CONCLUSION.

The foregoing account gives in a broad way an idea of the scope of activities and the achievements of the Engineers during the 19 months of actual warfare in France. To furnish the organization of technical troops and specialists which made all this possible, the original Engineer Arm of the United States Army was increased to 131.5 times its prewar strength, and the proportion of Engineer troops relative to the total forces was increased from 1.6 per cent to 10.8 per cent. To accomplish this, a heavy demand was made upon the technical professions and upon the industries of this country. In filling this demand most necessary assistance was given by the engineer societies and the engineering journals, whose patriotic work demands the highest praise.

In situations requiring special knowledge almost always there could be found some specialist capable of adapting himself and his work to the military needs. Engineer officers for the combatant regiments were younger members of the technical professions, who were sent to the training camps provided for the purpose and there given the essentials of strictly military knowledge. This training was later supplemented by courses in Engineer and line schools located in France. The training officers of the regiments were supplied from the Corps of Engineers, these men having both the military and technical knowledge fitting them for the command. The diversity of education and experience necessary in all branches of the Engineer service may be understood by a consideration of the duties of the different units sent to France during the war—specialist units, in addition to the strictly combatant divisional regiments, who also numbered among their commissioned and enlisted personnel many technical specialists of high attainment.

We had, for instance, seven railway construction regiments, two railway construction battalions, one regiment and five battalions for railway maintenance of way, two battalions for maintenance of railway equipment, four regiments and one battalion to operate our main military railways in France, three regiments to operate the light railways in France and their repair shops, two regiments for operating the regular railway shops, two regiments and six battalions for constructing buildings and other general construction work, two regiments for storing and transporting Engineer supplies, a forestry regiment, a light railway construction regiment, a regiment for building roads, a water supply regiment, a mining regiment, a quarrying regiment, a technical regiment for handling surveying, sound ranging, and location of enemy positions by means of special apparatus, three survey and printing battalions, two railway transportation battalions, an electrical and mechanical regiment, several companies to operate cranes, a camouflage service, five inland waterway companies, five ponton trains, a ponton park, a railway transportation and stores battalion, and a searchlight regiment.

Utilizing and applying the new knowledge and scientific achievements of recent years, drawing upon the fund of experience acquired by the Regular Army in its theoretical studies and past wars, making available the vast amount of technical skill which has assisted this Nation to its present commercial and industrial status, the Engineers of the United States Army worked and fought, planned, and accomplished in France a work which in magnitude exceeds any similar undertaking recorded in American history. From base port to first waves of an assault upon the enemy's position, Engineer troops have been constantly in action first to last and have "carried on" always with the high ideals of the profession and with the motto of the Corps of Engineers, "Essayons," before them.

CHAPTER II.
MILITARY RAILWAYS.

In establishing contact between our great bases of supply on the French coast and interior points, as well as with the fighters in the various fields of operations, the Department of Military Railways of the Engineer Corps found it necessary to provide thousands of miles of railway track ranging from the standard gauge down to the narrow 60-centimeter type built right up to the border of No Man's Land, to construct and ship across seas thousands of almost every kind of freight cars, to build hundreds of locomotives and transport them to Europe, to provide in addition fabricated track that could be laid under heavy shell fire, and hospital trains that could care for our wounded.

It was on July 10, 1917, that Gen. Pershing cabled stating that the French had asked for 300 locomotives and 2,000 kilometers of track, in addition to numerous items of accessories that go with an order of this size. Delivery of the locomotives was requested by October 15, 1917, and of the track by December 31, 1917.

It was ascertained that the American Locomotive Works had built consolidation engines for France of an entirely satisfactory type, and that similar locomotives for the use of British forces on French soil had been turned out by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. After the decision to adopt the consolidation type of locomotive, which is generally used in freight service in the United States, arrangements were made at once with these two concerns to build 150 locomotives each.

The consolidation locomotive weighs 166,400 pounds, and is about the heaviest that can be used in France. It has one pair of engine truck wheels and four pairs of drivers. The engine is just as large as it is possible to use within the French tunnel and platform clearances. The type sent to France was, however, not nearly so large nor so heavy as the general run of freight engines used here.

The order for 150 engines was placed with the Baldwin concern on July 19, 1917, and the first locomotive of this order was ready for shipment on August 10, 1917, just 20 working days elapsing between the date of the placing of the order and the day when the first engine was completed and all set up ready for shipment.

This is believed to have established a new record for locomotive construction in the United States and probably in the world for an engine of this size. All the other locomotives in this order were delivered promptly—36 of the Baldwin engines being freighted from the factory in August, 71 in September, and the final 43 in October. Of the locomotives ordered from the American Locomotive Works, 133 were freighted in October and the remaining 17 in November.

On account of differences in the details of construction the original price fixed for the locomotives turned out by the American Locomotive Works was $51,000 each and for those of the Baldwin Works $46,000 apiece. Advance payments on these engines reduced the price by $1,000 each.

Changes in the painting and other small details resulted in a saving of $60 additional on each locomotive built by the Baldwin Works and $400 on each engine turned out by the American Works, so that the net cost of each Baldwin locomotive was $44,940, and of each American locomotive $49,600.

After much consideration, and after this initial order had been disposed of, it was determined that the Baldwin type of engine should be made the standard, and all subsequent orders for engines went to the Baldwin Works.

As orders were placed from time to time with the Baldwin people, reductions were made in price, so that the last engines of the total of 3,340 ordered from this concern were obtained for $37,000 each. Orders for 1,500 of these engines eventually were canceled without cost to the United States Government. The saving effected by the reduction in price on the engines ordered, using the original price as a basis of comparison, was $22,989,385.

There were shipped in all to the American Expeditionary Forces 1,303 locomotives, of which 908 had been put into service by November 11, 1918.

During the severe winter weather of 1917-18 and the simultaneous shortage of motive power on American railways, 142 of these consolidation engines built for the American Expeditionary Forces were turned over to the American railways to help out a critical situation in this country. It was possible to use these engines here by making changes in the couplers and some other slight additions to meet the requirements of our safety appliance laws.

At the time these engines were turned over to the Railway Administration we were producing locomotives for France much more rapidly than it was possible to provide tonnage to transport them overseas. These locomotives were in service helping out the transportation facilities in this country an average of 6 months and 28 days each before being recalled for shipment to France. They earned profits for the Government while in service for the Railroad Administration at the rate of 32.3 per cent a year.

STANDARD GAUGE 10-WHEEL CONSOLIDATION (BALDWIN) LOCOMOTIVE. CYLINDER, 21 INCHES × 28 INCHES.

Driving wheels, 56 inches; wheel base, engine, 23 feet 8 inches; wheel base, engine and tender, 57 feet 4½ inches; weight in working order, engine 166,400 pounds, tender 112,000 pounds; tractive power 35,600 pounds; capacity, water 5,400 gallons, fuel 9 tons.

RATION TRAIN NEAR MENIL-LA-TOUR, FRANCE.

It might also be noted that the Director General of Military Railways was appointed custodian of undelivered locomotives ordered by the Russian government from the Baldwin and American Works. In January, 1918, a total of 200 of these Russian locomotives was purchased, and the engines were converted to meet American requirements by a change in the gauge from 5 feet to 4 feet, 8½ inches, and a change in the coupling system to meet our standard. The price of these was $55,000 each. The Baldwin Works turned its 100 over to the Railroad Administration between February 3 and May 20, 1918, and the American Works made its deliveries between February 19 and May 30, 1918.

The combined cost of these locomotives was $11,000,000 and their total rental revenue from the railroads was $2,585,475 up to December 31, 1918, or 23.5 per cent of the cost price, or at the rental rate of 29.8 per cent per annum.

Orders for 90,103 freight cars to be used by the American Expeditionary Forces were also placed with American contractors. Of these the orders for nearly half—40,915 cars, in exact figures—had been placed just before the armistice, and these contracts were canceled at slight cost to the Government. Up to the end of the year 1918 a total of 18,313 freight cars had been shipped overseas, nearly all of these cars being of the 60,000-pound size. Close bargaining in the purchase of these cars resulted in a saving of $15,737,633 under the prices originally quoted.

For the first time in history American locomotives were shipped across the Atlantic stacked in ships on their own wheels. In our normal foreign trade, and even in the early locomotive shipments to the American Expeditionary Forces, both engines and cars had been disassembled at the seaboard and their parts put up in packages for convenient and economical loading on ships. Each of the first locomotives sent to France was crated in 19 packages, while the parts for an ordinary box car were put up in 26 packages.

On October 29, 1917, however, Gen. Atterbury called attention to the fact that the English were shipping locomotives across the Channel on their own wheels and stated that it would result in very great economies of time, money, and man power if such an arrangement could be made for shipments from the United States. Manufacturers of the locomotives, however, advised against this. So did our own embarkation people and the Shipping Control Committee. Efforts were unsuccessful to get car ferries from the Key West and Habana line and from Quebec for the transport of locomotives on their own wheels over the ocean.

Finally, however, after numerous efforts to get ships with large hatches the ore steamer Feltore was loaded with 33 locomotives on their own wheels, packed in baled hay. This steamer sailed May 18, 1918, and its arrival in France resulted in the following cable from Gen. Pershing:

Shipment of erected locomotives transmitted on the Feltore very satisfactory. Boat completely discharged of locomotives and cargoes in 13 days with saving of 15 ship's days in unloading the 33 locomotives erected as compared with same number of locomotives not erected and further saving of 14 days of erecting forces. Observations of Capt. Byron, who came with these locomotives, show that by loading locomotives in double tiers, placing cab parts and tools, now in separate packages, within tender space and fire boxes, 40 to 45 locomotives can be loaded.

Subsequently the steamers Cubore, Firmore, and Santore were assigned to the task of carrying these engines over on their own wheels. The total number of locomotives that went abroad in this manner was 533. After the signing of the armistice we sold the French Government 485 locomotives, of which 142 had been shipped up to January 1, 1919.

Efforts were likewise made to ship over freight cars already set up but this was also met with much objection. Finally, 1,000 cars were built to go over complete but the signing of the armistice stopped the shipment. The saving in the cost of shipping locomotives on their own wheels amounted to $775 for each one, and an average of $20 a car would have been saved by sending the cars over on their own wheels. But, in addition to this, the cost of erection on the other side, amounting to $800 for each locomotive, should also be added to the saving.

The number of cars actually shipped overseas for the American Expeditionary Forces, if made into one solid train, would be 140 miles long.

In August, 1918, there came a call from abroad to produce locomotives at the rate of 300 a month and freight cars at the rate of 8,200 monthly. Machinery for getting this production was started at once and was so effectual that during the months of September and October and up to the signing of the armistice engines were actually being produced and shipped from the Baldwin Locomotive Works at this rate. This company was turning out the greatest number of locomotives ever produced by any one company in the same length of time.

Arrangements for increasing production of freight cars to meet every possibility of tonnage facilities on the ocean were also made, and had the armistice not been signed we had planned to produce during the month of December 11,000 complete freight cars and to maintain this production rate until we had filled all orders from Gen. Pershing.

LOADING RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES, COMPLETE, ABOARD SHIP.

60-CENTIMETER GAUGE TANK CAR.

Capacity in gallons 2,500. In pounds 22,000. Length over end sills 22 feet 1¼ inches; width over side sills, 5 feet 7 inches; weight, 12,000 pounds.

60-CENTIMETER GAUGE V-SHAPED DUMP CARS.

Capacity, 27 cubic feet. Length over couplers, 6 feet 9 inches. Width of body, 48⅝ inches.

RAILROAD LOCOMOTIVES PACKED WITH BALED HAY IN THE HOLD OF A SHIP.

On our first purchase of rails, amounting to 102,000 tons, the price paid was $38 a ton for Bessemer steel and $40 a ton for open-hearth steel, as against a price of $59 a ton that the Russians were paying and prices between $54.36 and $61.87 that were being paid by the French. There was a saving in this item of approximately $2,040,000 as compared with the prices paid by the Russians and of $1,938,000 compared with the prices paid by the French.

In connection with our first purchase of this steel rail, it should be stated that the Lackawanna Steel Co. and the United States Steel Products Co. agreed to sell us rail on this basis. Orders were placed with these companies, but not with two other companies—the Cambria Steel Co. and the Bethlehem Steel Co.—who declined to accept the price offered.

All subsequent orders for steel rail were on the basis of $55 and $57 a ton for Bessemer and open hearth, respectively, which figure was established by the War Industries Board pursuant to the Government policy to stabilize industry by establishing fixed prices alike for all purchasers—the Government itself, the allies, and the public.

A total of 937 miles of standard-gauge railway track was laid in France with material shipped from this country.

A big money saving was effected by changing the design of the freight cars asked for by our overseas forces. Their original call was for 17,000 four-wheel cars of the French type, these varying from 10 to 20 tons capacity per car. Our investigations here convinced us that the American type of car with 30-ton capacity could be used on the French railroads. Consequently we recommended that 6,000 of the 30-ton American-type cars be sent abroad instead of smaller-capacity French cars. Our recommendation was approved by officers abroad, and as a result there was a saving of $12,640,000 in the cost of this initial order of cars. From that time all cars shipped from the United States were of the American 8-wheel type, a fact which resulted in a saving of approximately $189,600,000 over what it would have cost to build and ship the lighter French cars.

Had the light French type of cars, as originally suggested, been adopted, 270,309 cars would have been required instead of 90,103 cars, and probably twice as much tonnage would have been necessary to transport these cars overseas.

Most of the steel rails were purchased from the Cambria Steel Co., the Lackawanna Steel Co., the Bethlehem Steel Co., the United States Steel Products Co., and the Sweets Steel Co. Raised pier, gantry, and locomotive cranes were turned out by the several crane builders in proportion to their ability to produce. The Standard Steel Car Co. made millions of dollars' worth of metallic parts for freight cars, and the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. produced rails and bars. As previously mentioned, the Baldwin Locomotive Works got the bulk of the orders for locomotives, although the American Locomotive Co., the Vulcan Co., the H. E. Porter Co., and the Davenport Locomotive Works also made locomotives for our Expeditionary Forces.

HOSPITAL TRAINS.

Ambulance trains were called for by Gen. Pershing in his cablegram of July 15, 1917. It was stated in this message that plans for these ambulance trains would be furnished by the Surgeon General of the Army.

To build these ambulance trains, with their complicated designs and specialized equipment, in this country would have entailed lengthy delay and very heavy expense, as after they had been constructed it would have been necessary to knock them down for shipment. With this fact in mind our officers here took up the question with Sir Francis Dent, of the British railway commission, who was in this country at the time. He stated that ambulance trains built by the London & North Western Railway, which had proved wholly satisfactory in three years of service, could be turned out by that same concern there quickly if the English design were adopted for our Army.

After considerable discussion and consideration the English design was followed, and orders for our ambulance trains were placed abroad. Up to December 7, 1918, there had been completed for our Army 19 of these trains, with a total of 304 cars, and there were in the course of completion at that time or under order 29 additional ambulance trains.

Information from England shows that it was indeed the part of wisdom to order these ambulance trains abroad, as figures from England stated that the first 14 of these trains were produced at a cost to us of £3,845 per car, including repair parts. This means that at the present rate of exchange the cost of each coach was $18,302.20, while to have built these cars in this country, knocked them down, and shipped them overseas would have cost $40,000 each.

NARROW-GAUGE RAILWAY EQUIPMENT—FABRICATED STEEL TRACK.

The urgent necessity for narrow-gauge railway equipment for our armed forces in Europe was first brought home to us when Gen. Pershing cabled on July 15, 1917. In this message he asked for large quantities of 60-centimeter locomotives, cars, and track. The types requested were entirely new in this country.

Specifically, there were required 195 60-centimeter steam locomotives with a low center of gravity and with a maximum of 3½ tons axle load; 126 40-horsepower gasoline locomotives; 63 20-horsepower gasoline locomotives; and 3,332 freight cars of various types, including box cars and flat cars of 10-ton capacity, tank cars, and dump cars. To aid in the building of this new equipment many photographs and designs brought over from France were used. It was decided to build the 10-ton cars fitted with small 4-wheel trucks at each end, rather than to make them of the 4-wheeled type, as with this construction they would be better adapted for the rounding of short curves.

60-CENTIMETER GAUGE STEAM LOCOMOTIVE; TRACTIVE POWER, 6,225 POUNDS. CYLINDERS, 9 × 12, DRIVING WHEELS 23½ INCHES, WHEEL BASE 5 FEET 10 INCHES; WEIGHT IN WORKING ORDER 34,500 POUNDS; CAPACITY: WATER 476 GALLONS, FUEL 1,700 POUNDS.

60-CENTIMETER GAUGE STEAM LOCOMOTIVE; 50 HORSEPOWER. CYLINDERS 5½ × 7, DRIVING WHEELS 30 INCHES, WHEEL BASE 4 FEET; WEIGHT IN WORKING ORDER 14,000 POUNDS; FUEL CAPACITY, 30 GALLONS.

ARMORED RAILWAY MOTOR CAR. HALL-SCOTT GASOLINE ENGINE; LENGTH 62 FEET 9 INCHES, WIDTH 9 FEET 11 INCHES, TRUCK CENTERS 46 FEET.

ARMORED MOTOR CAR, OIL-ELECTRIC ENGINE.

ARMORED CAR EQUIPPED WITH 3-INCH GUN AND SEARCHLIGHT ON CAR ATTACHED.

In turning out the different kinds of locomotives for the 60-centimeter railways new designs were made in order to produce locomotives that would run with equal facility in either direction. For the gasoline locomotives, designs of types similar to standard-gauge engines, a few of which had been in the service in this country, were made, and orders were placed with the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the first lot.

The first steam locomotives were delivered by the builders on October 3, 1917, and the first gas locomotives on November 7, 1917.

Orders for the freight cars for these narrow-gauge railways were placed with a number of the larger car-building companies of the country. The first of these cars were delivered November 24, 1917.

When the armistice was signed a total of 1,841 locomotives and 11,229 cars of the narrow-gauge type had been ordered and 427 locomotives and 6,134 cars completed. Up to the 11th of November 361 of the locomotives and 5,691 of the cars had been shipped overseas.

Of the 361 locomotives sent to France, 191 were steam engines, 108 had 50-horsepower gasoline engines, and 62 had 35-horsepower gasoline engines. Of the 5,691 cars that went to the Expeditionary Forces prior to the signing of the armistice, 600 were box cars, 166 were tank cars, 500 were flat cars, 1,555 were 8-wheeled gondola cars, 330 were dump cars, 100 were artillery truck cars, 970 were motor cars, 180 were inspection cars, 300 were hand cars, and 990 were push cars.

For the construction of the narrow-gauge railroad used in the combat areas behind the front line trenches a special type of fabricated track was designed. This consisted of short sections of rail bolted to steel crossties. The American narrow-gauge railway was so arranged that it could be packed in knockdown shape to save shipping space. Most of this track was in 5-meter lengths, although many shorter sections were used. All, however, were in multiples of 1¼ meters, accurately sawed so as to insure absolute fit of intermediate sections when shell fire made replacement necessary. Vast quantities of curved track, as well as innumerable switches and turnouts, also were built.

In all about 605 miles of fabricated, narrow-gauge steel track were purchased and 460 miles shipped to France. All but 192 miles of the fabricated track was built at the Lakewood Engineering Co., near Cleveland. The balance was obtained through the United States Steel Products Co. The cost of the straight track was about $7,400 a mile, while the cost of the curved sections was $8,000 a mile.

Much of this narrow-gauge track that went to France was manufactured at the rate of between 5 and 6 miles of completed track a day.

Great quantities of the fabricated track produced by the Lakewood Engineering Co. were loaded upon camouflaged steamers in Cleveland in May, 1918, and sent direct to France, via Lake Erie, the Welland Canal, and the St. Lawrence River.

CHAPTER III.
ENGINEER ACTIVITIES AT HOME.

A vast quantity of motorized or portable equipment was required by the Engineer units of the American Expeditionary Forces and this had in the main to be furnished under the supervision of the Engineers in this country. The extent to which this material was produced is shown by such items as 6,923 trucks of all kinds, 2,082 portable buildings, 124 portable shop and material trucks, 51 portable pile drivers, 90 electric storage trucks, 6,006 boilers, and 3,504 dump cars. Two-thirds of this equipment was shipped overseas before the armistice was signed.

The development of mobile shops was one of the most interesting phases of this branch of engineering work. Quite early in the war, when we began the construction of the great base shops in France, we developed these portable machine shops, blacksmith shops, carpenter shops, and storeroom shops in demountable truck bodies, to be used for general service in the field. The shops were so constructed that they could be entirely closed up when the unit was in motion; but when the shop was ready for use the sides and ends of the inclosing structure were lowered, forming work tables when the shop was left on the truck chassis. If the shop were entirely demounted, these sides and ends, let down, formed extensions of the floor. With this arrangement a wide range of general repair and construction work could be handled on the spot on short notice. If it were necessary for the shop to stay in one place for several days or weeks, the body could be demounted, and the truck chassis was then used for transporting materials to and from the shop.

Each portable shop contained about 800 different items of tools and equipment. Each was mounted on a 5½ ton truck. The portable machine shop contained a workbench, a drill press, a portable electric drill, a grinder, and a 14-inch lathe, these being operated by an electric power plant carried on the truck; and it also had an equipment of necessary small tools and supplies, including an oxyacetylene welding outfit.

