers, however, in the Elector's service, and particularly those belonging to the Bavarian regiments, make a practice of selling a great part of their allowance of ammunition bread, and with the money they get for it, buy the best wheaten bread that is to be had; and many of them never taste brown bread but in their soup.

The ammunition bread is delivered to the soldiers every fourth day, in loaves, each loaf being equal to two rations; and it is a rule generally established in the messes, for each soldier to furnish one loaf for the use of the mess every twelfth day, so that he has five-sixths of his allowance of bread, which remains at his disposal.

The foregoing account of the manner in which the Bavarian soldiers are fed, will, I think, show most clearly the great importance of making soldiers live together in messes.--It may likewise furnish some useful hints to those who may be engaged in feeding the Poor, or in providing Food for s.h.i.+ps's companies, or other bodies of men who are fed in common.

With regard to the expense of fuel in these experiments, as the victuals were cooked in earthen pots, over an open fire, the consumption of fire-wood was very great.

On the 10th of June, when 9 lb. 30 1/2 loths of soup, 1 lb. 28 loths of meat, and 5 lb. 24 loths of bread dumplins, in all 17 lb.

18 1/2 of Food were prepared, and the process of cooking, from the time the fire was lighted till the victuals were done, lasted two hours and forty-five minutes, and twenty-nine pounds, Bavarian weight, of fire-wood were consumed.

On the 11th of June, when 11 lb. 26 loths of bread soup, and 8 lb.

8 loths of bread dumplins, in all 20 lb. 2 loths of Food were prepared, the process of cooking lasted one hour and thirty minutes;--and seventeen pounds of wood were consumed.

On the 20th of June, in Serjeant Kein's mess, 15 lb. of soup; 1 lb. 22 loths of meat, and 8 lb. of liver dumplins, in all 24 lb.

22 loths of Food were prepared, and through the process of cooking lasted two hours and forty-five minutes, only 27 1/2 lb.

of fire-wood were consumed.

On the 21st of June, the same quant.i.ty of soup and meat, and 7 lb.

of bread dumplins, in all 23 lb. 22 loths of Food were prepared in two hours and thirty minutes, with the consumption of 18 1/2 lb.

of wood.

On the 22nd of June, 15 lb. of soup, and 10 lb. of meat dumplins, in all 25 lb. of Food, were cooked in two hours and forty-five minutes, and the wood consumed was 18 lb. 10 loths.

The following table will show, in a striking and satisfactory manner, the expense of fuel in these experiments:

Date of the Time employed Quant.i.ty Quant.i.ty Quant.i.ty Experiments. in cooking. of Food of Wood of Wood to prepared. consumed. 1 lb. of Food.

June 1795. Hours. min. lb. loths. lb.

10th 2 45 17 18 1/2 29 11th 1 30 20 2 17 20th 2 45 24 22 17 1/2 21st 2 30 23 22 18 1/2 22d 2 45 25 0 18 1/4 -------- ----------- ------- Sums 5 12 15 111 0 1/2 100 1/4 -------- ----------- ------- Means 2 23 22 0 1/5 20 1/20 10/11 lb.

The mean quant.i.ty of Food prepared daily in five days being 22 lb.

very nearly, and the mean quant.i.ty of fire-wood consumed being 20 1/20 lb.; this gives 10/11 lb. of wood for each pound of Food.

But it has been found by actual experiment, made with the utmost care, in the new kitchen of the House of Industry at Munich, and often repeated, that 600 lb. of Food, (of the Soup No. I. given to the Poor,) may be cooked with the consumption of only 44 lb.

of pine-wood. And hence it appears how very great the waste of fuel must be in all culinary processes, as they are commonly performed; for though the time taken up in cooking the soup for the Poor is, at a medium, more than FOUR HOURS AND A HALF, while that employed by the soldiers in their cooking is less than TWO HOURS AND A HALF; yet the quant.i.ty of fuel consumed by the latter is near THIRTEEN TIMES greater than that employed in the public kitchen of the House of Industry.

But I must not here antic.i.p.ate here a matter which is to be the subject of a separate Essay; and which, from its great importance, certainly deserves to be carefully and thoroughly investigated.

CHAPTER. V.

Of the great importance of making soldiers eat together in regular messes.

The influence of such economical arrangements extends even to the moral character of those who are the objects of them.

Of the expence of feeding soldiers in messes.

Of the surprising smallness of the expence of feeding the poor at Munich.

Specific proposals respecting the feeding of the poor in Great Britain, with calculations of the expense, at the present prices of provisions.

All those who have been conversant in military affairs must have had frequent opportunities of observing the striking difference there is, even in the appearance of the men, between regiments in which messes are established, and Food is regularly provided under the care and inspection of the Officers; and others, in which the soldiers are left individually to s.h.i.+ft for themselves.

