Topic: Army Rations
JAM
"Blasts from the Trumpet," The Quebec Saturday Budget, 13 September 1902
As all who have anything to do with the British army are aware, Tommy Atkins is very fond of sweets, and it is not surprising to learn, therefore, from Mr. Brodrick, that no less a quantity than 34,582,762 lbs, of jam were consumed by the army during the recent war in South Africa. The bulk of this jam was manufactured in the United Kingdom, the rest going from the Colonies. Some one with a taste for figures has computed that in the year 1900 alone thirty train loads of jam, and 300 tins to a load, were sent to the front, and that the army in South Africa consumed more than half its own weight of jam in that time. Despite this enormous consumption of jam in the time of war, it is learned from Mr. Brodrick that it is not to be issued as a ration in peace. One cannot help thinking that this is a mistake. After all is said and done, jam is not an expensive luxury, and it is an indulgence that might well be granted the private soldier at a time when there is so much talk about the best method of inducing men to join the army.
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