The portable blacksmith, plumbing, and tin shops each contained a workbench, forges, hoists, pipe-fitting machines, a shear and punch, vises, and a welding and cutting outfit, together with a power plant and switchboard and the necessary small tools and supplies. The portable carpenter shop contained boring machines, a drill press, a bench grinder, a workbench, a saw bench, a winch, power plant and switchboard, small tools and supplies.

A complete machine shop on wheels cost the Government about $8,500. The carpenter shop cost $7,600. As supply units for the portable shops, the Government built 30 material trucks, each containing about 600 items of tools and supplies. These material trucks cost $6,100 apiece.

Another successful development of this nature was the portable photolithographic press truck, already referred to in the account of the American Expeditionary Forces' lithographic equipment. These automobile presses, which were at our front soon after our troops went into the trenches, were able to print and distribute lithographic sketches and maps within 12 hours after the original sketches were submitted for reproduction. The French and British armies also had mobile photolithographic units which were much less portable than ours and much slower in operation. The best time made by the French and British outfits was four days for the same work.

We also supplied to the Engineering forces abroad special water sterilizers and water tanks, mounted on trucks. The Engineers put small job-printing shops on trucks and photographic dark rooms on trucks for use in the field.

They equipped trucks with derricks, capstans, and wrecking machinery. They furnished automotive road sprinklers and oilers, as well as trucks with special dump bodies for highway work.

They developed a light, portable pile driver unlike anything used theretofore in commercial work. This machine was constructed of structural steel and had a total weight of 4 tons. It was mounted on a truck drawn by horses or mules, and the pile driver itself was operated by a 25-horsepower gasoline engine. The pile driver could be used within 16 minutes after its arrival at any point.

One development of this sort, the mobile clam-shell derrick, is worth noting. This unique piece of machinery was built by the Winther Motor Truck Co., of Kenosha, Wis. When the American Expeditionary Forces issued a requisition for 120 clam-shell derricks mounted on motor trucks, no such piece of equipment was in existence anywhere on earth. The Winther Co. volunteered to attempt to produce the machine. By giving a wider tread of rear axle to the Winther motor truck, the company could provide a suitable vehicle, but, search as they might, they could not find a derrick of sufficient power to operate a half-yard clam shell and also light enough to mount on a 7-ton truck. No such derrick existed. The company, therefore, without knowing anything about the manufacture of derricks, put its engineering force to work to produce a design. This design was developed in two weeks, and the derrick built from it was less than half the weight of any derrick of equal capacity. After being perfected, the mobile derrick in tests showed that it could move 350 cubic yards of sand or gravel per day or 500 or 600 tons of coal. One man could operate it and the motive power was a 4-cylinder gasoline engine.

ENGINEERS' TOOL WAGON.

ENGINEERS' BLACKSMITH SHOP, CLOSED.

ONE OF THE ENGINEERS' PORTABLE MACHINE SHOPS.

The Engineering Department approved this design and ordered 32 such clam-shell units. Nine of these were delivered before the armistice was signed. The company has continued production of these derricks with a view of selling them to road builders and excavators in civil life.

For use of the various Engineer units we manufactured 1,610 tool wagons and shipped most of them to France. Because of the rough nature of the shell-torn ground over which these wagons must be used, we designed each to be uncoupled and operated as two 2-wheeled carts.

The development of mobile industrial units mounted on motor trucks is likely to have a profound effect on American industry in the future. For instance, the special derrick or crane trucks which we built are almost certain to be adopted in commercial use. The locomotive crane has always been a useful machine, but its chief use has been in handling heavy materials which were being loaded on or off railway cars. A crane which can be moved rapidly to places where railway tracks are not located should be of almost equal importance. An accompanying illustration shows in operation one of the derrick trucks which we built for overseas use.

In the same way the mobile pile drivers designed by the Engineer Corps should be of great future service in road building in this country.

The various machine shops which were built for war purposes will, in their duplications and adaptations, undoubtedly serve a useful purpose in future commercial activities in this country. The increased use of motive power on farms has created a demand for machine repairs. The day may come when the traveling machine shop will be a familiar sight on our rural highways.

The Engineer troops required a great quantity of hoisting machinery. Our purchases in this respect amounted to 700 cranes, mostly of the locomotive type, and 886 hoisting engines, at a total cost of $4,996,000. About two-thirds of this equipment was sent to France and installed at the ports of debarkation and at depots. The rest was used at the shipping points in this country. This machinery was of great aid in the rapid handling of materials at tidewater.

A vast amount of small tools and construction material was required.

Some 21,000 tons of barbed wire, shipped abroad to be used principally in the construction of entanglements in front of American battle positions, were manufactured principally by the United States Steel Products Co., Jones & Laughlin, the Gulf States Steel Co., and the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co., although several other firms also supplied barbed wire.

The Engineering Department ordered in the United States, during the fighting, equipment and supplies which cost approximately $754,201,407.

We furnished in all 85,120 steel shelters of various sizes, of which 38,320 were of the individual type which could be carried by one man. The steel used in these individual shelters was about one-eighth of an inch thick.

There may be expected to be great incidental benefit to future American industry from improvements and inventions brought out by American military engineering in 1917 and 1918.

One important work, for instance, which the Engineer Department undertook was that of standardizing the requirements for paints and varnishes. At the outset our Army needs ran into 29 shades of color in 315 different paint and varnish mixtures. Without affecting any of our camouflage projects or other important undertakings, we reduced the number of shades required from 29 to 16 and brought the total number of commodities down from 315 to 99. This reduction in the range of commodities will be of great use to the paint and varnish industry in the future.

At the beginning of the war the mechanical rubber industry had but few standard specifications. The Engineers, after considerable research, developed 30 standard specifications for mechanical rubber goods, which class included such materials as hose, packing, and sleeves. The representatives of the rubber industry verbally stated that the Engineer Department in this short time did more good to the trade than it had been able to accomplish for itself in the previous three or four years of effort. Immediately after hostilities stopped rubber concerns began asking the Engineer Department for its standard specifications.

In the manufacture of hardware and kitchen utensils there was also considerable standardization done, and changes in manufacturing methods were recommended which were put into effect by the producers. All spun goods were eliminated, and the industry confined itself to straight stamping, which meant a reduction in labor. A standard cobalt coating for enamelware was developed by which the industry conserved about 30 tons of nitre per month and made a more durable and satisfactory enamel coating, with the result that to-day the Army is purchasing its vast quantities of enamelware subject to certain tests, whereas, in the past, practically all this material was bought purely upon the manufacturers' statements. The shortage of tin was of considerable importance. Upon the recommendation of an Engineer officer enormous quantities of cafeteria trays were coated with zinc and large amounts of tin thereby conserved. The finished tray was entirely satisfactory and gave essentially the same service as that plated with tin. Horseshoe nails, formerly a variable product, were standardized and tested, and methods were devised by which the Army was enabled to control their quality.

Before the war there was no standard rating for internal-combustion engines, each manufacturer rating his motors according to his own ideas. Our studies of small engines of the type used for driving pumps or operating woodworking and metal-working machines resulted in many improvements, which have been adopted by the manufacturers of internal-combustion engines. Out of these studies came the so-called army rating, a standard which is bound to result in the more careful rating of commercial engines.

The Engineer Department brought out a modification of the design of the existing line of gasoline-driven shovels by applying caterpillar traction to the larger sizes, thus doing away with the labor required to plank up and block shovels that move on wheels.

When we entered the war, the explosive trinitrotoluol was standard for our Army for mining and demolition purposes. The Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with the Engineer Department, developed an explosive which is cheaper than T. N. T. and promises to replace it for engineering operations.

We also improved the devices commercially used in electrical detonation of distributed charges, our improved detonators being more certain and reliable than anything in use.

Commercial machines for detonating as many as 250 standard No. 8 caps were developed for the Panama Canal, but the machines in common use had seen little improvement for 25 years. As a result of the development by the Engineer Corps, a machine capable of detonating 120 caps was obtained, weighing no more than the 30-cap commercial blasting machine and costing slightly less.

A second machine was developed, capable of exploding 500 caps, at a price not greatly above the price of a 30-cap commercial machine. Mining engineers who saw this development stated that it would have a high commercial value, as these improved machines would make electric blasting more positive and dependable than any other form of detonation, as well as making it possible to set off a large series of charges simultaneously. The Panama Canal machine weighed 35 pounds and cost $126. Our 500-cap machine weighed 30 pounds and cost $35. The du Pont 30-cap machine weighed 25 pounds and cost $25. Our small machine weighed 20 pounds, cost $22.50, and would fire 120 caps.

In addition to this there might be mentioned other projects developed primarily for war purposes but which will be available for the industrial uses of peace. These included portable well-drilling outfits of a new type, alcohol stills of a small size for the utilization of waste products in small units, sound reducers on the exhaust pipes of gasoline engines, air strainers to minimize the chances of dust and grit entering gasoline engines. When the war ended we were working on the problem of hastening the setting of concrete and were also studying the production in this country of photographic colors and tone chemicals formerly secured only from Germany.

In general, mention should be made of the exhaustive tests in many industries conducted by the Engineer depot and by special detachments of Engineers. Tests were made of hundreds of pieces of apparatus, and these tests led to many improvements in American manufacture. Illustrating how these tests were regarded by individual concerns, the Cleveland Tractor Co., after a test of its equipment conducted by Army Engineers, stated: "Our people consider this test to be the most valuable ever undertaken by this company." This is indicative of benefits scattered throughout American industry by the engineering war tests.

While practically all of the research work which resulted in the developments and improvements noted was conducted by Engineer officers while on duty at the General Engineer Depot in Washington, since the transfer of the functions of the General Engineer Depot to the Division of Purchase, Storage and Traffic, November 1, 1918, much of this research work has been and still is being carried on by the latter division.

For handling Engineer materials there were established the General Engineer Depot at Washington, D. C, embarkation depots at South Kearney, N. J., and Norfolk, Va., and shipping depots at Baltimore, Md., Philadelphia, Pa., Jacksonville, Fla., New Orleans, La., and Mobile, Ala. In addition, subdepots were organized at all of the divisional camps and cantonments.

The war demanded the production in America of quantities of precision instruments. These were required not only by the Ordnance Department for the equipment of artillery with sights and indirect fire-control apparatus but also by the Engineer Corps, the Signal Corps, the Bureau of Aircraft Production, and the Medical Department. These instruments were such things as aneroid barometers, pocket compasses, measuring tapes, surveyors' equipment generally, map-drawing outfits, draftsmen's supplies, and so on. For a large period of the war the procurement of precision instruments was in the hands of the General Engineer Depot. Later, when the War Department's supply activities were being consolidated, the purchasing of precision instruments, except the highly technical sound-ranging devices, was taken over by the Director of Purchase and Storage, the organization of the General Engineer Depot going along in the transfer. The development and the production of searchlights and sound-ranging apparatus remained in the hands of the Engineer Corps.

In April, 1917, there were probably not more than a dozen recognized American manufacturers of high-grade precision instruments. As an indication of the expansion of manufacturing capacity required by the war, one concern, the Taylor Instrument Cos., of Rochester, N. Y., which had manufactured in peace times watch-pocket compasses at the rate of 15,000 a year, were called upon to turn them out at the rate of 10,000 weekly to fill an order for 200,000 of them. In order to handle this contract the Taylor Instrument Cos. built a new factory building in 20 days. A certain type of aneroid barometer required by the exigencies had never before been produced in America. The Taylor Instrument Cos. succeeded in producing 1,240 of these barometers.

The Lufkin Rule Co., of Saginaw, Mich., was called upon to manufacture 700 band chain measuring tapes for surveying, graduated throughout according to the metric system, and also 1,240 special outfits for repairing such tape. These band tapes when broken are fastened together by tiny rivets, which are produced by special machinery. Because of the inability of the machine-tool industry, swamped as it was with war demands, to produce the special rivet-making machines, it was necessary to reduce in the specifications for repair outfits the quantity of metal rivets for each kit from 4 ounces of rivets to 2 ounces.

Field artillery required a precision instrument known as the miniature telescopic alidade of the Gale type. It is unlikely that 150 of these instruments had been made in the United States during 10 years, yet the Artillery demands called for the production of 1,110 of them. The W. & L. E. Gurley Co., of Troy, N. Y., not only manufactured half of this order, but, in order that the Government might obtain a sufficient supply of these instruments, it turned over to a competing firm, the Eugene Dietzgen Co., of Chicago, the lenses, prisms, hermetically-sealed bubbles, and other parts for 555 instruments.

The Army required large numbers of hand tally registers to be used by checkers and observers. The Benton Manufacturing Co., of New York, had been making less than 15,000 registers of this sort in a year, yet it increased its facilities and turned out 62,000 of them for the Army within two months.

The Army required 35,000 complete sketching outfits for the use of military observers. The contents of these outfits were manufactured by a dozen different concerns.

Drawing instrument sets were produced by the Eugene Dietzgen Co. Each set included a pair of proportional dividers. Our draftsmen had always obtained their dividers from Europe. The divider, which nearly everyone has seen, appears to be a simple device, yet it must be made with the utmost precision, or else it is valueless. In manufacture it goes through more than 100 distinct factory operations.

Marching compasses for troops were made by the Sperry Gyroscope Co., of Brooklyn, N. Y., the quantity in manufacture being over 200,000 instruments.

Many other delicate instruments of most difficult manufacture, whose description is too technical to be set down here, were produced successfully in America during the war period.

DERRICK TRUCK FOR OVERSEAS USE.

LIGHT MICROPHONE SET.

GEOPHONE SOUND RANGING SET.

AMERICAN T-M SURFACE SOUND-RANGING SET.

CHAPTER IV.
SOUND AND FLASH RANGING AND SEARCHLIGHTS.

In childhood we were enthralled by the tales of those magic persons whose keen hearing could detect even the whisper of the growing grass. As camouflage developed, modern warfare yearned for such supernatural gifts of sense that troops might detect the unseen presence of the enemy. Accordingly Science, the fairy godmother of today's soldiers, raised her wand, and lo, the Army was equipped with the wonderful ears of the fairy tale, uncanny no longer, but a concrete manufacturing proposition.

Artillery practice nowadays abhors the wasted shot. The time when cannon fired in the general direction of the enemy, and hoped to hit something, passed when the long-range rifles and howitzers, with their marvelously accurate sighting instruments, came into existence. Whole books have been written on the subject of pointing a modern cannon in the modern way. A great proportion of our industrial effort in the recent conflict was devoted to the sole end that we might aim our artillery accurately.

For instance, to this end almost exclusively was devoted the enormous production of aircraft material. The observer in the airplane or balloon trusted not to his eyes but to the finer sight of the photographic camera; and this again occasioned a large war industry—the production of cameras and their operation in the field, which included the production of finished photography in the field dark rooms. But, as the airplane and aerial camera were perfected, camouflage was undertaken as a protection from discovery from aloft; and so might be brought in another chapter—the production of camouflage material and the work of camouflage experts in the field. Presently camouflage succeeded in baffling the camera to a great extent, and this made necessary the development of instruments that could detect the location of the enemy by sound. Since the unaided ear was not keen enough to supply the desired information, applied science came to the rescue with the various devices embraced in the general classification of sound-ranging equipment. The production of this equipment was under the direction of the Engineer Department of the Army.

In three classes of military work we needed hearing refined to the razor-edge. With keen enough ears we could detect those subterranean operations of the enemy known as mining; with ears of that sort we could detect and locate the positions of hostile cannon; and still again we could employ such sensitiveness of hearing to find in the darkest sky at night the hostile raiding airplane.

One of these long-distance ear drums which man invented for himself as an aid to his military operations was known as the geophone. The first geophone used by the western powers in the war was invented by the French. It was a simple mechanism. The device or drum which received the sound waves and magnified them consisted of a small closed box with a confined air space. This box was weighted with a leaden disk to give it the required inertia. The geophone was placed upon the ground and the vibrations of the earth were communicated through the medium of the confined air space. The sounds then reached the listener's ears via a rubber tube and an ordinary stethoscope horn. By means of this device the slightest vibrations of the ground were rendered audible.

The geophone was used to detect enemy mining operations. The listener placed the weighted box on the floor of an underground gallery or on solid earth or rock. If the enemy were burrowing in the ground anywhere within a distance of 75 yards the geophone would tell about it. In order to enable the listener to know in what direction the sounds came, two geophone boxes were provided, one connected with each ear. By placing the boxes a small distance apart from each other and them moving them until the vibrations in both ear horns were equalized, the listener could tell approximately in what direction the enemy mining operation was located.

Geophones were used by both sides, and so effective did they prove to be that it is reported that they were largely instrumental in stopping mining operations altogether. If an enemy mine were located by one of these devices, a counter mine could be started at once and carried through, usually with disastrous results to the hostile miners.

As our first step in the production of geophones, we adopted the French device; but later on we developed an instrument with nearly one-third greater range than the French geophone had. This improvement was developed by the Engineers and bureau specialists at the Bureau of Standards in Washington with money provided by the Engineering Department. We produced the improved model in sufficient quantities to meet the requirements of the American Expeditionary Forces.

We also developed an electromechanical geophone that could be connected up by wire to a central listening station some distance back from an exposed location. The sound-receiving boxes or microphones were placed out in No Man's Land and hidden under trash or earth. They were so sensitive that they would not only record any subterranean activities of the enemy within their range, but at night would betray enemy raiding parties attempting to cross to our positions, the sensitive boxes picking up the vibrations of their speech or footsteps. The central listener could locate approximately the position of hostile operations by observing which boxes were receiving the sounds in greatest intensity. The boxes could also pick up and send to the central listening stations conversations carried on by the enemy parties even in low tones, the apparatus thus acting as the dictatorship of the war.

But by far the most important work done by listening instruments was in locating the positions of enemy gun batteries. This was one scientific instrument, at any rate, which the Germans were never able to produce successfully for themselves. During the final months of the war more enemy guns were located by listening instruments than by any other means. An American instrument with the Army spotted 117 German gun positions in a single day by surface sound ranging. This was the high American record set in the war, but at all times our sound-detecting equipment had an uncanny accuracy. Up to the end of the fighting, no way had been discovered to conceal the location of a gun from sound-ranging instruments suitably placed and properly operated.

The instruments used for locating gun positions were of such a highly complicated and technical nature that no one but designers and mechanics skilled in the production of complex electrical equipment could build them at all. The recording instruments, or microphones, were of a sort so delicate that their use theretofore had never been considered outside of laboratories. Yet they were required to operate successfully amid the din and concussion of heavy bombardments. All useless sounds and jars were filtered out so that only the sought-for vibrations could come to the central recording mechanism.

Studies of gunfire showed that when a cannon fires an explosive shell of high velocity there are three distinct concussions. One of these is the sharp crack produced in the air when the shell, dragging a short vacuum trail behind it, passes over the head of the observer. As the air rushes into this vacuum and collides with itself, it produces a crack that is similar in origin to ordinary thunder. The second concussion to be heard is that produced at the muzzle of the gun by the expanding gases that propel the shell. There is still a third, the break, or explosion. In order to locate a battery or gun exactly only one of these concussions—the explosion at the muzzle of the gun—must be picked up by the microphone. The first and third shocks, and all other sounds not useful to the work should be damped out and excluded.

A number of these microphones would be placed in scattered positions, usually in a trench, and then connected with the central recording mechanism. When a microphone picked up a hostile gun explosion the disturbance was instantly transmitted through several miles of wire. An ingenious and complicated mechanism actuated an electromagnetic needle, which instantly recorded this disturbance on a tape of photographic paper, calibrated to show fifths of seconds in time. Each microphone on outpost duty was represented on this tape by a parallel line; and, as six microphones were usually used, the tape was striped with six parallel lines. As the other microphones at the front picked up the concussion of the gun, their records were made on their respective lines; and the observers at the central station, by noting the difference in time between the reports of the various microphones, and by making calculations based on the rate at which sound travels, could locate the gun that set up the disturbances by means of ordinary surveyor's triangulations. So accurately would this mechanism do the work that a gun position could be determined within 50 or 60 feet.

Incidentally, it is interesting to note that the practice of our Army was to secure in advance, by means of surface sound ranging and other methods, the positions of all the enemy's guns that could be learned. Then, often after intervals of hours or even days, the fire began simultaneously upon all these gun positions just as our attack started.

In this country we had two experimental stations for the development of sound-ranging apparatus. We began experiments in this work in June, 1917. Before we had perfected any satisfactory instruments, the British had met with great success with the Bull-Tucker system; and we adopted that type for the use of the American Expeditionary Forces. From plans and models sent to this country we produced an American Bull-Tucker machine, utilizing standard American electrical equipment wherever we could. At the close of the war we had in operation along the American front 12 complete American outfits. The six microphones of each recording machine in action were set about 5,000 feet apart along the front, so that each sound-ranging section covered a frontage of approximately 5 miles. The 12 outfits in use were sufficient to locate the guns of the enemy on a 60-mile front.

About a month before the fighting stopped we sent to France a new model sound-ranging set which had been developed with the cooperation of the Bureau of Standards. The reports from the American Expeditionary Forces indicated that this American development was superior in several important particulars to anything else in use when the war came to an end. The American instruments were lighter, easier to carry about, easier to install, and much cheaper than those of the British type, and would operate under more adverse weather conditions. The impulses received by the microphone in this equipment were recorded on a running tape smoked by an acetylene flame.

