The Times

To Have Regular Rations.
Marines at Cavite Need Worry No More About Food.

After a good deal of red tape, arrangements have been made whereby the Marine Corps on shore duty at Cavite will again be supplied regularly with rations. The situation was getting to be a serious one for the marines, since the peculiar character of the laws made it almost impossible to get food supplies.

The trouble started because of a difference between the rations supplied the army and those supplied the navy. When on shore duty the marines may receive army rations and army rations alone. When at sea they fare as do the sailors. The marines at Cavite had been continuing to receive naval rations, or commutation therefor, but the Auditor of the Navy Department recently decided that this arrangement was illegal.

It was impracticable for the marines to obtain the army ration from the commissary branch in the Philippines. At the same time it was found impossible to depend on getting food supplies from Filipinos. It is declared that the native dealers do not appreciate the force of agreements and contracts. They will promise, say the marine officials, to undertake almost anything, but they cannot be depended upon to carry out their agreements.

Thus the marines were in a sad plight. They could not get food from the commissary department of the army; they could not depend upon buying it from the natives, and it was not legal for them to take it from the navy. There has been a deal of official correspondence among officials trying to find a way out of the difficulty.

Acting Comptroller Mitchell of the Treasury Department has settled the matter. He holds that the marines can buy from the naval stores the bulk of their supplies, such as beef, sugar, beans, and coffee, and that they can supplement this by purchasing fresh vegetables and bread from Filipino dealers.