Testing the food which Uncle Sam provides for the boys in his army is one of the duties of Major William W. Elliott, depot quartermaster in El Paso. This remarkable man has charge of feeding all the soldiers on the border from Sanderson, Texas, to Yuma, Arizona, and will soon have charge of provisioning the men at Camp Cody, Deming, New Mexico. He also supervises all the sub-depots and the men who care for the many needs of the soldier.
Major Elliot is not only a wonderful organizer, a man with a genus for understanding character and fitting the right man into the right place, but he is also a food expert of an unusual kind. He knows what his men do, he knows what is going on in all nine great building under his care in El Paso.
Is a Careful Food Tester.
It has been said, in previous years that the men of the army were not well fed. A glance at the national guardsmen after they returned home from their duty on the border last winter was sufficient to disprove that statement but any one desiring conclusive evidence needs only to take a glance into the laboratory where the careful major tests food. A pretty label, a good name, or a large price, does not constitute in the eyes of this man a reason why he should buy any particular kind of food. Quality is the thing that counts with him.
Soldiers are Fed Well.
“The soldier is far better fed in the army.” said Major Elliott, “than he is at home. For one thing, the man who is married is often wedded to a woman who does not know food values, how to cook really well, or how to select the very best kinds of food values, how to cook really well, or how to select the best kinds of food, consequently, although he may have a large amount of food he is not will nourished. My men have expert cooks, they have rations which are balanced, they have the best of food. No impurities are allowed, no “benzoate of soda” is in the goods I buy. In many of the old companies the money which is saved by the camp chef is sufficient to buy luxuries and anything which the men may desire to eat.” – El Paso Herald Newspaper – Friday, August 17, 1917