Sound ranging for the detection of airplanes at night requires an equipment which consists fundamentally of a sound-gathering device and a listening mechanism, the combination enabling the observer to tell the direction from which the sound is coming. When a bombing plane approaches at night the hum of the motor can be heard at a distance from 1 to 3 miles, or even more, depending upon conditions. But the direction of this sound is elusive to the unaided ear, as anyone can testify who has heard an airplane in broad daylight but could not locate it with his eyes. Before the invention of aerial sound ranging the searchlights hunting for the hostile airplane were obliged to sweep the sky aimlessly in an endeavor to locate it; and the pilot of the plane could often maneuver to keep out of the light. But by use of the sound detectors not only can the approach of the airplane be detected at a distance beyond the hearing range of the unaided ear, but, what is more important, its direction can be determined within an angle of 3°. The use of these sound detectors greatly increased the chances of locating airplanes at night by searchlight.

The Engineer Department conducted extensive experiments in the development of aerial sound detectors. One form developed consisted of a set of long horns with listening tubes attached to the small ends and leading to receivers on the observer's head set. These horns were mounted on a turntable which the observer could revolve, so that the horns could be turned in the general direction of the sound. Four horns were used in this mechanism—two to indicate the direction of the airplane on a horizontal circle (in azimuth), and the other pair to indicate the direction on the vertical arc (in elevation). Under favorable conditions the sensitiveness of this device was three times that of the unaided ear, and the airplane could be located within an angle of 1°. The horn detector, however, was large and cumbersome and not satisfactory for a mobile unit.

For field sound ranging, when the listener may wish to move from place to place, the parabloid sound reflector was developed. This hemispherical object, like a huge fountain basin in shape, was made of material similar to building board and shaped in parabolic lines. Such a sound collector echoed or reflected the sound from every point of its surface to a focal point where the listening instrument was located. The observer turned the parabloid on its universal mount until the sound was equalized in his ears, and then the exact direction of the airplane would be indicated by the azimuth and elevation pointers on the machine. The paraboloids developed by our Engineering Department had a sensitiveness three times that of the unaided ear and could locate sound within 3° of arc.

We were not pioneers in developing the parabloid, however, the French having built them ahead of us; but our apparatus possessed marked advantages over that of the French. In the first place, the French collecting device weighed 3½ tons and was so heavy and cumbersome that it could scarcely be moved at all. The total weight of the American collecting device was only 1,300 pounds. The American instrument was thus much lighter and more portable. It was so simple that it could be set up in about one-sixth the time that it took to erect the French device. The cost of our machine was only about two-fifths that of the French mechanism.

Although valuable work in detecting gun positions was done by sound ranging, yet both sides located guns by watching their flashes. We improved flash-ranging sets of the allies. These were simple in principle. A number of observers at posts commanding good views were equipped with observation telescopes mounted on tripods to watch for the flashes of enemy guns. Whenever two or more of them observed the same flash and reported its direction, the position of the gun could be determined by ordinary triangulation.

However, in operation the system was not so simple, because of the fact that the observers reporting might not have turned their instruments upon the same flash. This difficulty was met by furnishing each observer with an outpost switch set. As soon as he observed the flash through his telescope he closed the switch, and that action turned on a small electric light at the headquarters station, which might be miles away. Then, as soon as he could, he telephoned in the direction of the flash observed. If the operator at the switchboard saw two or three of the lights flash simultaneously, he knew the observers at the front had probably caught the same flash. Lights that came on a little ahead or a little behind the simultaneous lights were disregarded when the observers telephoned reports.

In developing the telescope for this system considerable difficulty was experienced on account of the shortage of the proper optical glass in this country. We were, therefore, obliged to buy our telescopes in France until our supply would be available. These telescopes were expensive mechanisms, and in some of the work of the flash-ranging sections two of them were originally required at each observing station—one to determine the position of a shell burst in elevation and the other its position on the horizontal circle in azimuth. Since the declaration of the armistice an American Engineer officer has designed a telescope eyepiece which enables this work to be done by observing through a single instrument, thus effecting a marked saving in the number of telescopes which might be required in the future.

AMERICAN PARABLOID TYPE ACOUSTIC DETECTOR.

60-INCH OPEN TYPE PORTABLE SEARCHLIGHT.

60-INCH HIGH INTENSITY SEACOAST TYPE SEARCHLIGHT.

When the fighting stopped our military scientists and others cooperating with them were developing a type of ground sound-ranging apparatus which it was hoped could be utilized to give troops warning of the firing of heavy artillery shells in their general direction. Preliminary experiments show that at a distance of 4.1 miles this mechanism could record the firing of a gun some 19 seconds before the arrival of the shell. Under proper circumstances this elapsed time would enable troops properly warned to seek cover from the explosion of the projectile. This development of sound-ranging apparatus and its application to the protection of personnel was made possible by the far greater speed with which shock vibrations travel through a dense medium like the earth than through the usual sound-conveying medium, the atmosphere.

SEARCHLIGHTS.

The searchlight equipment of the United States Army prior to 1914 consisted chiefly of lights located at our coast defenses. In 1916 we began the development of mobile searchlight-and-power units for field-army work, four horse-drawn equipments, with 36-inch lights, being ordered first, and later eight other sets, with extensible towers and gasoline electric generators. When the war was approaching we ordered 85 sets of the limber-and-caisson type. The caissons of these sets carried 24-inch lights on extensible towers. In January, 1917, we ordered 50 high-intensity lights to replace as many low-intensity lamps at our seacoast fortifications. The first war order was placed in April, 1917, and consisted of 20 additional searchlights of the 60-inch dimension, the largest light ordered by the War Department.

After the entrance of America in the war the Engineer Department began studying the requirements abroad for searchlights used in defense against hostile aircraft; and in September, 1917, this investigation resulted in orders for 360 high-intensity searchlights, 693 high-intensity arc mechanisms, and 1,000 glass mirrors of standard design.

About this time we began looking to the improvement of existing searchlight equipment. The cooperation of leading scientists, manufacturers, and Government bureaus was obtained, and the product of exhaustive experiments was 18 different new kinds of searchlights either partially or wholly developed.

The first of these were produced, shipped, and were in operation with the Second Field Army in France on October 1, 1918. This was a new form of searchlight more powerful than any that had been produced before that time. It weighed one-eighth as much as lights of former design, cost only one-third as much, was about one-fourth as large in bulk, and threw a light 10 per cent stronger than any other portable projector in existence.

Without going into the details of this mechanism its most striking innovation, from the standpoint of the nontechnical observer, was the absence of the front glass through which the beams of the older type lamps are sent. The absence of the glass, while reducing the weight and cost of a light, also increased the intensity of the beam of the searchlight, since any glass, no matter how conducive to rays, absorbs light to a considerable extent.

In the first part of the war we took the 36-inch lights which the Government had on hand and mounted them on motor trucks. For generating power for the lights, motor trucks were equipped with electric generators operated by the crank-shaft of the truck engine. In moving about each truck carried not only the light and power unit and accessories, but provided space for the crew and their equipment.

When we went into the war there was only one firm in the United States that could make the large searchlight mirrors, but two other concerns developed the art and the faculties during the hostilities. These mirrors were of glass and cost about $1,000 at prewar prices. The maximum output in the United States before the war was three 60-inch mirrors per week. As the result of governmental encouragement the production of the 60-inch mirrors increased until it reached the stage of 15 a week in November, 1918; and the price was reduced to about $900 per mirror, even under war-time conditions with respect to labor and material. This was equivalent to a price of about $700 per mirror under normal conditions, or a saving of 30 per cent.

A remarkable contribution of the United States to searchlight science was the production of a satisfactory metal mirror for projecting the beam. The metal mirror not only weighed a little less than the glass mirror, but it cost only one-third as much as the glass one, could be produced in one-fifth the time, was much less fragile, and extended the possibility of manufacture to a wide number of industries. The metal mirror possessed 97 per cent of the reflectivity of the glass mirror. This slight dullness is inappreciable in searchlight work and more than compensated for by the other qualities of the metal reflector. This type of mirror, however, had not yet been put in production when the war ended.

Our inventors during the 19 months of hostilities succeeded in reducing the size of carbons used in 200-ampere lamps from 2 inches in diameter to 1⅛ inches. This cut the cost of carbons in two, but the improvements tripled the amount of light developed.

In November, 1918, we were working with assurance of success to develop a simple system whereby field searchlights could be pointed and controlled from a distance. Such controls had been used in experimental work prior to 1917, but the mechanisms were complicated and not suitable for field service.

The searchlight section of the Corps of Engineers also developed optical finding devices, which doubled the range of all searchlights without requiring any modification of the lights themselves. Neither the ordinary telescope nor night glass is suitable for target finding by searchlight. The result of our investigation was the development of a combined observer's chair, eye protector, and searchlight target finder, the new equipment adding only 10 per cent to the cost of the searchlight unit.

The range of our modern high-power searchlight, whose target is a ship at sea, is about 15,000 yards; the range of this searchlight when its target is an airplane is about 15,000 feet.

BOOK IV.
CHEMICAL WARFARE.

CHAPTER I.
TOXIC GASES.

The first recorded use of suffocating gases in warfare was about 431 B. C., sulphur fumes having been used in besieging the cities of Platea and Belium in the war between the Athenians and the Spartans. Similar uses of toxic substances are recorded during the Middle Ages. In August, 1855, the English Admiral Lord Dundonald, having observed the deadly character of the fumes of sulphur in Sicily, proposed to reduce Sebastopol by sulphur fumes, and worked out the details of the proposition. The English Government disapproved the proposition on the ground that "the effects were so horrible that no honorable combatant could use the means required to produce them."

That the probable use of poison gases was still in the minds of military men is evidenced by the fact that at The Hague conference in 1899 several of the more prominent nations of Europe and Asia pledged themselves not to use any projectiles whose only object was to give out suffocating or poisonous gases. Many of the Powers did not sign this declaration until later. Germany signed and ratified it on September 4, 1900, but the United States never signed it. Further, this declaration was not to be binding in case of a war in which a non-signatory was or became a belligerent. Admiral Mahan, a United States delegate, stated his position in regard to the use of gas in shell, at that time an untried theory, as follows:

The reproach of cruelty and perfidy addressed against these supposed shells was equally uttered previously against firearms and torpedoes, although both are now employed without scruple. It is illogical and not demonstrably humane to be tender about asphyxiating men with gas, when all are prepared to admit that it is allowable to blow the bottom out of an ironclad at midnight, throwing four or five hundred men into the sea to be choked by the water, with scarcely the remotest chance to escape.

The Second Hague Peace Congress in 1907 adopted rules for land warfare, and among them was article 23 which read as follows: "It is expressly forbidden to employ poisons or poisonous weapons."

The use of toxic gas in the great war dates back to April 22, 1915, on which day the Germans employed chlorine, a common and well-known gas, in an attack against the French and British lines in the northeastern part of the upper Ypres salient.

The methods of manufacturing toxic gases, the use of such gases, and the tactics connected with their use were new developments of this war; yet during the year 1918 from 20 to 30 per cent of all American battle casualties were due to gas, showing that toxic gas is one of the most powerful implements of war. The records show, however, that when armies were supplied with masks and other defensive appliances, only about 3 or 4 per cent of the gas casualties were fatal. This indicates that gas can be made not only one of the most effective implements of war, but one of the most humane. It will, of course, be necessary to remove the noncombatant population from a greater depth of country immediately in the rear of the fighting lines than formerly, in order that women and children may not be gassed. This additional sacrifice of territory for war uses is another element of effectiveness in the weapon.

Since Germany had chosen to utilize toxic gas in warfare, the allied nations were compelled to adopt like tactics; accordingly England and France, faced with the desperate situation resulting from advantages secured by the Germans through the employment of these new weapons, immediately turned their attention not only to devising methods for protecting their own troops, but also to securing supplies and equipment necessary for the utilization of toxic gas as an agent of warfare against the German Army.

Germany originated thereafter the use of most of the new forms of gas, but the allied nations and America were actually producing, at the time of the armistice, gases on a much greater scale than Germany was ever able to attain. In fact, America itself was producing gases at a rate several times as great as was possible in Germany.

Prior to the entry of America in the war our overseas observers had been collecting information bearing upon gas warfare, referring the facts so obtained to the Ordnance Department in Washington, where the information was turned over to Lieut. Col. E. J. W. Ragsdale, who was then in charge of the Trench Warfare Section.

In the early days of our belligerency it was seen that we should need a plant for filling artillery shell with toxic gases. The Government in the fall of 1917 bought a large tract of land near Aberdeen, Md., to be an artillery proving ground. Approximately 3,400 acres of this reservation, about one-tenth of it in area, was set aside as the site for the gas shell-filling plant. This reservation was known as Edgewood, and the plant erected on the site was called the Edgewood Arsenal. Work started on the construction of the arsenal on November 1, 1917.

None of the toxic gases in use in Europe, except chlorine and small amounts of phosgene, had ever been commercially prepared in the United States. It was the original intention to interest existing chemical firms in the manufacture of these gases; but there were many difficulties in the way of such a project, not the least of which was the ruling of the Director General of Railways that such products as poison gas be transported only on special trains.

Also we discovered that the private chemical companies were loath to undertake such manufacture. The exhaustive investigations necessary before quantity methods of manufacture could be devised would be uncertain and expensive. There would be great danger to the lives of those employed in such work. Many of the private concerns were already crowded with war work. Finally, the new plant equipment which must be set up would be worth nothing when the war ended, since the manufacture of such gases would be limited to the period of hostilities. These and other considerations explain the reluctance of the commercial chemical industry to undertake the production of war gases.

Consequently the Government was forced to adopt the plan of building various chemical plants at the Edgewood Arsenal in connection with the filling plant. By December 1, 1917, it had been decided to build at Edgewood a chlorpicrin plant and a phosgene plant. The contracts were immediately let, and the work was pushed through the rigorous winter of 1917-18.

In March, 1918, the Edgewood project was taken from the Trench Warfare Section of the Ordnance Department and made an independent division under the command of Col. Wm. H. Walker. In June, 1918, the Chemical Warfare Service was organized, and the Edgewood Arsenal was transferred to it. Gen. W. L. Sibert, Director of the Gas Service, took charge of the activities of the arsenal in May prior to the official transfer.

Chlorine, the raw material for the manufacture of which is common salt, was one of the principal materials required in the gas-production program. Although chlorine was a standard product in the United States prior to the war, it was soon seen that we had an inadequate commercial supply to meet the requirements of our proposed gas offensive. Chlorine was used not only by itself, but it was also the active agent in the manufacture of nearly all the other toxic gases which we required. Consequently we decided to build a Government chlorine plant with two 50-ton units, giving a daily capacity of 100 tons of liquid chlorine. The ground for this plant at Edgewood was broken on May 11, 1918, and the actual production of chlorine begun on September 1.

In July, 1917, the Germans introduced the so-called mustard gas. It was immediately realized that for certain purposes of fighting this chemical was the most effective product so far employed, and a large number of Government experts here at once concentrated their energies in developing methods for its manufacture on a large scale. Not only were the uniformed experimenters busy at the Gas Service's American University Camp, at Washington, D. C., but experimental units were established at the plant of the Dow Chemical Co., at Midland, Mich., at the plant of Zinsser & Co., Hastings-on-Hudson, N. Y., and at the Government plant which had been started by the Trench Warfare Section, at Cleveland, Ohio.

Eventually it was decided to erect a large plant at Edgewood for the manufacture of mustard gas. Not until April, 1918, however, did we feel that we possessed sufficient knowledge and information to justify the construction of a mustard-gas plant on a large scale. France and England also were long in working out satisfactory methods of mustard-gas production. We began to make mustard in June, and continued with rapidly increasing output until the signing of the armistice.

It soon became evident that we could not depend upon civilian labor in the operation of the various chemical plants at Edgewood because of the danger involved. It was decided, therefore, to utilize enlisted men in the working crews. As the projects at Edgewood increased in size and number, the forces at the arsenal grew, until at one time there were 7,400 troops at this point.

Meanwhile the Government had at last been able to persuade a number of private chemical firms to manufacture toxic gases. The Government agreed to finance all new construction, but the operation was to be in the hands of the contracting companies. At each plant the Government stationed one of its representatives with necessary assistants. In the spring of 1918, these scattered factories by official order were made part of the Edgewood Arsenal, each plant being designated by the name of the city or town where it was located. Thereafter in Army usage the term "Edgewood Arsenal" embraced not only the group of factories on the Edgewood reservation, but also included the following projects:

Niagara Falls plant, operated by the Oldbury Electro-Chemical Co. Project—the manufacture of phosgene.

Midland, Mich., plant, operated by the Dow Chemical Co. Project—the sinking of 17 brine wells for the purpose of securing adequate supplies of bromine.

Charleston, W. Va., plant, operated by the Charleston Chemical Co. Project—the manufacture of sulphur chloride.

Bound Brook, N. J., plant, operated by Frank Hemingway (Inc.). Project—the manufacture of phosgene.

Buffalo plant, operated by the National Aniline & Chemical Co. Project—the manufacture of mustard gas.

In addition to these, the Edgewood Arsenal built at points advantageous to supplies of raw materials four other plants, and operated them as well. These were as follows:

Stamford, Conn., plant. Project—the manufacture of chlorpicrin.

Hastings-on-Hudson, N. Y., plant. Project—the manufacture of mustard gas.

Kingsport, Tenn., plant. Project—the manufacture of brombenzylcyanide.

Croyland, Pa., plant. Project—the manufacture of diphenylchlorarsine.

In constructing and equipping the Edgewood Arsenal we laid 21 miles of standard-gauge railway and 15 miles of narrow-gauge railway, built nearly 15 miles of improved roadway, and set up two water systems, one with a capacity of 1,500,000 gallons per day for the manufacturing purposes of the chemical plants, and the other providing a fresh-water supply pumped 4 miles with a daily capacity of 2,000,000 gallons. In all 558 buildings were put up on the grounds of the arsenal. There were 86 cantonment buildings, with a capacity of 8,400 men, as well as adequate quarters for officers and civilian employees. Three field hospitals, a complete base hospital, and separate buildings for Y. M. C. A. and K. of C. activities indicated the extent of the building equipment. Three power houses were provided, with a total capacity of 26,500 kilowatts.

In the construction of buildings every precaution was taken to avoid accidents from the handling of toxic gas, the ventilating systems being as near perfection as human science could make them. It is notable that out of the thousands of men employed only four met their death by gas poisoning. Three of these casualties were due to phosgene and one to mustard gas.

To show that all of the danger of the war was not confined to the front, the following table of casualties in 1918 at the Edgewood Arsenal proper is here given:

Toxic agent.June.July.Aug.Sept.Oct.Nov.Dec.Total.
Mustard gas1441190153227472674
Stannic chloride381521350
Phosgene37217150
Chlorpicrin14189344
Bleach chlorine2392144
Liquid chlorine1327518
Sulphur chloride2169
Phosphorus275115
Caustic soda33410
Sulphuric acid4318
Picric acid22
Carbon monoxide11
Totals1463279197293763925

As has been noted, chlorine was the only war gas produced on a commercial scale in America prior to the war. At the ordinary temperatures chlorine is a greenish-yellow gas of strong, suffocating odor. Through the combined effects of cold and pressure it is readily condensed to a liquid and is ordinarily shipped in this form, stored in strong cylinders.

Chlorine is prepared commercially by the electrolytic process. A current of electricity is passed through a solution of common salt. The greenish gas at once arises, leaving behind it a residue of caustic soda. The apparatus in which the salt is decomposed by the electric current is known as a cell. The Government plant used Nelson cells, each with a capacity of 60 pounds of chlorine and 65 pounds of caustic soda per 24 hours.

The Government chlorine plant at Edgewood was ready for operation in August, 1918, but was not actually started until September 1. The plant consisted of (1) a cell house, which had a total capacity of 100 tons of chlorine per 24 hours; (2) an electric substation for supplying the current; (3) a brine building, where the salt was mixed with water and the resulting brine purified; (4) a boiler and evaporation building, for concentrating the caustic soda from the cells; (5) a caustic fusion building, for drying the caustic soda and fusing it into solid form for shipment; and (6) a liquefying plant to condense and liquefy 50 tons of chlorine per day.

With the exception of chlorine, chlorpicrin was the first war gas to be manufactured on a large scale in this country. When pure, chlorpicrin is a colorless liquid which boils at a temperature approximately of 112° C. The compound has been known since 1848. While not so poisonous as some of the other products used in gas warfare, it is, nevertheless, an active poison, and has the additional advantage of being a fair lachrymator, or tear producer.

Chlorpicrin is made by the reaction between picric acid and chlorine. The chlorine is best supplied in the form of so-called bleaching powder, which is ordinary chloride of lime. In the manufacturing process as originally carried out, free picric acid was mixed with bleaching powder held in suspension with water. Later it was found advantageous to use calcium picrate instead of picric acid.

Accordingly, the final process was as follows: The bleaching powder was creamed with water and mixed with a solution of calcium picrate in large stills holding 5,000 gallons or more. A jet of live steam was then introduced at the bottom of the still, and the reaction began at once, the rapidity depending upon the amount of steam introduced. The resulting chlorpicrin, together with a certain quantity of steam, passed out of the still and was liquefied in the condenser. The resulting mixture of chlorpicrin and water was run into tanks, where the chlorpicrin, being insoluble in water, gradually settled to the bottom and was run off and used directly in gas shell.