And the difference which may be observed between soldiers who live in messes, and are regularly fed, and others who are not, is not confined merely to their external appearance: the influence of these causes extends much farther, and even the MORAL CHARACTER of the man is affected by them.

Peace of mind, which is as essential to contentment and happiness as it is to virtue, depends much upon order and regularity in the common affairs of life; and in no case are order and method more necessary to happiness, (and consequently to virtue,) than in that, where the preservation of health is connected with the satisfying of hunger; an appet.i.te whose cravings are sometimes as inordinate as they are insatiable.

Peace of mind depends likewise much upon economy, or the means used for preventing pecuniary embarra.s.sments; and the savings to soldiers in providing Food, which arise from housekeeping in messes of ten or twelve persons who live together, is very great indeed.

But great as these savings now are, I think they might be made still more considerable; and I shall give my reasons for this opinion.

Though the Bavarian soldiers live at a very small expense, little more than TWO-PENCE sterling a-day, yet when I compare this sum, small as it is, with the expense of feeding the Poor in the House of Industry at Munich, which does not amount to more than TWO FARTHINGS a-day, even including the cost of the piece of dry rye-bread, weighing seven ounces Avoirdupois[11], which is given them in their hands, at dinner, but which they seldom eat at dinner, but commonly carry home in their pockets for their suppers;--when I compare, I say, this small sum, with the daily expence of the soldiers for their subsistence, I find reason to conclude, either that the soldiers might be fed cheaper, or that the Poor must be absolutely starved upon their allowance. That the latter is not the case, the healthy countenances of the Poor, and the air of placid contentment which always accompanies them, as well in the dining-hall as in their working-rooms, affords at the same time the most interesting and most satisfactory proof possible.

Were they to go home in the course of the day, it might be suspected that they got something at home to eat, in addition to what they receive from the public kitchen of the Establishment;-- but this they seldom or ever do; and they come to the house so early in the morning, and leave it so late at night, that it does not seem probable that they could find time to cook any thing at their own lodgings.

Some of them, I known, make a constant practice of giving themselves a treat of a pint of beer at night, after they have finished their work; but I do not believe they have any thing else for their suppers, except it be the bread which they carry home from the House of Industry.

I must confess, however, very fairly, that it always appeared to me quite surprising, and that it is still a mystery which I do not clearly understand, how it is possible for these poor people to be so comfortably fed upon the small allowances which they receive.--The facts, however, are not only certain, but they are notorious. Many persons of the most respectable characters in this country, (Great Britain,) as well as upon the Continent, who have visited the House of Industry at Munich, can bear witness to their authenticity; and they are surely not the less interesting for being extraordinary.

It must however be remembered, that what formerly cost TWO FARTHINGS in Bavaria, at the mean price of provisions in that country, costs THREE farthings at this present moment; and would probably cost SIX in London, and in most other parts of Great Britain: but still, it will doubtless appear almost incredible, that a comfortable and nouris.h.i.+ng meal, sufficient for satisfying the hunger of a strong man, may be furnished in London, and at this very moment, when provisions of all kinds are so remarkably dear, at LESS THAN THREE FARTHINGS. The fact, however, is most certain, and may easily be demonstrated by making the experiment.

Supposing that it should be necessary, in feeding the Poor in this country, to furnish them with three meals a-day, even that might be done at a very small expence, were the system of feeding them adopted which is here proposed. The amount of that expence would be as follows:

Pence. Farths.

For breakfast, 20 ounces of the Soup No, II.

composed of pearl barley, peas, potatoes, and fine wheaten bread (See page 210.) 0 2 1/2 For dinner, 20 ounces of the same Soup, and 7 ounces of rye-bread ... ... ... ... 1 2 For supper, 20 ounces of the same Soup ... 0 2 1/2 ------------ In all 4 lb. 3 oz. of Food[12], which would cost 2 3

Should it be thought necessary to give a little meat at dinner, this may best be done by mixing it, cut fine, or minced, in bread dumplins; or when bacon, or any kind of salted or smoked meat is given, to cut it fine and mix it with the bread which is eaten in the soup. If the bread be fried, the Food will be much improved; but this will be attended with some additional expence.

--Rye-bread is as good, if not better, for frying, than bread made of wheat flour; and it is commonly not half so dear.-- Perhaps rye-bread fried might be furnished almost as cheap as wheaten bread not fried; and if this could be done, it would certainly be a very great improvement.

There is another way by which these cheap soups may be made exceedingly palatable and savoury;--which is by mixing with them a very small quant.i.ty of red herrings, minced very fine or pounded in a mortar.--There is no kind of cheap Food, I believe, that has so much taste as red herrings, or that communicates its flavour with so much liberality to other eatables; and to most palates it is remarkably agreeable.