In developing this process the Government was assisted by the Dow Chemical Co., the Semet-Solvay Co., and the American Synthetic Color Co., of Stamford, Conn., the principal work being done by representatives of the Bureau of Mines at the Stamford plant.

AIRPLANE VIEW OF CHLORINE PLANT, EDGEWOOD ARSENAL.

CHLORINE PLANT, EDGEWOOD ARSENAL.

This is the largest single chlorine and caustic soda plant in the country. Its capacity, when entirely completed, is 100 tons of chlorine and 112 tons of fused caustic soda per day.

CHLORPICRIN PLANT AT EDGEWOOD ARSENAL.

Bleaching powder, lime, and picric acid are received by rail. In the mixers appearing in the right foreground lime, picric acid, and water are mixed to form a solution of calcium picric, and bleach and water are mixed to form a cream. These solutions are pumped together into any of the several stills, where they react to form chlorpicrin. This plant was rated at 12½ tons of chlorpicrin a day, but reached a production as high as 31 tons on one day.

MIXER BUILDING OF PHOSGENE PLANT AT EDGEWOOD ARSENAL.

The capacity of this building is 20 tons of liquid phosgene per day. Dry 98 per cent gaseous chlorine, as obtained directly from the cells of the chlorine plant, and pure carbon monoxide obtained from the producers, are mixed in approximate equal volumes and the mixture passed through catalyzers, where the two gases combine to form phosgene. The resultant gas is liquefied in the condensers, appearing in the left.

CHLORINE PLANT, EDGEWOOD ARSENAL.

One of eight cell rooms, capacity 12½ tons gaseous chlorine per day. Each cell room consists of six circuits—74 cells per circuit, or a total of 444 cells per room.

IN THE FOREGROUND THE CHLORINE PIPE LINE FROM CHLORINE PLANT PASSING TO CHEMICAL PLANTS IN RIGHT CENTER OF THE PICTURE. ON THE EXTREME RIGHT THE MUSTARD GAS PLANT. IN UPPER LEFT AND CENTER, VIEW OF FILLING PLANTS AND SHELL DUMPS.

FILLING 1-TON CONTAINERS WITH PHOSGENE.

Each empty cylinder weighs 1,300 pounds and will contain 1,650 pounds of liquid. The plant shown fills 25 cylinders per day.

MACHINE FILLING 75-MILLIMETER SHELL WITH MUSTARD GAS.

FILLING HAND GRENADES WITH WHITE PHOSPHORUS.

Empty grenades are first completely immersed in a shallow hot-water bath, shown on extreme left in photo. In a tank that is not shown in picture white phosphorus is melted under water, and this molten phosphorus is pumped by a small centrifugal pump into a system of distributing pipes. Through a flexible tube and by hand, each grenade is completely filled with molten phosphorus, displacing the water in them. While the grenades are still immersed in the water bath, a suction tube is inserted in each grenade to remove the molten phosphorus to a certain depth below the top of the grenade, this molten phosphorus being displaced by water in the bath. The operation shown in the photo depicts the grenades thus filled with molten phosphorus to a definite heighth and with the remaining heighth filled with water, having the water removed from the top of the phosphorus by suction, after being taken out of the bath.

FILLING MUSTARD GAS SHELL AT EDGEWOOD ARSENAL.

Inspected empty shell, as shown inverted on the left in the foreground, are placed on small filling trucks, shown in the right middle ground, and run under filling machine. Filled shell with boosters screwed down leave the tunnel, as shown in center of picture, where any possible mustard gas liquid on them is vaporized by gasoline torch. A draft from this operation into the tunnel prevents the distribution of mustard gas vapor throughout the plant. The loaded shell are then placed on trucks, as shown in foreground of photo.

FILLING LIVENS DRUMS AT EDGEWOOD ARSENAL.

This photo shows the Livens drums being filled with phosgene. The range of this special type of projectile, known as the Livens drum, is about 1,500 yards. Its empty weight is about 30 pounds, and it contains a charge of about 30 pounds of gas.

PAINTING AND STRIPING FILLED SHELL AT EDGEWOOD ARSENAL.

After leaving the filling plants, shell are classified by weight into four groups and each group maintained separately. The shell then are stored in an inverted position to detect leaks. After testing for 24 hours, the shell are buffed, painted, and striped by spray painting, as shown on the endless conveyor, and then are ready for packing. In the left background will be noted Livens drums being similarly painted.

SHELL DUMP AT EDGEWOOD ARSENAL.

This picture shows filled shell being stored for leakage test before being painted.

FILLED CONTAINERS OF PHOSGENE, READY AT EDGEWOOD ARSENAL FOR OVERSEAS SHIPMENT.

Each container holds approximately 1 ton of liquid.

PHOSPHORUS CLOUDS FROM BURSTS OF 75-MILLIMETER SHELL AT LAKEHURST, N. J., PROVING GROUNDS.

GAS CLOUD FROM 4.7-INCH GAS SHELL EXPLODING 8,533 YARDS AWAY FROM THE GUN AT LAKEHURST.

America's whole supply of chlorpicrin during the war came from the American Synthetic Color Co. and the Edgewood Arsenal. The Stamford plant was the first to reach large-scale production.

The contract with the American Synthetic Color Co. was dated December 13, 1917; and the company shipped over 111,853 pounds of the gas to Edgewood on March 11. This, when mixed with the necessary stannic chloride, supplies of which were already on the ground, was sufficient to fill approximately 100,000 75-millimeter shell. In the spring of 1918, due to certain internal troubles at the Stamford plant, it was agreed that the United States should lease this factory and operate it as a Government plant. Under Government operation the total production of chlorpicrin at the Stamford plant amounted to 3,226,000 pounds, of which 2,703,300 pounds were shipped overseas in 660-pound drums.

The chlorpicrin plant at Edgewood went into entire operation on June 14, 1918. Up to the signing of the armistice this plant had produced 2,320,000 pounds of chlorpicrin.

Phosgene was one of the deadliest gases employed in the war. Numerous other gases were used to annoy the enemy and force the wearing of masks, but phosgene was a killer employed to produce as many casualties as possible. The gas did not persist long in the air or on the ground after the shell had exploded, so that it was an ideal chemical for use in an attack. The gas would clear away by the time the troops following reached the place of gas concentration.

Phosgene at ordinary temperatures is a colorless gas, but it condenses to a liquid at 8° C. It is formed by the combination of two gases, chlorine and carbon monoxide, in the presence of a catalyzer. The reaction is best conducted in iron boxes lined with lead and filled with charcoal of proper quality, into which boxes a stream of the reacting gases, mixed in proper proportions, is introduced. The reaction creates heat, and means must usually be taken to keep the reaction boxes cooled. The resulting phosgene is condensed to a liquid by passing the gas through a condenser which is surrounded by brine kept cold by refrigeration. The liquid is then stored in strong steel containers or run directly into Livens drums or artillery shell.

Prior to 1917, the Oldbury Electro-Chemical Co., of Niagara Falls, N. Y., had set up a small experimental phosgene plant in the hope that the experiments might lead to the commercial utilization of carbon monoxide which was obtained by this company as a by-product in the manufacture of phosphorus. When we entered the war the company had developed its process to such efficiency as to warrant the construction of a large phosgene plant, and the Government entered into a contract with the company for the creation of facilities with a capacity of 10 tons of phosgene per day. Also, because of the great importance of phosgene in warfare, it was decided at the same time to build a Government phosgene plant at Edgewood. A little later the Government financed a phosgene plant at the factory of Frank Hemingway (Inc.), at Bound Brook, N. J.

The total output of the original small experimental plant at Niagara Falls, which was later leased by the United States, was 83,070 pounds of phosgene, of which 24,800 pounds were shipped overseas. The contract with the Oldbury Chemical Co. for its main phosgene plant was signed on January 15, 1918. Production here began on August 5 and by August 20 had reached a daily average of 5 tons. On November 1 the average daily production was 7 tons. The total quantity produced at this plant was 435 tons. The plant loaded 18,768 Livens drums with phosgene, each drum holding about 30 pounds. This plant was operated by enlisted men.

The contract with Frank Hemingway (Inc.) called for a factory producing 5 tons of phosgene per day by a secret process controlled by the company. The construction of the plant was begun on February 2, 1918, and phosgene was first manufactured on May 17. This concern reached its maximum of 5 tons per day by August 1, and produced in all 205 tons of phosgene.

Construction of the phosgene plant at Edgewood was begun on March 1, 1918. The plant consisted of four catalyzer buildings, each building having four units, each unit possessing a projected capacity of 5 tons of phosgene per day. The total capacity, therefore, was designed to be 80 tons per day. The carbon monoxide used in the process was produced by passing a mixture of oxygen and carbon dioxide over heated coke in a gas producer, the oxygen being supplied by a Claude machine with a capacity of 100,000 cubic feet of oxygen every 24 hours. The chlorine used came partly from the Edgewood chlorine plant and partly from outside sources.

The actual production of phosgene at Edgewood began on July 5, 1918, and worked up to an output of 20 tons per day by the date of the armistice. The total production of phosgene at Edgewood was 935 tons. The total output of phosgene from all three plants, Edgewood and the Bound Brook and Niagara Falls operations, at the date of the armistice was 35 tons per day; and this was increasing to reach 95 tons per day by May 1, 1919. The total phosgene produced by all the plants before the armistice was 1,616 tons.

The Germans, in spite of their attainments in chemistry, were never able to improve their clumsy and expensive methods of producing mustard gas. The best reports we have show that at the time the fighting ended, all of Germany's chemical warfare facilities could not produce more than 6 tons of mustard per day. The United States alone had ten times that capacity on the same date, while France and England both reached a heavy output. So concerned was the German high command because of the fact that Germany was being outdistanced in the production of mustard gas that the ablest spy of the German Empire was sent into France in October, 1918, to find out the French method of making mustard. One of the Chemical Warfare officers who accompanied our forces into German territory reported that the Germans had decided to adopt the American method of making mustard gas and to stop their former process.

Mustard gas was by no means a child of the great war, having been prepared in experimental quantities since 1886. It is a colorless, slightly oily liquid, boiling at 220° C. with some decomposition. When perfectly pure it freezes at 14° C.; but, since it usually contains small percentages of impurities, it usually remains liquid at 0° C, or even below that. In chemistry the substance is known as dichlorethyl sulphide.

The first commercial process proposed for the manufacture of mustard gas depended upon the use of ethylene chlorhydrin; and on April 13, 1918, a contract was made with the Commercial Research Co., Flushing, Long Island, for the manufacture of 10 tons per day by this process. In the spring and summer of 1918 a new process was developed both abroad and in the United States, one which used sulphur monochloride. Accordingly, the contract with the Commercial Research Co. was canceled, and efforts were concentrated on the later process.

This process consisted in blowing gaseous ethylene into liquid sulphur monochloride in large iron reaction vessels. The reaction developed much heat. Sulphur is set free by this reaction, and the temperature must be controlled in order to prevent the formation of solid sulphur in the reaction machine.

At the date of the armistice three mustard gas plants were either completed or nearing completion. The construction of the Edgewood plant was begun on May 18, 1918, and the first mustard was produced exactly a month later. The changing of processes, however, hampered production somewhat, but by September 20, the arsenal was producing 10 tons per day, and by November 11 had increased this to 30 tons per day. The total production of mustard gas at Edgewood during the war period was 711 tons, of which approximately 300 tons went into shell.

On July 8, 1918, the Government began the construction of a mustard gas plant at Hastings, N. Y. This factory was to have a capacity of 25 tons per day, afterwards increased to 50 tons per day. The first unit of this plant was ready to operate when the armistice was signed.

On July 6, 1918, the Government signed a contract with the National Aniline & Chemical Co., Buffalo, N. Y., calling for a mustard gas plant with a capacity of 50 tons daily. On November 11 this plant was 80 per cent complete. The cost of the plant was met by the Government, but the operation was to be in the hands of the Buffalo concern. The total daily capacity of all three plants when complete was estimated to be 200 tons.

To insure an adequate supply of sulphur monochloride for its mustard gas production the Government built a special plant at Edgewood with a capacity of 300 tons of sulphur monochloride per day.

As soon as toxic gas warfare had developed to a considerable extent, the perfection of gas-absorbing masks had given almost a complete protection against this new weapon, if the soldier put on his gas mask in time. But the mask, especially the earlier forms of it, was not easy upon the wearer, due to the difficulty of breathing through it and also because it restricted the soldier's vision. It was soon discovered that a force compelled to wear its gas masks for any considerable period lost in efficiency. The employment of gas by both sides for the purpose of forcing the opposite sides to wear masks continually was an important element in war at the close of hostilities.

For this purpose the so-called tear gases were produced. Gassing the enemy with tear gas was much cheaper than with poison gas, yet it forced him to remain masked. The tear gases were highly effective. Even a trace of tear gas in the air would in a few moments blind a man temporarily. A single tear-gas shell could force the wearing of masks over an area so wide that it would require from 500 to 1,000 phosgene shell to produce the same effect.

Most of the tear gases had bromine bases; so it was early determined that we should have to increase the American supply of bromine considerably if we were to meet our gas-warfare requirements. Bromine is a deep red liquid which boils at 63° C. The domestic source of bromine is principally in certain subterranean brines found in the United States, these solutions containing bromine in its compounds. The brines obtained in the vicinity of Midland, Mich., are especially rich in bromine, and by far the largest amount of bromine obtained in this country comes from that locality.

In December, 1917, at a conference with Mr. Dow, of the Dow Chemical Co., Midland, Mich., it was decided that the Government should finance the sinking of 17 brine wells near Midland, the Dow Chemical Co. to supervise the work and to produce the bromine from the brine. The work on this project was not begun until March, 1918, but the entire project was practically completed when the armistice was signed. This plant is a future war asset of the United States. It is capable of yielding approximately 650,000 pounds of bromine per year.

The tear gas which we prepared to manufacture was brombenzyl cyanide. It is a brownish oily liquid which solidifies to white or brownish crystals at 29° C.

The production of brombenzyl cyanide involves a fairly intricate chemical process. The first step is to chlorinate ordinary toluol, one of the coal tar bases, to produce benzyl chloride. This chloride is then mixed with sodium cyanide in alcoholic solution and distilled, benzyl cyanide being the result. It is then only necessary to brominate the benzyl cyanide by treating it with bromine vapor.

The first manufacture of brombenzyl cyanide in the United States was conducted at an experimental plant at the American University Station at Washington. After this a large scale plant was authorized at the plant of the Federal Dye & Chemical Co., at Kingsport, Tenn. The construction of this factory began on July 8, 1918, and operations started on October 29, the total production of brombenzyl cyanide being a trifle over 5 tons. In November the plant reached a capacity of 3 tons per day.

The bromine gases were not poisonous in the sense of being killers, but were merely highly irritating to the membranes of the eye. The killing gases were phosgene, chlorpicrin, and chlorine. Mustard gas in sufficient amount was also fatal, its effect being identical to that of a deep burn. It attacked the lungs, the eyes, the skin, and even the intestines if food contaminated with mustard gas were swallowed. An insidious feature of mustard gas is the fact that its action is practically always delayed. It might be several hours after a man was gassed, even fatally, with mustard before he became aware of it, and then it was too late to administer the treatment that might save his life. Goggles alone would have been sufficient protection against tear gas, except for the fact that it was invariably mixed with the deadlier gases.

The various experiments preliminary to our production of gases were conducted in provisional laboratories at the Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C., Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C., the Geophysical Laboratory, Washington, D. C., the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, and Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. A control laboratory for the solution of problems arising in manufacture was eventually established at Edgewood. A total of 167,092 single chemical determinations were made at these laboratories under the direction of 20 commissioned officers, 45 noncommissioned officers, and 204 privates.

The production of gases and other chemicals was only part of the work of the Edgewood Arsenal and its subsidiary plants. The other chief activity was that of filling artillery shell with the toxic substances. The description of the plant which filled shell with phosgene will indicate the scale upon which this operation was conducted.

The empty shell, after being inspected, were loaded on trucks, together with the proper number of loaded boosters. The booster was the device which exploded the shell and scattered the gas. Electric locomotives then pulled the shell trucks to the filling buildings. There were four of these to a single shell-filling plant, radiating at right angles from a common center. From the trucks the empty shell were lifted by hand to a belt conveyor and the conveyor carried the shell slowly through a room kept cold by artificial refrigeration. Although the shell moved only 70 feet through this room the conveyor traveled so slowly that they were 30 minutes in transit, and during this time they were cooled to a temperature of about 0° F. This chilling was necessary because phosgene has a low boiling point, and it was necessary to keep the temperature of the metal of the shell considerably below the boiling point of phosgene in order that the gas might remain in liquid form while the filling was going on.

The chilled shell cases were next transferred to small trucks, each carrying six of them. The loaded truck was then drawn through a filling tunnel by means of a chain haul. This tunnel was so ingeniously contrived that the human assistance to the filling and closing machinery could all be conducted from the outside. The phosgene, kept liquid by refrigeration, was run into the shell by an automatic filler.

The truck was then moved forward a few feet to a point where the boosters were inserted into the noses of the shell by the hands of the operator reaching in through an aperture in the tunnel. The final closing of the shell was then accomplished by motors. The air in the filling tunnel was constantly withdrawn by strong ventilation, the exhaust air being washed in stone towers by chemical agents to neutralize any gases that might be present. The filled, inclosed shell were next conveyed to a dump, where they were classified and then stood nose down for 24 hours to test them for leaks. Then they were painted, striped, and stenciled by air paint brushes. The final process was to pack them in boxes and store them for shipment. This was done in large storage magazines on the grounds of the Edgewood Arsenal.

A similar method was used for filling shell with chlorpicrin, except that refrigeration was unnecessary. Mustard gas required another sort of filling machine.

Several filling plants were designed and constructed for filling grenades with stannic chloride and with white phosphorus, and also one for filling incendiary drop bombs.

The capacity of each of these plants per day was as follows:

Stannic chloride plant, hand grenades, 25,000. White phosphorus grenade plant, 30,000. White phosphorus smoke-shell plant, 155 millimeter shell, 2,000; or 4.7-inch or 5-inch shell, 4,000; or 75-millimeter shell, 6,000. Incendiary drop-bomb plant, 2,000.

The following sentences summarize the production and expectations of the Edgewood Arsenal:

(1) The gas program as of March 1918 called for approximately 545 tons of toxic gas weekly.

(2) The Chemical Warfare Service program of August 12, 1918, called for a much larger amount, viz, about 4,525 tons per week.

(3) The approximate filling capacity of the Edgewood Arsenal plant from August to November, 1918, was nearly 1,000 tons per week.

(4) The toxic gas production during this same period increased from 450 to 675 tons per week.

(5) The capacity of all projectiles received, unlimited by boosters, varied during the same period from 125 to 450 tons per week.

(6) The maximum capacity corresponding to boosters received was less than 100 tons per week.

In these facts it will be seen that the numbers of empty shell delivered to the plant was far less than the number required to accommodate the gas production. Many of the shell received were without boosters and therefore without value until boosters were provided, so that the limiting factor was really the supply of boosters. The booster supply was sufficient to take care of only a relatively small fraction of the toxic gas actually produced. The filling capacity of the plant was also in excess of the delivery of shell and boosters. The 75-millimeter shell-filling plant had a capacity of 1,200,000 shell per month, eventually double that, while delivery of shell was slightly over 300,000 per month and of boosters less than 200,000.

Because of the nature of toxic gas it is impossible to store it up in any large quantities. Early in the summer of 1918 large amounts were shipped in bulk overseas and there loaded into shell. Later we received instructions to stop all shipments in bulk except a limited amount of chlorine, and thereafter our production was limited to the number of shell and boosters available.

In June, 1918, we shipped in bulk 15 tons of mustard gas, 705 tons of chlorpicrin, and 48 tons of phosgene. This was to be exchanged for gas shell produced by the French. In late July the French had no more extra shell to be filled with American gas and this fact terminated the arrangement. However, we sold excess gas both to England and to France. England received 900 tons of our chlorpicrin and 368 tons of American phosgene. France took 300 tons of chlorpicrin and 1,408 tons of chlorine, equivalent to 1,226 tons of phosgene, since phosgene is 80 per cent chlorine including allowance for wastage in manufacture. France furnished phosgene shell to us in exchange for chlorine. In addition 200 tons of mustard gas were shipped to England and utilized by the English.

We therefore shipped to Europe in bulk 3,662 tons of gas or its equivalent, which gas was largely loaded in shell and used by the United States troops or those of the allies. This quantity was sufficient to load 1,600,000 shell, two-thirds of them being of the 75-millimeter caliber and the other one-third 155-millimeter, the total number being thought to be at least equal to the total number of gas shell fired by American troops in action. Thus while American gas was not actually fired in American shell against the Germans, American gas was used against the enemy and America furnished at least as much gas as she fired.

In addition to this we shipped 18,600 Livens drums loaded with phosgene. These contained 279 tons of gas, and some of them were fired at the enemy. We began producing loaded gas shell in the summer of 1918 and by August 9 had shipped 75,000 loaded 75-millimeter shell. These shell were unassembled for firing in the guns, the Ordnance Department having decided in June to assemble gas shell in their cartridge cases in France.

The Chemical Warfare production organization developed and manufactured a large number of special containers for the shipment of toxic gases. These were of special construction in order to guard against dangers that would result from leaks, and all had to stand the tests required by the Bureau of Explosives before they would be received for railroad shipment. The 1-ton containers, all of which would hold 1 ton of liquid chlorine, were designed by the Ordnance Department and would withstand a pressure of 500 pounds per square inch. The 300-pound phosgene cylinders, designed by the Ordnance Department, were made to withstand a 500-pound hydrostatic pressure and a 250-pound air test.

We purchased standard 55-gallon acid drums and standard-pattern cylinders for holding 75 pounds of chlorine.

We constructed chlorine tank cars, each tank with a capacity of 15 tons and a strength that could withstand a pressure of 500 pounds to the square inch. We also designed a tank car originally for the shipment of chlorpicrin and later used it for shipping sulphur monochloride.

1918.Liq­uid chlo­rine. [33]Gas­e­ous chlo­rine. [34]Chlor­picrin.Phos­gene.Mus­tard oil.Brom­benzyl cy­a­nide.White phos­pho­rus.Tin tet­ra­chlo­ride.Ti­ta­ni­um tet­ra­chlo­ride.
January10
February2734
March40597438
April176331559116
May37813018705150
June5462632366095
July512499100218011227
August243646314361629453
September4381915643271441259626
October2426494456643612657525
November14826410015514357718
Total2,7231,1042,7761,61671151,006695181
Amount shipped overseas1,4881,903420190171106
Total monthly producing capacity, Nov. 1, 19188951,5001,5001,050900901009130
Estimated capacity, Jan. 1, 19191,1002,2501,5001,6504,000901009130

[33] Procured from commercial agencies.

[34] Manufactured at Edgewood.

Shell, grenades, Livens drums, and drop bombs filled.
1918.75-mm. shell.Grenades.Livens drums.Incendiary drop bombs.
Chlor­picrin.Phos­gene.Mus­tard oil.White phos­pho­rus.Tin tet­ra­chlo­ride.Phos­gene.Mark I.Mark II.
July62,8668,6961,639
August125,951170,16056,7631,738350
September110,3581,98875,52951,421127,3196,3551,998
October09,7041279,272110,928147,66912,026184100
November15,892922498,94830,3865,57086
Total424,7712,009155,025440,153363,77625,6895422,104
Total number shipped overseas300,000150,000224,984175,08018,600
75-mm. shell (ultimate capacity)2,400,000
4.7-inch shell450,000
155-mm. shell540,000
6-inch shell180,000
Gas grenades750,000
Smoke grenades480,000
Livens drums30,000

CHAPTER II.
GAS DEFENSE EQUIPMENT.

During the spring and summer of 1917 two marked tendencies were to be observed in the fighting in France. One of these was the greatly increased use by both sides of poisonous gases and chemicals, frightful in their effect; the other the almost complete censorship that hid the knowledge of this tendency not only from the people of Europe but particularly from those of the newest belligerent, America. The French and British Governments, who then controlled all news from the front, feared, and perhaps with reason, that if the picture of gas warfare, as it was then developing, should be placed before the American people, it would result in an unreasonable dread of gases on the part of the American Nation and its soldiers.

One year later, with tens of thousands of American troops facing the Germans, there was almost no censorship upon the details of fighting with chemicals. The mysterious gases of 1917 were then known to almost every reading individual in the civilized world. The once secret formulas were published in the technical journals. Non-censored photographs of defensive equipment were freely published, and masks and other paraphernalia were exhibited for the public interest. Except for secret plans for the future and the various surprises being prepared by one or more of the belligerents, the whole subject of chemical warfare had become an open book.

What occasioned this change in policy on the part of governing authorities? The reason was that the American troops brought with them to France the best and most protective gas masks the world had seen; and they brought these with them by the millions. Starting a mask-production effort in May, 1917, America turned out a total of 5,250,000 gas masks before the armistice was signed, and sent more than 4,000,000 of them overseas. As to the quality of these masks, it is only necessary to say that they gave twenty times the protection afforded by the best German gas masks. In other words, we protected our soldiers against the poisons which Germany had brought into warfare, and protected them completely. No American soldier was ever gassed due to the failure of an American gas mask, and such gas casualties as did occur were due to the fact that the masks were not quickly enough utilized when gas was thrown over, or because the soldier was unaware of the presence of gas. With such protection there was no longer reason to fear that the frightfulness of chemical warfare would reduce American morale.

The production of gas masks was one of the most picturesque and successful phases of our entire war preparation. It engaged the attention of some of the principal chemical engineers of the country, and millions of men, women, and children in the United States contributed something to the success of the undertaking, if only to obey the "Eat More Coconut" slogan or to save peach stones for the benefit of the production of the charcoal essential to efficient gas masks.

The problem of making masks in such quantity and under such supreme demands for perfection was one which might well stagger manufacturers accustomed to large-scale operations. We started in with practically no knowledge whatsoever of the fundamental principles of a perfect mask. Yet the apparatus was as difficult to build as a rifle. It must, perforce, be made of perishable materials, and this fact brought the question of durability to the fore at the very start. It was evident that no chemical substances known in our past commercial life would give protection against the new poisons which had been developed in Europe. With the exception of phosgene and chlorine, the various war gases which had been brought out prior to our entrance in the struggle were completely unknown in our trade or commerce and had existed only in our experimental laboratories. Then it was discovered that as these toxins increased in power they could penetrate the ordinary fabrics known in commerce, and this necessitated the creation of new types of materials to be used in the masks. Finally the increasing use of gases forced the soldiers to wear their masks for much longer periods than had been necessary at the beginning of gas warfare; so that the problem of comfort became one of great importance. All of these basic considerations indicate to some extent the difficulty of the undertaking.

The chlorine, which floated in a pale greenish-yellow cloud down upon the defenseless Canadian troops at Ypres, with such terrible effect upon the men, was, as has been said, the first gas used. Chlorine, though easy to obtain, the principal source of supply being common table salt, was, from the standpoint of strategy, far from being the ideal gas of warfare. Troops could be quickly and easily protected from it. But even as it was, only lack of faith in their new weapon prevented the Germans from winning the war with it then and there. Had they brought into the fighting a sufficient supply of this chlorine, they might have gassed their way to Paris in short order. In fact, they brought to the line an almost negligible supply and they themselves were insufficiently protected to go through their own gas and follow up the attack. By the time they were able to renew gas warfare the French and British had equipped themselves with masks which were sufficient to protect men against chlorine.

Thereafter the tendency was toward new and strange gases which were heavy in weight and highly toxic in their physiological action. This development led to new, slightly volatile liquids, the so-called mustard gas being the best example. Mustard gas (properly called dichlorethyl sulphide) is similar to lubricating oil in many of its physical characteristics but smells like ordinary mustard. Ground soaked with the mustard gas remains impregnated for days, the vapor rising continually.

A perfect mask is one which will remove completely every trace of gas or poisonous vapor before the air can reach the eyes, nose, or mouth of the soldier.

The first masks adopted by the allies were simply gauze pads saturated with neutralizing chemicals. These became unsuitable as soon as new varieties of powerful poisons were brought out. The mask development thereafter progressed to the box respirator type. This consisted of a mask or helmet connected to a box filled with absorbing and neutralizing chemicals which purified the air for the mask wearer. This was the type of respirator in use to the end of the fighting.

It is quite clear to us now that only such a mask could be efficient in chemical warfare, but in the early part of 1917 the matter was not clear either to us or to the allies. The first requisitions from the A. E. F. called for masks of two types, each soldier to be supplied with one of each. The reserve mask was to be of the gauze type and the regular mask of the box respirator type, affording protection from the more powerful poisons that were then just coming into use. We wasted considerable energy at the beginning in our attempt to produce both types. Eventually, however, when we were just ready to start manufacturing the gauze-type mask, orders came to abandon the effort, since it was even then apparent that our soldiers must be prepared at all times to withstand all gases.

The box respirator equipment, the general principle of which was finally adopted by all the nations at war, fell into two classes. In a single-protection mask the wearer breathed air from inside of the face piece, so that any leakage around the edges of the face piece would result in a casualty when the wearer was in a strong concentration of gas. The other sort, known as the double-protection mask, consisted of a gas-tight face piece, similar to that of the single-protection mask. In this type, to guard against any possible leakage around the edges between the mask and the wearer's skin, the breathing system was sealed away from the air inside the face piece by means of a rubber mouthpiece and a nose clip, the wearer inhaling through the mouthpiece.

VARIOUS TYPES OF GAS MASKS.

Top row, left to right.—First type U. S. Navy mask, now obsolete; U. S. Navy mask as finally developed; U. S. C. E. respirator (production started October, 1917); U. S. R. F. K. respirator (production started February, 1918); U. S. A. T. respirator (production started August, 1918); U. S. K. T. mask (production started August, 1918); U. S. model 1919 mask (ready for production when armistice was signed).

Middle row, left to right—British black veil mask (first mask used after initial gas attack in April, 1915); British P. H. helmet (stops phosgene but not tear gases); standard British box respirator used by all British forces after 1916; French M-2 mask used by the French; French Tissot mask used by artillerymen; French A. R. S. mask.

Bottom row, left to right.—Late type of German mask; Experimental mask; Italian mask (similar to French M-2 mask); British Motor Corps respirator; U.S. rear area emergency respirator; U. S. Connell mask (never passed the experimental stage).

AMERICAN C. E. TYPE OF BOX RESPIRATOR.

This side view shows face piece, harness, hose, flutter valve, and knapsack. This is the mask most used by our troops.

The United States and English double-protection masks consisted of 11 principal parts as follows:

1. A knapsack slung from the shoulder or neck. This contained the canister and a pocket for storing away the mask when not in use.

2. A metal canister in which was contained the absorptive neutralizing chemicals.

3. A flexible hose reaching from the canister to the face piece.

4. A flutter, or exhalation, valve, which opened when the wearer exhaled his breath and closed when he inhaled, thus bringing the inhalation through the canister but allowing the exhalation from the lungs to pass out without polluting the chemicals of the canister.

5. The face piece, or hood, fitting snugly around the edges and covering the eyes, cheeks, lower forehead, nose, mouth, and chin.

6. The eyepieces, or lenses, through which vision was maintained.

7. An elastic harness for the head, to hold the face piece in place.

8. A body cord to tie around the chest and hold the knapsack firmly, so that the mask could be seized in both hands and pulled out of the knapsack.

9. A metal flange connection or angle tube which carried the hose through the face piece to the mouthpiece.

10. A rubber mouthpiece through which the wearer breathed and which helped to hold the mask in place.

11. A wire nose spring and rubber nose pad to hold the nostrils shut and force breathing through the mouth.

The first order for gas masks was issued on May 16, 1917, when the Chief of Staff asked the Surgeon General to supply 1,100,000 masks before June 30, 1918, or within about one year. Meanwhile 25,000 masks were needed at once in order to equip Gen. Pershing's first division, then about to sail overseas. There was but one man in the Army who knew anything at all about the subject and who could even attempt to produce this quantity in three weeks. This was Maj. (later colonel) L. P. Williamson, of the Surgeon General's Department, who had been spending some months at the Army War College at Washington studying as a side issue such papers on gas warfare as came from abroad. It was due to his knowledge and the volunteer staff of the Bureau of Mines that we were able to begin the actual manufacture of masks within a few days after the requirements were fixed, and actually to turn out 25,000 masks in but little more than three weeks' time.

Col. Williamson's first step was to consult with Dr. Van. H. Manning, the Director of the Bureau of Mines, and with his assistant, Mr. G. A. Burrell. Since February, 1917, the Bureau of Mines had been experimenting with gas masks and had built up a corps of scientists for this work. Within this organization was Mr. Bradley Dewey, a chemical engineer, who, though then director of the research laboratory of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Co., of Pittsburgh, had been loaned to the Bureau of Mines. To Mr. Dewey was turned over the job of directing the production of the first 25,000 masks for the American troops then sailing.

To produce 25,000 gas masks in three weeks meant to compress England's two years of experience into 21 days. The military authorities of this country at that time could plead entire ignorance of the qualifications of an efficient gas mask. The prevailing idea seemed to be that you could go out into the market and buy them by the hundreds of thousands, as you might buy Halloween masks. But this was not any ordinary poison which we were to fight. These powerful chemicals attacked the human tissues as would acid. As the result of the effort, we did supply the first division going overseas in July. However, the masks were inferior to the British and were quickly replaced in France by British equipment. It was not until the following January that we developed an apparatus which we regarded as satisfactory to undergo the supreme test of battle.

To indicate some of the difficulties overcome between May and December, 1917, there are here set forth some of the features of an effective mask.

In the first place, the face piece must fit perfectly; it must not leak gas around the edges. It must fit into the hollows of the temples and must give the jaws a free space in which to work, and yet not slip back and press against one's Adam's apple. The pressure of the mask on the forehead must come above the supraorbital nerves which are just above the eyebrows, or else intense headaches will result from a few moments' wear. Moreover, to fit all faces and heads, several graduated sizes of masks are required. We first attained the gas-tight fit with a padded band around the edge of a flexible rubber-cloth face piece. Later we developed a thicker, stiffer face piece, but maintained a gas-tight fit by the elasticity of the face piece and the head harness.

Then the material of the face piece must be gas-tight in itself. At first we manufactured a fabric made by spreading rubber on cotton sailcloth; and, after testing it, we found that the smallest molecule known, that of hydrogen, would not pass through it in large amounts. This seemed to be a suitable fabric, until tested by the newer gases. Then we found that some of these gases were soluble in rubber compounds and could dissolve their way through thin rubber so quickly that the face piece cloth offered practically no protection at all. Another difficulty with the rubber fabric was that it was likely to absorb and hold certain of the poisons, so that a man might be gassed by the mask itself. The rubber companies, principally at Akron, Ohio, experimented continually until they discovered a coating that would not only withstand gas concentrations for a sufficient time, but would also aerate promptly and lose as much gas as it had absorbed.

The eyepieces or lenses offered another problem. Celluloid is strong but it is not so transparent as glass. It ignites easily and is easily scratched. Glass is ideal in transparency and will not burn, but is fragile. It was evident that we must provide eyepieces which would not break easily, since even so slight an accident as the breaking of a lens might cost a soldier his life by admitting concentrated gas to the mask. A material known as triplex glass had been experimentally made. This consisted of a thin celluloid strip sandwiched between two layers of glass, all three welded together. This glass would not splinter, and even if cracked or broken, would still be gas-tight. However, this had never been made in quantity and it was necessary to work out many kinks and to start a large plant to provide the necessary millions of lenses.

Then there was also to be overcome the tendency of the eyepieces to dim, particularly in cold weather, as the wearer breathed moist breath into the mask. The answer to this problem was a soapy compound which put a slippery surface on the glass and avoided the droplets of mist. The first masks were also equipped with deep plaits so that the wearer could wipe off the lens with the interior of the face-piece itself, though the final development (the invention of a Frenchman by the name of Tissot) was to bring the cold air into the mask so that it flowed directly against the lenses and evaporated any condensed moisture. This kept them clear under all ordinary circumstances.

It was evident that the metal tube passing through the face piece must not contain pinholes and must be able to stand rough handling without pulling loose. The harness must maintain a gas-tight connection between the wearer's face and the face piece, but not at the cost of pain or chafing of the face or head. The flutter valve must fit with absolute tightness and must work perfectly and instantaneously at all times.

The flexible hose leading from the canister to the face piece must be strong and without flaws or leaks, and yet flexible in the extreme. A stiff hose would be likely to swing and displace the face piece whenever the wearer moved. The mouthpiece must be comfortable and must be built along lines to prevent irritation to the gums or lips, yet it must be reinforced so that in his excitement the soldier can not bite down and shut off his air supply.

The canister must withstand corrosion and must be gas-tight. Smooth sided canisters can not be used, for the gas would slip up the sides without coming in contact with much of the chemical filling. The sides of the canisters were, therefore, ribbed so that the charcoal and other ingredients working into these ribs baffled the gas and threw it out into the body of the chemicals. The canister, moreover, must be equipped with a perfectly working check valve which will stop exhalation through the canister and force the air to pass out through the flutter valve.

The web sling of the knapsack must not curl and chafe the neck or shoulders of the wearer. The knapsack must be waterproof and must have easily and quickly workable fastenings.

The canisters were filled with charcoal and with cement granules. These were crushed into carefully sized small bits about the size of a pinhead and packed in layers in the canisters. The air could pass through them easily and the particles of both substances absorbed gas. The chief quality requirements for the carbon and the cement were that they must have long life and great activity.

Of the canister ingredients the charcoal offered the more difficult technical problem. It had long been known that charcoal was highly absorptive of certain gases, but except in rare instances no thorough study had ever been made of the subject. It was evident, however, that the more charcoal or carbon which could be packed into the canister and still allow the free passage of air the greater the amount of gas that would be absorbed. Consequently a search was made for carbon existing in the natural state in the most compact form. This search is described later.

Each canister also contained concrete granules in a definite proportion to the carbon pieces. These granules were made of cement mixed with strong alkalis and oxidizing agents to digest the poisons as they passed through the canister.

It will be seen that the manufacture of good gas masks was a highly technical undertaking, one calling for the best talents of eminent men of science. The mask was not something that could be improvised on the spur of the moment, but each part of it must be worked out after the most painstaking research. The Gas Defense Division of the Chemical Warfare Service never at any time approved a type of mask which its own officers or men did not themselves wear in the most deadly concentrations of gas.

To get back to the chronological order of development, on May 21, 1917, the making of the first 25,000 masks was started with frantic haste; though, as it developed later, there was no need for such an effort, since there were available in England and France plenty of masks for the first American troops. Working to produce in the shortest possible time some sort of protection for the first overseas division, the officers in charge were forced to adopt methods which, had they been followed throughout the manufacturing program, would have been extremely costly. There was no time then to stop and study the problem either here or abroad. Before the end of June 20,088 masks had been started overseas, and 5,000 more were ready a little later. The most that can be said for this effort was that it gave our officers the experience which was the groundwork of the solid development later on.

The production of these first 25,000 masks called upon the services of various manufacturers. The assembling of the masks was conducted by the American Can Co., at Brooklyn, N. Y. The B. F. Goodrich Co., of Akron, manufactured the face pieces with the eyepieces inserted, also the connecting hose, the check valve of the canister, the flutter valve, and the rubber mouthpiece. The American Can Co. produced the canisters. The Day Chemical Co., of Westline, Pa., gave the charcoal its first burning. The Ward Baking Co., of Brooklyn, patriotically baked the charcoal—to activate it—in their bread ovens free of charge. The General Chemical Co., of New York, supplied the soda-lime granules. The Doehler Die Casting Co., of Brooklyn, manufactured the angle tubes. The Simmons Hardware Co., of St. Louis, produced the waterproof knapsacks. The Seaver Howland Press, of Boston, printed the cards of instructions that went with the mask outfit; and the Beetle & MacLean Manufacturing Co., of Boston, printed the record tags.

Though Maj. (now colonel) Williamson was formally in charge of this emergency work, he requisitioned the masks from the Bureau of Mines, which took entire charge of the first contract. Following this, on August 31, 1917, the Gas Defense Service of the Surgeon General's Department was established by official order, and Mr. Dewey, who had been working as a volunteer in the Bureau of Mines, was commissioned major and put in charge.

The next step was to prepare for the permanent development and manufacture of gas masks. Contracts were let for the manufacture of 320,000 component parts of masks as we then knew them, and a price was fixed for the assembling of the entire original requirement of 1,100,000 masks. The assembling contract went to the Hero Manufacturing Co., of Philadelphia, which remained until the end of the war the sole private contractor assembling our gas masks.

The spirit of cooperation and desire to serve the Government was evident from the start. The B. F. Goodrich Co. had been the only producers of the rubber parts of the first 25,000 masks. In this original contract it had gained valuable technical and cost knowledge; but in order that the Government might not be limited to one source of supply for such parts, the Goodrich Co. voluntarily imparted to the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and to the United States Rubber Co. the information that would enable them to bid intelligently for portions of the work. This was a distinct departure from the usual practice in competitive industry.

All during the fall of 1917 and early winter of 1917-18 the development of the mask continued, the Government experts working hand in hand with private contractors. Because of the newness of this sort of manufacture and because of the wide variety of unusual articles required, entailing in some instances the actual creation of hitherto unknown commodities, the Government at all times was required to act as the procurer of raw materials for the masks. In this period of development America designed her own typical mask—a gradual evolution, but one which, though based on the British design, arrived at a perfection which had been unknown in warfare before.

The triplex glass used in the eyepieces was a patented commodity produced only in one small factory in Philadelphia. It was necessary to expand the facilities for the production of this necessary material. Meanwhile some of the men engaged in the work had improved the eyepiece by providing it with an aluminum mounting. But this very improvement brought embarrassment to the work, since the Akron rubber contracts had provided for eyepieces inserted in the fabric itself, and to apply the aluminum frame brought about a radical change in the manufacturing methods at the rubber factories.

There were also many other problems that had to be solved before our authorities were satisfied to go ahead in quantity production. There was the matter of rubberizing the face-piece fabric, for instance. Two methods of rubberizing cloth were in use. The first method was to roll out a thin sheet of rubber and then press it into the cloth fabric by running the whole thing under heavy rollers. This was known as the calender method. The other method, called the spreader method, was more intricate. In this process the sailcloth, tightly stretched, was carried around a roller. Above the roller a few thousandths of an inch was a knife blade extending from edge to edge. The rubber compound in liquid form was then fed upon the roller in such manner that a thin film of it pressed under the knife blade and upon the cloth on the roller. The rubberizing method finally adopted was a combination of the calender and spreader methods. The rubber was applied green to the cloth. The curing process thereafter was highly important. If the curing process were too short, the rubber would be sticky and would pull off the sailcloth too easily. If the rubber were over-cured, it would crack and split.

Nothing short of absolute perfection in every part would do, since the slightest imperfection anywhere was likely to cost a man his life. Consequently we installed at the various producing plants not only 100 per cent inspection, but we constructed laboratories for putting the materials through the most elaborate and exhaustive sorts of control tests, and then reinspected the parts at the assembly plants, both before and after the assembly.

CHEMICAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF LONG ISLAND LABORATORY, GAS DEFENSE DIVISION, SHOWING INTERMITTENT FLOW CANISTER TESTING MACHINE.

PHOTO TAKEN AT PHILADELPHIA CONTROL LABORATORY OF GAS DEFENSE DIVISION, SHOWING APPARATUS USED IN EXPERIMENTAL WORK ON THE EFFECT OF RESISTANCE TO INHALATION AND EXHALATION OF MASKS.

SIDE VIEW OF GAS CHAMBER AT CHEMICAL DEVELOPMENT LABORATORY, SHOWING SUBJECTS ON OUTSIDE BREATHING TESTS.

ANOTHER VIEW OF GAS CHAMBER AT CHEMICAL DEVELOPMENT LABORATORY, SHOWING SUBJECTS INSIDE.

All the rubber used was continually sampled and analyzed in the laboratories. The tensile strengths of all fabrics were determined by standard destructive tests. We also tested the adhesion of the rubber coating by standard chemical methods and worked out flexibility tests for the breathing tube.

After all of the factory inspection and material-control tests, the masks themselves were sampled and worn in highly toxic atmospheres. In this work thousands of our masks were worn by the officers and men of the Gas Defense Division in concentrated atmospheres of the most deadly gases. For such work we constructed testing rooms whose atmosphere could be completely exhausted and changed in 90 seconds. The efficiency of canisters was tested either by the lungs of the inspectors or by mechanical breathing into telltale solutions.

The story of the carbon (charcoal) which went into the American canister is one of the most interesting phases of the whole undertaking. Investigations carried on by the research staff of the National Carbon Co., aided by a clue from the University of Chicago, led to the selection of coconut shell as a raw material. Any carbon absorbs a definite number of times its weight of gas. Therefore the densest carbons will be most efficient, volume for volume, as gas absorbers in a given space. Coconut shells and other nut shells were found to be the most compact form in which carbon exists in nature in commercially practicable quantities, being considerably superior in this respect to anthracite coal and to such woods as ironwood and mahogany. Another essential for charcoal used in the canisters was that it must be so hard that it would not crumble easily and produce dust that would clog up the air passages and prevent easy breathing through the canister. Coconut shell fulfilled both of these conditions better than any other known material.

Further study by the National Carbon Co., backed up by wonderful large-scale development work, paid for and carried out by the National Electric Lamp Association under the direction of their Mr. F. N. Dorsey (who later became Col. Dorsey and chief of the Development Division of the Chemical Warfare Service), gave us the details of a new process for treating the charcoal to make it absorptive. After the original burning of the nut shells, or other carbon materials, the resulting carbon was given a second highly specialized heat treatment, and this activated it until it had a powerful affinity for gas. Such carbon, made from nutshell material, would absorb 150 times its own volume of chlorpicrin, one of the most deadly of the war gases, the action being approximately instantaneous.

It must not be supposed, however, that investigation of carbons stopped with these experiments. In the search for the ideal carbon we experimented with almost every hard vegetable substance known. Literally, hundreds of kinds of carbon were tested. Next to coconut shells, the fruit pits, several common varieties of nuts abundant in the United States, and several tropical nuts, were found to make the best carbon. Pecan nuts, and all woods ranging in hardness from ironwood down to ordinary pine and fir, were found to be in the second class of efficiency. Among other substances tested were almonds, Arabian acorns, grape seeds, Brazil-nut husks, balsa, osage oranges, Chinese velvet beans, synthetic carbons, cocoa bean shells, coffee grounds, flint corn, corn cobs, cottonseed husks, peanut shells and oil shale. While many of these substances might have been used in an emergency, none of them would produce carbon as efficient, volume for volume, as that of the coconut shells and other hard nuts.

Some idea of the scale of the American mask production may be seen in our requirements for coconut shells. In our survey of raw materials we included the entire coconut resources of the world. Such figures were relatively easy to obtain because the copra, or dried coconut meat, industry is an important one, particularly in southern Asia and the South Sea Islands of the Pacific. Ceylon was the greatest single source of coconuts, 2,300,000,000 nuts being gathered there annually. British India was next with 1,500,000,000 nuts. Our own Philippine Islands were third, with an annual production of 900,000,000 nuts. Then followed in order the Dutch East Indies, British Malaya, French Indo-China, Siam, and the Pacific archipelagos, the total production of the Orient being 7,450,200,000 nuts annually. This was a supply that would provide 4,000 tons of coconut shells every day. The total production of coconuts in Central America, the West Indies and the Caribbean coast of South America amounted to 131,000,000 nuts annually, equal to a supply of 75 tons of shells daily.

When we first began to build masks our demands for carboniferous material ranged from 40 to 50 tons a day of raw material; but by the end of the war, due to vastly increased mask requirements, we were in need of a supply of 400 tons of coconut shells per day. This demand would absorb the entire coconut production of the tropical Americas five times over. It was equal to one-tenth of the total coconut production of the Orient. Since transportation from the oriental countries was out of the question on the scale demanded by our mask program, it was evident that we were likely to be seriously embarrassed by the lack of raw materials; and, indeed, at no time before September, 1918, did we have on hand a reserve supply of shells and other charcoal materials that would last for more than a few days, though at no time after the start was the actual output of masks retarded by lack of these materials.

AIRPLANE PICTURE OF CARBON PLANT AND CANTONMENT OF GAS DEFENSE DIVISION AT ASTORIA, LONG ISLAND.

GENERAL VIEW OF CARBON PLANT NO. 3 ON LEFT AT GAS DEFENSE DIVISION PLANT, ASTORIA, L. I.

Storage bins are in central background, with administration building and carbon plant No. 2 in the right foreground.

CARBON PLANT NO. 2 AT ASTORIA, L. I., SHOWING ALSO OFFICE AND LABORATORY.

In building up our supply of coconut shells we naturally turned first to the resources in the United States. America normally consumes fresh coconuts at a rate sufficient to supply about 50 tons of shells daily. The war restrictions on the use of sugar had the effect of cutting down the consumption of coconuts, used largely in candy and cakes, and consequently one of our efforts was to increase by widespread propaganda the use of coconut. The "Eat-More-Coconut" campaign more than doubled the American consumption of coconut in a brief space of time; and the 50 tons of shells daily, which had been the original supply, grew in volume until in October, 1918, with the help of importations of shell, we averaged about 150 tons per day exclusive of the Orient.

The first heating of coconut shells to make charcoal reduces their weight 75 per cent. Therefore it was evident that we could most economically ship our oriental supply in the form of charcoal produced on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. For this purpose, in August, we established under the direction of an officer of the Chemical Warfare Service a charcoal plant in the Philippine Islands. From this plant agents were sent to Ceylon, India, Siam, and other oriental countries to purchase enormous supplies of nutshells. This work was only gaining momentum when the armistice was declared. As it was, the Philippine charcoal plant actually shipped over 300 tons of coconut shell carbon to the United States and had 1,000 tons on hand ready for shipment on November 11.

The method adopted in the Philippines was to burn the shells in long, shallow trenches. As soon as the smoke had disappeared and the flames came clear and lambent through the incandescent mass, the bed of coals was smothered by means of galvanized-iron lids thrown over the trenches. It is interesting to note that the coolies hired by the Chemical Warfare Service in the Philippines would not work at charcoal burning more than a few hours each day, because they declared that the heat from the pits would give them tuberculosis and other lung troubles.

Meanwhile agents and officers of the Gas Defense Division were searching the tropical regions of Central and South America for other nuts valuable for this purpose. The best of these was found to be the cohune or corozo nut. These nuts are the fruit of the Manaca palm tree. They grow in clusters, like bananas or dates, one to four clusters to a tree, each cluster yielding from 60 to 75 pounds of nuts. Cohune nuts grow principally on the west coast of Central America in low, swampy regions from Mexico to Panama, but are also found along the Caribbean coast. Before the war created a demand for cohune nuts none of them had ever been imported commercially in this country, although it is understood that France had a prewar commercial use for them.

The chief virtue of the cohune nut from our point of view was its extreme thickness of shell, the kernel of this large nut, which is 3 inches or more in length and nearly 2 in diameter, being relatively small. We were importing cohune nuts at the rate of 4,000 tons per month at the time of the armistice. A disadvantage in the use of cohune nuts was that their husks contained a considerable amount of acid which rotted the jute bags and also caused the heaps of nuts to heat in storage. The fire department at the Chemical Warfare Service nut storehouse at Astoria, N. Y., was kept busy putting out spontaneous blazes in the storage piles of cohune nuts. We also sent agents to West Africa and there arranged for the shipment of some hundred tons of palm nuts a month.

A third source of tropical material was in the ivory nuts used in considerable quantities in this country by the makers of buttons. In the button factories in this country there is considerable waste of this nut material, amounting to 400 or 500 tons a month, this waste including the nut dust which was useless to us and had to be screened out. The price of ivory-nut waste was high, because of the use of this material in the manufacture of lactic acid. Nevertheless, we used a considerable quantity of it.

Another great branch of activity in securing carbon supplies was undertaken in this country. In the search for fruit pits and for domestic nuts it was found that the quantity of apricot pits, peach pits, cherry pits (largely from the canning industry), and walnut shells on the Pacific coast amounted to 23,600 tons annually. We arranged for the whole Pacific coast supply of these commodities and converted a part of a San Francisco plant of the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. into a plant for the preliminary carbonization of 100 tons a day of these materials.

The next step was to turn to the consumers of the country and ask them to save their peach and apricot stones, their prune, plum, and olive pits, their date seeds, cherry pits, butternut shells, Brazil nut shells, and their walnut and hickory nut shells. The work of securing these and advertising the Government's need to the public was turned over to the American Red Cross. There was some question at the start as to whether the charter of the Red Cross would permit it to undertake such a war activity; but, since it was determined that this was purely a defensive operation, the legal forces of the Red Cross decided that the organization could go into a campaign of this kind.

BAREFOOTED NEGROES IN SPANISH HONDURAS SHOVELING COROZO NUTS INTO BASKETS TO BE LOADED INTO BOATS FOR SHIPMENT TO GAS DEFENSE DIVISION.

5,000 TONS OF PEACH PITS PILED UP AT SAN FRANCISCO.

This is enough to produce 1,600 tons of carbon for use in gas mask canisters.

NUT SHELLS STORED ON DOCK OF EAST RIVER WHARF, ASTORIA, L. I., AFTER BEING UNLOADED FROM BARGES. SHELL-CRACKING TOWER ALSO SHOWN.

1,200 TONS OF APRICOT PITS AT SAN FRANCISCO READY TO BE REDUCED TO CARBON FOR GAS MASKS.

TROOPS IN TRENCH AT LONG ISLAND CITY READY FOR A GAS ATTACK.

TROOPS WEARING GAS MASKS CHARGING IN OPEN ORDER AT LONG ISLAND CITY.

"GAS!" TROOPS HASTILY DON THEIR MASKS AT THE ALARM.

TROOPS WEARING GAS MASKS CUTTING BARBED-WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS IN TESTS AT LONG ISLAND CITY.

"Help us to give him the best gas mask." That was the slogan which was carried on the posters, catching the attention of almost every person in the United States. More than 1,000,000 pieces of literature were distributed. The Red Cross established 163 collection points, and collection barrels appeared on the streets of practically every community in the United States. The Junior Red Cross, the Food Administration, and the Department of Agriculture gave valuable assistance. The Boy Scouts organized nut gathering parties. The governor of Massachusetts proclaimed November 9, 1918, to be gas mask day for the collection of carbon material, and 28 other States fixed gas mask days in November. Two reels of motion pictures were shown through the country. Journalists aided the campaign in newspapers and magazines. Frederic J. Haskin sent out a valuable article which was published in many of the important newspapers of the United States. One Oklahoma town took a day off en masse and gathered a whole carload of nuts.

This campaign started September 13, 1918, but was abruptly cut short on the 11th of November. Thus it is impossible to give exactly the result of it, since many of the scheduled shipments of nuts and fruit pits were canceled and found their way into fuel bins. However, at one time there were on the rails, en route to the carbon plant at Astoria, 100 carloads of materials supplied by the patriotism of the American people. It was estimated that some 4,000 tons were collected in this brief period, exclusive of the material from the California canning industry.

The procurement of the nuts, however, was but the first step in the production of carbon for use in our mask canisters, for after charcoal is first burned its pores are still filled with various impurities which may be summed up by the word "tar." When the charcoal was given a second heating, under careful temperature regulation, this tar was burned out, with the result that the charcoal itself became much more active in its absorption of gas. In fact, properly activated charcoal is more than absorptive—it is catalytic in its action toward the gaseous poisons used in the war, not only absorbing them but hastening their breakdown (digestion) into less injurious substances.

The activating of charcoal offered at the start considerably more of a problem than the question of making the charcoal itself, since activating had never before been conducted on a commercial scale. Two months of experimentation showed us that the best distillation of shells and pits for charcoal was that conducted in illuminating-gas-making retorts. The activation thereafter had to be done in special equipment permitting of fine control of temperature. The Government eventually spent more than $1,000,000 in a charcoal activating plant, providing for America the best protection known to science against the poisons which Germany had introduced into warfare.

The cement granules, which also had to go into the canisters, supplied another problem. We originally used a special soda-lime for this material, but only obtained a satisfactory product after Maj. H. W. Dudley, R.E., came to America as our British advisor and brought to us the British granule formula. The basis of this cement was lime, to absorb gases of an acid nature. Portland cement was used, to give hardness and prevent disintegration and the formation of dust in the canister. Then infusorial earth was added, to make the compound porous in texture. A little sodium hydroxide was put in, to increase the alkalinity of the mixture. Finally there was an infusion of sodium permanganate, which is a powerful oxidizing agent. This latter chemical was added as a precaution against arsine. Arsine and arsenical compounds were difficult to use in warfare, but the Germans had introduced them to some extent, justifying us in adding this protection.

In making the granules the sodium permanganate solution was mixed with the cement. The mixture was roughed out into slabs, allowed to set for three days, dried, ground up, screened to the proper size, and packed in drums for future use.

As has been noted, the charcoal and cement were packed in the canister in alternate layers. The cement had the virtue of working while the carbon slept—that is, the carbon was active when there were gases present to be absorbed, but the cement kept on thereafter, digesting the gases which had been absorbed by the charcoal. The cement was not quick in action, but it had a remarkable capacity for consuming some poisons.

To return to the chronological development of manufacturing facilities, after we had placed the contracts for the first 1,000,000 masks in the early fall of 1917, we began looking around for facilities for producing carbon and cement in the quantities which we should need in the near future. We found at Astoria, the district near Hell Gate at the junction of the East River and Long Island Sound in New York, the large gas works of the Astoria Light, Heat & Power Co. perhaps the largest illuminating-gas plant in the world. This was a subsidiary of the Consolidated Gas Co. of New York, which concern readily agreed to turn over to the Government some of its retorts and to permit the construction of a Government-operated plant on its grounds. We might have been seriously delayed in the production of gas masks except for the extraordinary and continuing efforts of Mr. W. Cullen Morris, Chief Construction engineer of the Consolidated Gas Co., and Mr. Addicks, its vice president. It was due to Mr. Morris that a $150,000 granule plant was constructed, heavy complicated equipment installed, and operations started in the short space of 30 days.

Let us now go back to the history of actual mask production. At the start it was estimated that when the Hero Manufacturing Co. had reached full capacity it could assemble and turn out 6,000 masks a day. The fuel shortage and the railroad congestion of the late fall and early winter of 1917-18 hampered our supplying the Hero Manufacturing Co. with parts, until the mask production, averaging 2,430 a day as it had in November, dwindled to 1,500 a day in December. The Goodyear Co. at Akron had meanwhile established its Akron-Boston motor track line. This was put at the service of the Gas Defense Division, hauling various supplies from both Akron and Boston to the assembling plant at Philadelphia. Sometimes in the mountains of Pennsylvania the trucks would be blocked in snow and the patriotic citizens of the community would get out with shovels and work until the supplies again started on their way.

Slabbing the doughlike mixture of carbon and spreading it on screen-bottomed trays at carbon plant No. 2.

Chemical laboratory showing apparatus for testing the absorbent power of the carbon and gran powder.

Retort house. Discharging machine drawing out the nearer half and pushing out the far half of the hot carbon.

Carbon plant No. 3, showing treater room and west side batteries of Dorsite treaters.

FOUR VIEWS OF CARBON PLANT AT ASTORIA, L. I.

Zigzagging and combing work on masks.

Doping the masks.

Assembly department.

Final inspection department.

FOUR INTERIOR VIEWS OF GAS MASK PLANT.

All of the masks produced in the fall of 1917 were still regarded as experimental and not yet up to the standard of masks which we were willing to supply for actual service at the front. Consequently, not one of them was exported, but the entire 1917 production, after the first order of 25,000, was sent only to the training camps in this country. By January 8, 1918, we were producing masks which we were willing to put into actual service, and on that date the manufacture of masks for export was started.

In January we exported 54,000 masks, which was 16,000 less than the schedule which we had set for ourselves. But by February 20 we had wiped out this deficit with a little over, for our schedule by that date called for the production of 141,000 gas masks, and we had produced 142,000.

Late in the fall of 1917 the requirements of the Expeditionary Forces were reanalyzed in the light of information gathered abroad and in accordance with the new military program. Requirements were multiplied almost fourfold. Let us see how these requirements were met, and what difficulties were solved in the course of the effort.

Experience had already shown that for many reasons the Government needed its own mask factory, where improvements could be adopted as soon as made and where inspections and the storage of parts could be more centralized than in private plants.

With the necessary expansion then confronting us, any other policy would have meant making face pieces in half a dozen or more private plants, all starting at once with organizations untrained for this work. This would have been fatal, for even with the Goodyear and Goodrich companies manufacturing face pieces in Akron and the Kenyon Manufacturing Co. making them in Brooklyn, we found it most difficult to maintain uniform standards in all the plants. As new points came up, it was constantly necessary to interchange inspection personnel and to send men from one plant to another to teach manufacturing wrinkles. Such practices consumed more personnel than we could train in the time available. Moreover, it was impossible under the conditions that we were then facing to build up more than barely adequate supplies of gas mask parts and such raw materials as special fabrics. To have operated many more face-piece plants would have meant to divide these stocks of fabrics, elastic, tape, etc., still further. To have kept each of these plants properly stocked, under the existing traffic conditions, would have been impossible. A big central gas-defense plant was the only solution of our difficulties.

The order approving the establishment of the gas-defense plant was signed by Secretary Baker on November 20, 1917. The officers of the Gas Defense Division found in Long Island City, not far from the new chemical plant at Astoria, a group of modern concrete factory buildings which had been put up in this newly developed section by several different concerns, among them the Ford Motor Co., the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., and the National Casket Co. One of these buildings, known as the Stewart Building, was taken over by the Government and modern machinery was installed. Mr. R. R. Richardson, of Chicago, was appointed plant manager with a salary of $1 per year. He quickly set to work organizing the factory and its staff. On January 9, 1918, the first few factory operators were hired. Five days later the executive offices at the plant were ready for occupancy. The plant grew apace. One by one the other buildings were absorbed and added to the establishment—first the Goodyear Tire & Rubber building, then the National Casket building. Next a long storage building was built between the Stewart and the Goodyear buildings. Runways were built which connected up the various buildings, and, finally, in July, the Ford Motor building was taken over and connected up to complete the group.

Thus by the summer of 1918 we occupied five large buildings, with a total of over 1,000,000 square feet, or 20 acres, of floor space, connected up to make the gas-defense plant. Of the 12,000 employees in this plant, 8,600 were women. Endeavors were made as far as possible to hire those who had near relatives with the American Expeditionary Forces. The degree of care required in the manufacture of masks was beyond anything known in normal industry, and we rightly believed that this personal interest in the work would bring about greater care in manufacture and inspection. Since the factory was working at top speed a great deal of attention was paid to welfare work. Women employees were given 12-minute rest periods both in the morning and the afternoon, and completely furnished attractive rest and recreation rooms were set apart for women in the factory.

GAS-DEFENSE PLANT AT LONG ISLAND CITY.

EMPLOYEES OF GAS-DEFENSE PLANT LONG ISLAND CITY, NOVEMBER 11, 1918.

The plant was unique in more than one respect. At the very start it attempted the supposedly impossible, for it combined in its staff and in its working organization civilian and military personnel. The manager was a civilian, the assistant manager was Lieut. Col. Coonley. Below them on the next tier of the organization were Army officers in charge of several departments and civilians in charge of others. Throughout the plant were certain groups of women workers or inspectors in charge of civilians were others; in charge of sergeants or even privates. The arrangement worked out well and the whole organization pulled together as one team, without reference to civilian or military status. Again, at the start there was laid down a policy of inspection at every single stage of manufacture. The incoming parts, though already inspected at their source, were reinspected and retested. After every operation in the manufacture of the face piece there came an inspection by specially trained women set apart from the operators. Then again, there was a special control inspection. After the face piece was finished, and when assembly was complete, the entire mask went to a final inspection where it was looked over by several trained women, who worked in dark closets and inspected the face pieces over a bright light to make sure that no pin pricks had been made, either maliciously or otherwise. Furthermore, wherever there was an inspector there was a system of checking his or her accuracy, for 5 per cent of every inspector's work was periodically selected at random and checked over by other inspectors.

Hand in hand with this went many of the latest developments of factory operation. The best machinery was employed, conveyors were used wherever possible, and, when changes in the size of the operation or the design of the mask made it advisable, the factory was at once rearranged in order that the flow might always be orderly and continuous.

From all of this the reader might judge that the operation, lasting, as it did, for only a little more than eight months, was a costly one. Such, however, was not the case, for a well-ordered and accurate cost system, kept from the very start in accordance with the best practices of factory accounting, showed that after charging in all equipment changes and overhead, the plant made complete masks which cost the Government about 50 cents per mask less than it cost to get complete masks by purchasing parts and assembling them under private contracts.

Along with this manufacturing development went the building up of an elaborate procurement force charged with the responsibility of providing parts to be assembled at the gas-defense plant and the Hero Manufacturing Co. This section faced a hard and intricate task, but though there were instances where a shortage of parts temporarily slowed down production, these were remarkably few. Many were the difficulties of buying new parts; many of the parts were the product of elaborate die work; die makers in the country were overworked. Specifications had to be written, checked, and approved, and a field inspection first had to be organized and trained so that the product from all the different plants could be relied upon as satisfactory for the assembling plants. But this problem was still further complicated by ever-recurring changes in design, made necessary as improvement followed improvement. Officers had to be trained in a day and then sent out to train inspection corps in manufacturing plants in many parts of the country. Inspection and procurement detachments were maintained in most of the eastern industrial centers. There were over 100 enlisted men and 9 officers in Akron, 30 enlisted men with 6 officers in Boston, and men and officers in over 60 cities. Here again the civilian and Army officer worked hand in hand; for Mr. Robert Skemp, a volunteer civilian from Pittsburgh, was in charge of this procurement, reporting to Lieut. Col. Besse and directing an organization made up almost entirely of officers and enlisted men.

The March output of masks was 183,000; that of April, 363,000; May, slightly less than this figure; that of June, 504,000; that of July, 671,000. In all, between January 1 and November 11, 1918, we built more than 5,000,000 gas masks.

In February, 1918, shortly before the German drive commenced, we received requisitions for sample lots of oiled mittens and oiled union suits as protection against mustard gas and also for chloride of lime to neutralize poison-impregnated earth. In their March drive the Germans used gas in much more protracted concentrations than before. Originally the masks had been worn only during the sporadic gas alarms, and then only for a brief period at a time.

The double-protection mask which we had been building had been admirable in its day, but it was no longer adapted to the sort of use to which it was evident it must now be put. In long-continued wear the mouthpiece would irritate the gums and lips of the soldier, and the face-piece band would cause excruciating headaches after a few hours. It had now become frequently necessary for men to wear their masks for eight hours at a stretch. The word discomfort is a weak description of the feelings of a man wearing one of our masks for that period.

Our authorities in France decreed for a single-protection mask and more comfort, even at the expense of a little safety. The result of these new conditions together with the establishment of closer relationship with our Expeditionary Forces, through a visit of Col. Dewey to France, was the determination to build masks in this country which should give the protection of the masks which we had been turning out and at the same time be comparatively comfortable. There had been brought out in France a single-protection mask, that is, a mask in which the inlet tube entered directly into the space between the mask and the face, with the orifices so arranged that the fresh air was drawn across the eyepieces. This was known as the Tissot mask. The principle of the Tissot was correct as far as comfort was concerned, since it did away with the irritating mouthpiece, but the chief danger in this mask arose from the fact that it was made of thin, pure gum rubber. We took the Tissot and endeavored to produce a mask of this type which should be gas-tight and yet rugged. In this work we experimented on hundreds of subjects to determine face and head sizes and shapes. It is interesting to note in this connection that the size of a man's face has nothing to do with the size of his head, as large heads with small faces and small heads with large faces occur not infrequently.

We made two developments of the mask without mouthpiece or nose clip. Both were ready for field tests in August, 1918. The one produced in Akron and assembled at the Philadelphia contracting plant was known as the Akron Tissot, or Type A-T.

At the start of operations in Long Island City Mr. Waldemar Kops, of New York, a manufacturer of corsets, came to the Government, asking an opportunity to do his part in the war. He was assigned to the gas-defense plant, and later, with the commission of major, took charge of the gas-defense Long Island laboratories. Maj. Kops had no experience with gas masks until he came to the gas-defense plant, but his experiments soon led to an improvement in the design of the Tissot mask. It was called the Type KT mask—the Kops-Tissot. Only a few hundred thousand were produced, though the latest model was scheduled for enormous production beginning in December, 1918. It possessed much of the protective efficiency of the old uncomfortable mask, the cut of the face piece insured a gas-tight connection with the head, it was relatively comfortable, and it was durable.

The call of the allies in the spring of 1918 for American troops in as great numbers as the ships could carry them to France resulted in still further increases in our mask requirements. At the height of the drive we were making over 40,000 masks a day. Approximately 35,000 employees were engaged in the manufacture of various gas-mask parts. Our carbon requirements were expanding at a rate that would have needed 400 tons of raw materials a day by December, 1918. We built 336,919 KT masks and approximately 200,000 A-T masks. In exact figures the total production of masks of all types was 5,692,499. Of these 3,666,683 were built at the gas-defense plant and 2,025,816 were assembled by the Hero Manufacturing Co. In addition, we furnished 3,189,357 extra filled canisters for the replacement of those used up by 40 hours of field service.

Hand in hand with this procurement and manufacturing achievement went the development of the technical section of the Gas Defense Division. This was known as the Long Island laboratories, manned by a personnel of several hundred men and officers. Here in its laboratories were solved the knotty problems that bridged the gap between experimental work and production. Many new designs were worked out, only to be rejected when tested. Here there were workrooms that could make sample lots of 1,000 masks, and here were located the chemical laboratories and the gas chambers in which the product of the gas-defense plant was tested daily by control chemical analysis and by actual breathing and wearing tests.

In spite of this elaborate technical section, the testing of masks did not stop with it. There was a special field-testing section of the Gas Defense Division, composed of about 150 men who were trained to the minute in field maneuvers and did most of their work in gas masks. They were constantly in and out of gas with regular production and experimental masks, they played baseball in them, they dug trenches, laid out wire, cut wire, and fought sham battles at night, both with and without actual gas. This section was not organized until July, but it should have been one of the first of our units. It was there that we learned all the fine points of gas mask comfort and durability. The work of this section even went so far in the case of the later designs as to include a test where six men worked, played, and slept in the masks for an entire week, only taking them off for 30 minutes at each mealtime, and each day entering high concentrations of the most deadly gases, without any ill effects whatsoever to the wearers. When it is remembered that eight hours was the limit of time which a strong man could wear the old-type mask, something of the efficiency of the new mask may be realized.

We also built 377,881 horse masks. Investigation showed that a horse's eyes did not shed tears in the presence of even strong lachrymatory gases. Moreover a horse never breathes through his mouth; and it was, therefore, necessary only to cover his nostrils. Furthermore, horses proved to be more resistant to the toxic gases used in Europe than were men, and his mask, accordingly, needed to be only a bag of many layers of chemically treated gauze. The horse masks were all manufactured by the Fifth Avenue Uniform Co., of New York City, under the supervision of a detachment of the Gas Defense Division.

We furnished 191,338 dugout blankets to be used at the doors of dugouts to make them gas proof. These were specially woven all-cotton blankets which were treated in France with a special heavy oil, shipped from the United States.

Toward the end of the war we received large requisitions for protective suits and gloves to safeguard men against mustard gas burns. The suits were made of oiled fabric and the gloves were of cloth impregnated with chemicals. As a work just starting, we produced 2,450 suits and 1,773 pairs of gloves.

A total of 1,246 tons of a new ointment known as sag paste was made and shipped. This was an ointment to protect the skin against mustard-gas burns.

Gas warning signals were of several types, watchmen's rattles and Klaxon horns being the most commonly used to sound the gas alarms. We shipped 45,906 of these special hand horns. The rattles were secured in Europe.

THE AKRON TISSOT MASK. AN IMPROVEMENT OVER THE MASK THAT WAS IN GENERAL USE AMONG OUR TROOPS.

THE KOPS TISSOT MASK. OUR LATEST DEVELOPMENT AND CONSIDERED TO BE THE BEST OF ALL MASKS.

GAS MASK OF FLANNELETTE TYPE FOR HORSE.

Trench fans, for fanning out gas from trenches and dugouts, were produced, to the number of 50,549.

Production data of gas defense division of Chemical Warfare Service—Final statisticalreport.
Item.Production.Shipped overseas—
Up to July 1, 1918.Up to Nov. 11, 1918.Dec. 31, 1918 (total production).July 1, 1918.Nov. 11, 1918.
Respirators1,719,4245,276,5155,692,4991,196,7873,938,808
Extra canisters507,6633,144,4853,189,357484,2361,805,076
Horse masks154,094366,529377,881101,250351,270
Bleaching powder (tons)1,4843,6773,5905861,867
Extra anti-dimming (tubes)2,855,7762,855,7762,855,776
Sag paste (tons)201,1361,246915
Dugout blanket oil (gallons)95,00095,0005,000
Protective suits5002,450
Protective gloves1,7731,773
Dugout blankets159,127191,33836,221
Warning devices33,20245,90619,620
Trench fans11,34329,97750,5499,60027,690

BOOK V.
QUARTERMASTER ACTIVITIES.

CHAPTER I.
SUBSISTENCE.

When the American soldier went to war against Germany he took his appetite with him. The task of keeping that appetite satisfied with good food (and the soldier, therefore, contented and well) fell to the Quartermaster General. The average American soldier at the end of the fighting in 1918 is said to have weighed 12 pounds more than he did when the Selective-Service Act or his own enlistment brought him into the Army. This is the complete testimonial to the quality and quantity of the food served to the American troops in 1917 and 1918. Assuming 3,700,000 to have been the greatest number of Americans under arms, this average increase in weight means that the beans and bacon and fresh meat of the American Army ration were transmogrified into some 45,000,000 pounds of Yankee brawn to be the basis of untold resources of health and energy during the coming quarter of a century.

Consider these millions of soldiers as one composite, gigantic man in khaki; compress the war period into a single hour, the dinner hour; and it will be seen that the American fighter consumed what might be called a sizeable meal. Let us say that he started off with the main course. The roast of beef weighed over 800,000,000 pounds. It was flanked by a rasher of bacon weighing 150,000,000 pounds. Over 1,000,000,000 pounds of flour went into the loaf of bread, while to spread the bread was there a lump of butter weighing 17,500,000 pounds and another lump of oleomargarine weighing 11,000,000 pounds. As a side dish this giant had over 150,000,000 pounds of baked beans, half of these coming in cans ready baked and flavored with tomato sauce. The potatoes weighed 487,000,000 pounds. To add gusto to his appetite there were 40,000,000 pounds of onions. Then scattered over the table were such items as 150,000,000 cans of corn, peas, and string beans; while the salad contained 50,000,000 cans of salmon and 750,000 tins of sardines. Then there was a huge bowl of canned tomatoes, nearly 190,000,000 tins supplying its contents. For dessert he had 67,000,000 pounds of prunes and 40,000,000 pounds of evaporated peaches and apples. The sugar for sweetening various dishes weighed 350,000,000 pounds. He washed it all down with a draft made of 75,000,000 pounds of coffee thinned with 200,000,000 cans of evaporated milk. The bill for the meal, paid by the American public, amounted to $727,092,430.44, this figure to December 1, 1918.

In supplying such vast quantities of food, scientific attention was concentrated upon the details of the effort. At the time the armistice was signed the American troops in France were eating about 9,000,000 pounds of food every day. Never before in history had any nation been compelled to send subsistence so great a distance to so many men. It was not possible to ask France and England to divide their food supplies, as they were already rationing their civilian populations. We were required to purchase practically all food in America and transport it nearly 5,000 miles. Ships were relatively scarce. There was a strong bid for every inch of tonnage space. The tonnage allotted to subsistence must be filled with sufficient food not only to supply the immediate consumption, but to overcome losses due to the sinking of ships and the possible capture of base depots. These contingencies required two pounds of food to be shipped where one would ordinarily be sent; yet because of the shortage of ships the subsistence authorities were asked to pack these two pounds into almost the space of one. The result was foods in forms never before known by American soldiers and in some cases never before known at all—such forms as dehydrated vegetables, boneless beef, and the so-called shankless beef. Trench warfare made new demands for food. Calls came for such rare articles as soluble coffee or the wheat-and-meat cake of the emergency ration.

These problems were solved only by the assistance of the American food industry. In numerous instances new factories, or even whole new types of food manufacture, were built up as rapidly as three shifts of men could work and money accomplish results.

The cost of food rates high among the war costs of 1917 and 1918. Back in 1897 the average meal in the Army cost about 4 cents, and the daily three meals 13 cents. At the end of 1918 the cost of the ration was approximately 48 cents. The advance was not all due to the advance in living costs. Much of it was on account of the improved standards of the ration. In 1916 Congress appropriated $10,000,000 to feed the Army; the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1918, brought an appropriation of $830,000,000 for the same purpose.

The American fighting man of 1917-18 was a good feeder. He ate nearly three-quarters of a ton of food each year, or over ten times his own weight. Without counting any transportation costs or the expense of handling at all, each man's yearly supply of food cost more than $165. In spite of the most rigid and painstaking economies in the purchase of this subsistence the American people were paying at the peak of Army expansion more than $2,500,000 per day to feed the troops.

The distance of the American Expeditionary Forces from the source of their food supplies required that their food be largely purchased in nonperishable forms. That is, meats must be cured, meats and vegetables tinned, vegetables and fruits dried. We literally paved the way to Berlin with tin cans. The various foods put up in tins and purchased during the year 1918 totaled over 1,000,000,000 cans, or enough, standing on end, to make a road wide enough and long enough for a force of men marching in columns of four to go from the port of embarkation at Hoboken, N. J., to the heart of Germany. The largest closing machine can seal 240 tin cans per minute. If such a machine could be operated eight hours a day seven days a week, it would take it 23 years and 6 months to seal these tins.

During the spring of 1918, when the demand for men in France resulted in reducing the available tonnage for supplies, the cry came from France to cut every nonessential. As a result most of the canned vegetables and fruits, including peas, corn, sweet potatoes, asparagus, pineapple, pears, and apples were stricken from the list of food supplies for the American Expeditionary Forces.

From France came calls for tomatoes and men, men and tomatoes. This phrase did not mean that bread and bacon, beans and beef, should be eliminated; but it emphasized the importance of this one vegetable, the tomato. The total purchases of tomatoes exceeded those of all other vegetables combined. In addition to the many ways of serving tomatoes, they were used in the trenches to relieve thirst, being, perhaps, more effective than any other substitute for water. Because of its food value and slight acidity, a quart of tomato juice was worth several quarts of water to the thirsty men in the field. The Army took 45 per cent of the total 1918 American pack of tomatoes. These tomatoes were bought from 5,000 firms scattered throughout the rural districts of the United States.

The demands of the overseas forces for meat during the summer of 1918 were so heavy that they created a shortage of beef in the United States. Beef is the mainstay of the soldier's diet. The Army allows 456 pounds of beef per year for each soldier. This does not mean that the soldier actually eats that much beef, beef being simply the Army's meat standard. Pork, usually in the form of bacon, is substituted for 30 per cent of this quantity of beef, 12 ounces of bacon being considered the equivalent of 20 ounces of beef. The major portion of the American Expeditionary Forces' beef was fresh beef shipped frozen all the way from the packing plants in the United States to the company kitchens at the front, through an elaborate system of cold-storage warehouses and refrigerator cars and ships.

The Food Administration asked that the people substitute corn meal, rye flour, and other grain flour for 20 per cent of the wheat flour ordinarily used in making bread. The troops in the United States complied with this ruling and saved 1,000,000 barrels of flour. The use of substitutes in France was not insisted upon, as bread making in the field is more difficult. Field bakeries are not adapted to experimenting with doughs and yeasts, as is required when substitutes for flour are used. The Army allowance of flour for a year for one man is 410 pounds. Flour was usually issued in the form of bread, 1 pound of bread being allowed for each man each day. Other yearly allowances are 56 pounds of beans, 27 pounds of prunes, 27 pounds of coffee, 73 pounds of sugar, 11½ pounds of condensed milk, 3½ pounds of vinegar, and 13½ pounds of salt. For variety other items are specified which may be substituted for these foods.

Food was purchased by the Quartermaster's Department and furnished to the individual companies at cost of the food. In charge of the mess was a sergeant, who had had special instruction in schools as to methods of feeding the Army. The mess sergeant checked over his stocks daily and made up a list of what he would require for the coming day. This list, in turn, was given to the camp supply officer, under whose direction the order was made up and delivered to the kitchen on Army trucks.

This order was based on a ration allowance, as has been stated, a ration being the food required to subsist one man for one day. The general components of the overseas camp ration consisted of the following:

Component articles and quantities.Substitutive articles and quantities.
Beef, freshounces20Mutton, freshounces20
Beef, fresh, bonelessounces16
Baconounces12
Pork, freshounces16
Sausages, canned pork or Viennaounces16
Canned roast beef or corned beefounces16
Hash, corned beefounces16
Fish, driedounces14
Cheese, not exceeding 10 per cent of total issueounces10
Fish, cannedounces16
Bread, softounces16Flour, corn meal, oatmeal, or macaroni, in lieu of an equal quantity bread, but not exceeding 15 per cent of total issue.
Baking powder (to be issued only with flour or corn meal, 1 ounce to 20 ounces), ounce .08
Beans, dry (not to exceed 4 issues in 10 days)ounces4Beans, baked (not to exceed 4 issues in 10 days)ounces8
Rice or hominy (not to exceed 6 issues in 10 days)ounces2
Potatoes, freshounces20Onions, fresh, in lieu of an equal quantity of potatoes, but not exceeding 20 per cent of total issue.
Tomatoes, canned, in lieu of an equal quantity of potatoes, but not exceeding 20 per cent of total issue.
Canned potatoesounces15
Other fresh vegetables (not canned) when they can be obtained in the vicinity by purchase or from the U. S. Garden Service, or can be transported in a wholesome condition from a distance, in lieu of an equal quantity of potatoes.
Dehydrated vegetables to be issued only in case fresh vegetables are not available.ounces4
Corn, cannedounces12
Peas, cannedounces20
Jamounces3Prunes, or evaporated apples, or peaches, or apricots, or figs, or dates, or raisins, in lieu of an equal quantity of jam.
Sirup gill .64
Coffee, R. & Gounces1.12Tea, black or greenounces.32
Sugarounces3.2
Milk, evaporated, unsweetened ounce 1
Vinegargill.16Pickles, cucumber, in lieu of an equal quantity of vinegar.
Saltounce.64
Pepper, blackounce.02
Cinnamonounce.014Cloves, or ginger, or nutmeg, or sage, thyme, or allspiceounce.014
Butterounce.5Oleomargarine or lard or lard substitute,ounces.5
Flavoring extract, vanillaounce.014Flavoring extract, lemonounce.014
Candy (issued ½ pound once in 10 days)ounce.8
Tobacco, smoking (100 cigarette papers for each 4 ounces smoking tobacco)ounce.4Cigarettes number .4
Tobacco, chewingounce.4

The ration at home was practically the same. The home ration, however, did not include candy and tobacco. The commanding officer had authority to modify or change all rations to meet special conditions. For instance, in times of great cold and when the men were subject to great exposure, or after long and tedious campaigns or marches, or when the work required of the troops was abnormal, the ration might be increased. The ration also included soap, candles, matches, towels, and a few other items considered necessary in the daily life of a soldier. The value of a ration fluctuated with the market from month to month. Each day's food weighed about 4.6 pounds per man.

The men actually in the trenches sometimes made use of the emergency ration, the little flat can of compressed nourishment which every soldier carried in his pocket. This ration, however, was used only in severe straits, on the order of an officer, or on the enlisted man's own responsibility in the direst emergency, when the activity of the enemy made it impossible to get hot food to the men during daylight hours. Hot food was served in the trenches whenever possible. The hot food consisted principally of soups and soluble coffee. Specially constructed cans, made on the principle of thermos bottles, kept the food hot when it was being carried to the front. The chief quartermaster of the American Expeditionary Forces relates that on a tour of inspection made by him, during the Argonne-Meuse offensive, on November 1, 1918, he inspected the meals served at noon to the troops of the Fifth Corps actually engaged in battle on that day, and found in a number of cases that Artillery organizations were being served beefsteak, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, white bread and butter, rice pudding, and hot coffee, the men eating in reliefs in order that there might be no cessation of fire. The hot meals for the Infantry were prepared at their rolling kitchens a short distance in rear of the line, and sent forward to them in "marmite" cans.

The company was the unit on which the feeding of the men was based. Each month the company was given credit at the quartermaster's store equal to the number of men in the company multiplied by thirty times the ration allowance. On the basis of this credit the mess sergeant of the company made purchases to feed his men. He might be as economical as he desired, provided that he fed the men sufficiently. If the entire credit extended him at the camp quartermaster's office was not used up during the month, a check was given for the difference. This went into the company's funds, with which the mess sergeant might buy in the open market such extras and delicacies as the savings would permit, up to the quantity specified in the ration.

But this system was followed only in the United States. Savings were not allowed in France, all food there being issued on a straight ration basis. This was due to the fact that the shortage of tonnage made it imperative that no article not absolutely essential be shipped from the United States, while difficulties of transportation in France necessarily eliminated all except the most essential articles of food.

Under the procedure in vogue previous to the recent war, subsistence was purchased by depot quartermasters located in 13 principal cities throughout the United States. The plan gave the Army a large number of purchasing officers for subsistence, working without coordination and even in active competition with each other. This condition resulted in a wide range of prices and a lack of uniform quality; while under war conditions, with the enormous quantities to be procured, it would cause at times a congestion of buying orders, with consequent disturbance of market prices.

A plan of control was soon worked out whereby the Subsistence Division, with headquarters at Washington, received at regular intervals the estimates of the needs for subsistence for the Army, both at home and abroad. These estimates were compared and a budget made up. Bids were then asked through zone supply officers, who reported the bids to the control body in Washington. The lowest or most advantageous bid was accepted, and the purchase was completed by the zone supply officer in whose zone the seller was located. The plan eliminated one army zone bidding against another. At the same time it enabled every manufacturer or producer to bid on the needs of the Army. In this way active competition was secured and low prices obtained. A decided advantage of the plan was that purchases were made with a minimum of disturbance to prices paid by the civilian trade.

Not only was it necessary to coordinate army organizations, but it was also found that the independent buying of the Army, the Navy, and the Allied Provision Export Commission was having the effect of increasing prices of a number of food products. These buying agencies were unconsciously bidding against each other. In December, 1917, at the suggestion of the Food Administrator, with the consent and approval of the Secretary of War and of the Secretary of the Navy, the food purchase board was organized to coordinate all of the purchases of food products in this country intended for military purposes. The plan adopted was to allot through the Food Administration the required quantity to the industry producing the commodity in question, dividing the business among the various producers in proportion to their capacity. Products so controlled were those in which there was an actual or prospective shortage. The prices were determined by the food purchase board after studying and investigating the costs of production. The products so purchased included flour, sugar, all canned vegetables, canned and evaporated fruits, salmon, sardines, canned milk, rice, and, for a time, fresh beef. These products totaled about 40 per cent of all food requirements for the Army.

Practically all purchasing of meat was done by the Subsistence Division's packing-house branch, located in Chicago. Circular proposals were submitted by the various packers whose headquarters are located there. The Subsistence Division ordered the required purchases made, and the Chicago office at once allotted the amount needed among the packers. After the butchering and inspection of the meat, it was sent to the freezers and, after being frozen, was loaded in the cars and shipped to the embarkation points. The whole process from the time the animal was killed until it was loaded on the boat took about two weeks.

The Middle West produced practically all the beef which nourished our fighting men. Some of the cattle were bought in California, inspected at the packing-house plants along the Pacific coast, and sent to France via the Panama Canal.

The packers of Chicago and other cities found their plants, gigantic as they were, all too small to handle the demand of our troops for meat products packed in special forms; and extensive additions, both in buildings and machinery, were required by the Army's demands.

It was only by careful vigilance on the part of its inspection branch that the millions of men dependent on the Subsistence Division for their food were protected from deterioration of supplies and abuses by certain dealers and manufacturers. Such firms were in the minority, for the food industry backed the Army with great loyalty, giving honest and patriotic support. In a certain week the inspection service found oatmeal flour moldy and unfit for use, having been stored too long before using; large amounts of potatoes, shipped to Camp Devens, undersize and frostbitten; 3,000 pounds of butter at Camp Greene too old for use; and 12 carloads of tomatoes of poor quality. The system in vogue of demanding reinspection was responsible for discovering many such cases, and traveling inspectors also kept the products up to the highest standard. Any information from outside sources was immediately investigated.

Samples of all shipments of food stuffs were required to be sent to the inspection branch. In this way many violations of the food laws were found. One packer was found to be using pork which contained large numbers of skippers. Another tried, consciously or unconsciously, to pass off wormy dried fruits. Milk has in some cases been found to be much below standard. All of these supplies were promptly rejected as improper for Army use. In many cases the fault has been found to be the result of improper manufacturing conditions, and in this event the manufacturer has been compelled to make good the loss to the Army. The general result of this inspection was that manufacturers gave the Army their very best products.

One of the most important divisions of the inspection branch was the meat and meat-products section. Its function was the supervision of the reinspection, storage, and handling of meat and meat products, butter, and cheese. Special care was taken to see that there were no embalmed meats. Meat and meat products, butter, and cheese are all highly perishable articles; and, although they may be delivered in perfect condition, many imperfections may develop if diligent care is not exercised during shipment, handling, and storage. One of the first steps taken at the camps was the installing of complete cold-storage plants with adequate chill rooms, so that the proper preservation of fresh meats was assured after arrival at camps. From the first the most rigid inspection of meat and meat products was insisted on and no product allowed to pass which did not comply with Army specifications. The carcass might be from a perfectly healthy animal, yet be rejected, as lightweight carcasses were not approved for consumption in the Army. Instructions as to Army requirements were placed in the hands of every inspector, covering the inspection, storage, and handling of meat and dairy products. Supervisory traveling inspectors visited all stations at irregular intervals to insure these instructions being followed and to instruct quartermasters in posts which were too small to warrant a qualified meat inspector being stationed there.

One object of the Subsistence Division was to educate the proper officers throughout the Army to be inspectors. To accomplish this the inspection branch compiled a manual covering practically all the principal items of Army subsistence, the exact methods of inspection, and how to detect imperfections in foods. Complete Army specifications for all supplies were included. Gen. Pershing cabled for 250 copies to be used in France, and the University of California adopted the manual to be used in zymology classes. It placed exact knowledge in the hands of the men who received the food and who had the responsibility that it be up to specifications.

The overseas forces were the particular concern of the Subsistence Division. It was planned to have approximately three months' advance supply of food sent over each month for the number of troops actually sent to France during that month. This was called the initial supply. In addition to this, there was sent over a monthly automatic supply, equivalent to the amount of food the troops already in France would consume during that month. In this way a 90 days' reserve was usually maintained overseas.

The problems of the overseas forces demanded quick solution. The new modes of warfare gave rise to many needs unknown in peace times. The result was that calls came in for commodities which were not at the time being produced in adequate quantities. Factories had to be built, labor secured, and machinery manufactured; in instances entirely new industries had to be created.

The Service of Supply found it was impossible to secure sufficient fresh vegetables in Europe to take care of the requirements of our troops, and the Subsistence Division at home was called upon to supply dehydrated vegetables for overseas requirements. To send fresh vegetables from the United States was impossible, due to the great necessity for conserving ship tonnage, and a substitute was imperative. To supply dehydrated vegetables meant the development of an industry. Dehydration was practically unknown in the United States, there being but three small plants in existence. The Subsistence Division searched the country for advantageous locations where there were prospects of having such factories established. Within a few months the cooperation of companies was secured and factories were built whose combined output for the month of December, 1918, amounted to 6,000,000 pounds, there being 15 large plants in the United States at that time. Up to the date of the signing of the armistice 62,000,000 pounds of dehydrated vegetables had been ordered by Gen. Pershing.

The difficulty of supply was increased by the delicate process which is required to make dehydrated vegetables. The moisture of the fresh product must be removed without extracting the nutritious juices or destroying the food value or flavor. After the vegetables have been peeled and sliced or cubed, they are blanched, in order that they may retain their starch components. They are then placed on trays in huge kilns, through which heated air is blown until only the small required amount of moisture is retained. The product is then packed in hermetically sealed cans.

Dehydrated vegetables occupied a prominent place in the soldier's menu in France. Reports from overseas made by inspectors of the Subsistence Division indicate that dehydrated vegetables were quite satisfactory. The Surgeon General's Office has approved their use. However, when fresh vegetables could be purchased in foreign markets they were used in preference. The use of dehydrated vegetables saved two-thirds of the cargo space in ships over the amount required for fresh vegetables. Their use came at the time when the cargo space was as valuable as life itself, and it enabled men and munitions to be transported sooner than would otherwise have been possible. Dehydrated vegetables were also found especially adapted for use at the front when food was carried forward from the rail heads to the trench kitchens under shell fire.

The emergency ration and its production make another interesting story. Designed to be used only in dire extremity, primarily for No Man's Land fighting, the ration was packed in small cans to be carried in the soldier's pocket, usually the upper left-hand jacket pocket. This ration corresponded to the starvation ration of the allies. Its components were adopted after experiments at the battle front and after consultations with food experts. It represented the greatest amount of food that could be concentrated in the smallest compass.

The complete ration consisted of three cakes of a mixture of beef and ground cooked wheat, each cake weighing 3 ounces; three 1-ounce cakes of chocolate; three-quarters of an ounce of fine salt; and 1 dram of black pepper. From the beef the preparation process removed all fat, sinew, and white fibrous tissue. The meat was then heated, and all of its moisture was evaporated so skillfully that no flavor was lost. The wheat or bread component of the cake was prepared by removing the chaff from cooked wheat which had been kiln-dried, parched, and then ground to a coarse powder. The meat and bread were compounded together, about two parts of bread to each part of meat, making a perfectly homogeneous cake. The chocolate of the ration was prepared by combining equal weights of fine chocolate, containing not less than 20 per cent of cocoa butter, and pure sugar, and molding the product into cakes weighing 1 ounce each.

The several components were packed into oval tin cans, which were camouflaged to render them inconspicuous. These cans bore the legend:

"U. S. Army Emergency Ration. Not to be opened except by order of an officer, or in extremity."

Many ways of preparing the emergency ration for eating in the field were found by experiments. The bread and meat cake could be eaten dry; or, when boiled in 3 pints of water, it made a palatable soup; boiled in 1 pint of water, it produced a thick porridge which could be eaten hot or cold; the cold porridge could be sliced and fried when circumstances permitted. The chocolate could be eaten as candy or made into a drink by placing the chocolate in a tin cup with hot water.

The gas attacks in the trenches made it necessary that the soldier's food be packed in containers impervious to mustard gas poison, mustard gas, when swallowed, attacking the intestines. The first call for such a ration came during October, 1917, and it called for the shipment of 100,000 sealed rations a month for 20 months. The food was to be packed in hermetically sealed galvanized iron containers, holding 25 rations each. The contents of each can consisted of 25 pounds of meat in 1-pound cans, 25 pounds of hard bread in 8-ounce cans, and 25 rations each of soluble coffee, sugar, and salt. Tobacco and cigarettes were added for the comfort of the men. The addition of tobacco and cigarettes was accidental. It was found necessary at first to fill the surplus space in the containers with excelsior. The office force of a large corporation learned of this fact and got permission to fill the empty space in some of the containers with tobacco. The Subsistence Division thought so well of the idea that orders were issued for the tobacco ration to be placed in all reserve ration containers.

One of the most difficult elements in supplying the reserve ration was the securing of tin cans for hard bread. These, because of their unusual size and shape, could only be manufactured after new can-making machines had been designed. The demand for such cans exceeded 10,000,000 in number. Within a comparatively short time, however, hard bread in cans for special reserve rations was being produced on a large scale, and the overseas requirements were filled.

Next the manufacture of the necessary galvanized containers and crates was contracted for. A packing plant was then designed to pack the components into the containers, which was an intricate operation in itself, the number of rations being so great. This plant was so contrived that the parts of the packing material came in at one end of the plant, and the hard bread, canned corned beef hash, canned roast beef, and canned corned beef, canned fish, coffee, sugar, salt, and can openers were packed into the galvanized containers as they traveled on a conveyor belt, until all the components were included.

Only the best of Army purchases were put in the reserve ration. A study was made of the best packers of the various commodities, and their products were used exclusively. Everyone connected with the packing knew the purpose of the ration. It was to be used only when the trenches were under the heaviest fire—when hot food could not be carried forward, and when the men were most in need of good food. The reserve ration became the quality ration of the Army as a result. After the packing was complete, the cans were hermetically sealed by solder and camouflaged with olive drab paint. The container of the ration, when packed, was so buoyant it would support two men upon it when thrown into the sea, thus being a potential life raft.

It was also necessary to feed our men in German prison camps. A ration for American prisoners was prepared by the Subsistence Division of the Quartermaster Corps, in conjunction with the Food and Nutrition Division of the Surgeon's General office. This ration was distributed by the American Red Cross from Denmark and Switzerland. Individual packages each containing sufficient food to supply one man were sent to the prison camps each week. The chief components of the package were corned beef and salmon (with an occasional substitution of corned beef hash and canned roast beef), hard dry bread, dry beans, rice, baked beans, and fresh potatoes (where possible). Prunes, jam, apples, peaches, coffee, sugar, evaporated milk, vinegar, salt, pepper, and pickles were also supplied. Potatoes and onions were procured when possible in Ireland, France, and Italy. Otherwise dehydrated potatoes and onions were used.

Special food was sent for the invalid prisoners, this ration containing potted chicken, crackers, concentrated soup, dehydrated spinach, creamed oat meal, cornstarch pudding, sweet chocolate, extract of beef, soluble coffee, etc. There were several substitutes for all items mentioned, among the substitutes being dried eggs, potted veal, cheese, peanut butter, dried apricots, honey, corn meal, gelatine, malted milk powder, bouillon cubes, apples, oranges, lemons, cocoa, and tea.

When the American troops entered the trenches it was found impracticable to use the ordinary roasted and ground coffee. Its preparation required too much fire, the smoke of which made a target for the enemy. Experiments were made with soluble coffee, looking toward guaranteeing a warm stimulant in the trenches. It was found necessary to give hot drinks to the men before they went over the top or after they had undergone periods of exposure. The British and French troops were supplied with brandy, wine, or rum on such occasions. But issues of intoxicants to soldiers were contrary to the American policy, and quantities of soluble coffee were substituted. Solidified alcohol was supplied so that the coffee could be served hot.

The soluble-coffee industry was in its infancy in the United States. So great was the demand for soluble coffee from the overseas forces that the calls were for over thirty times the prewar production. A cablegram was received in October informing us that after January 1, 1919, the troops would require 25,000 pounds of coffee each day in addition to the amounts packed in the trench rations, these latter quantities alone amounting to 12,000 pounds daily. Allowance was also made for possible sinkings of 5,000 pounds daily, making a total of 42,000 pounds necessary to meet the daily requirements of the American Expeditionary Forces.

MANUFACTURING BARRINGTON-HALL SOLUBLE COFFEE AT THE BAKER IMPORTING CO. PLANT, NEW YORK. THREE BATTERIES OF 21 PERCOLATORS. CAPACITY 5 CASES OF COFFEE EACH.

MANUFACTURING SOLUBLE COFFEE FOR THE U. S. GOVERNMENT IN THE PLANT OF C. J. BLANKE TEA & COFFEE CO., ST. LOUIS, MO.

The entire American output of soluble coffee was taken over for the Army, but this amounted to only 6,000 pounds daily. A number of manufacturers of other food products were induced to turn their entire plants into soluble-coffee factories. The greatest difficulty was incurred in the securing of the necessary equipment for these new plants. There was but one company in the entire United States which made the revolving bronze drums essential to the manufacturing process. This company ran its plant seven days a week, with three shifts daily, to produce the necessary materials. The metals which went into these drums were vital in the manufacture of other munitions, but it was even more important that men in the front lines be given hot drinks when tired and worn from long fighting and exposure.

The signing of the armistice saw the difficulties of supplying soluble coffee about overcome. The Subsistence Division had won one of its hardest fights. The cooperation of American manufacturers had made the achievement possible.

The problem of supplying good coffee to the troops was a difficult one. To make good coffee for a unit as large as a company is not easy for the average cook. To guarantee that good coffee would always be available, the Subsistence Division made one of its most radical changes in handling supplies. This change was so complete that whereas the Army formerly was served with coffee from three to six months out of the roasters, it came to be supplied with coffee freshly roasted every day.

At the beginning of the war coffee was purchased, ready roasted and ground, from competitive dealers. It was then held in New York for about 30 days before being shipped overseas, the transportation requiring 30 days more. Received in France, the coffee often was kept for 90 days before it was distributed to the troops. In addition, a 30 days' supply must be kept on hand, making the coffee 6 months old by the time it was used. The result was that when the coffee finally reached the men it had lost half of its value as a stimulant and was greatly deteriorated in flavor, often being in a crumbly condition. "Muddy" coffee on the mess tables resulted.

The only way for the troops to secure fresh coffee was for us to send over the green product for roasting as it was needed. Buildings were erected to house coffee-roasting machinery at home and abroad; men were trained as quickly as possible in the process of coffee-roasting, and sent out to take charge of the plants. In a relatively short length of time 16 plants were in full operation in France, and an increasing number at home. Eventually all the coffee used in France was shipped over green and roasted in the plants there. These plants were capable of roasting sufficient coffee to take care of 3,000,000 men at a considerably lower cost to the Government than under the old system.

The Expeditionary Forces, as is noted elsewhere, organised a purchasing office in Paris. Its purpose was to save tonnage space by securing as many products as possible in Europe. Its scope covered all classes of supplies, but a large section was devoted to subsistence. Candy, hard bread, and macaroni factories under the direction of the Quartermaster Corps were built or secured from the French Government. Large quantities of beans, fresh potatoes, onions, coffee, rice, salt, and vinegar were secured from European markets. Many thousands of tons of foodstuffs were purchased and manufactured in Europe for our Army, every ton representing space on ships saved for additional men and munitions. Overseas purchases were generally discontinued after the signing of the armistice, as the Director of Purchase and Storage and the Expeditionary Forces were firm for the policy of favoring American manufacturers wherever possible.

To reduce tonnage still further, extensive experiments were made in the packing of beef for overseas consumption. All bones, surplus fats, and waste portions were removed. The remainder, all edible, was pressed into 100-pound moulds and frozen. The initial shipment was composed of 16 carloads of boneless beef. The meat arrived in France in splendid condition, and was carefully watched from its arrival at the ports in France to its consumption in the front-line trenches. Officers, mess sergeants, and cooks were enthusiastic over the boneless beef, as it took much less time to prepare it and so conserved labor to a great extent. The men were gratified, as the inferior portions of the beef were not included, and much better meat resulted for the mess. After the success of this experimental shipment, as much boneless beef as possible was sent to France. Trouble was encountered in securing the skilled butchers to bone the great quantities needed, but this shortage was largely overcome.

No means was discovered so effective for reducing tonnage as boning beef, dehydrating vegetables, and purchasing foods in France, but in many of the smaller items there were stories just as interesting. Efforts to save tonnage brought about the reduction of moisture in soap. While the Subsistence Division was securing toilet paper it found that the entire supply for the Expeditionary Forces could be stored in the waste space of Army rolling field kitchens. A special formula for vinegar was devised, and double-strength vinegar was shipped. This, when mixed with an equal quantity of water in France, was a good product.

The saving of space in the transportation of subsistence stores makes a long story in itself. Just so much tonnage was allotted to food each month; and the ablest men in the food industry spent much time in working out how the maximum amount of essentials and luxuries in foodstuffs could be sent in the minimum amount of space.

COFFEE-ROASTING PLANT AS OPERATED AT A NUMBER OF CAMPS.

FURNISHING THE ARMY WITH TOBACCO.

Packing machines in a Winston-Salem, N. C. plant. These machines automatically weigh the tobacco, wrap and seal tins in which this particular brand of tobacco is marketed.

MAKING CIGARETTES FOR THE ARMY.

Leaf tobacco being blended for cigarette-making purposes in a Richmond, Va., tobacco plant.

The Subsistence Division not only looked after the working fighter but the playing fighter as well. The American soldier is fond of candy, tobacco, and chewing gum. The supply of these commodities brought much pleasure to the troops. Long lines of men waiting for free candy and tobacco in France, men who just came from the front, formed one of the interesting sights of the war. Tobacco has established its claim to a recognized place in the soldier's life. Probably 95 per cent of the soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces used it in one form or another. In May of 1918 it was decided to adopt the practice of the allies, namely, to allow each soldier a certain amount of tobacco per day. This unusual innovation was the official recognition of tobacco as a necessity for men in active service. To men enduring physical hardships, obliged to live without the comforts and often even the necessities of life in times of battle, tobacco fills a need nothing else can satisfy. The daily ration of four-tenths of an ounce was given to every man overseas who desired it. The soldier had the choice of cigarettes, smoking tobacco, or chewing tobacco. If he chose smoking tobacco he received cigarette papers with it. In addition the men could buy at any Army or other canteen the most popular brands of cigars and cigarettes in unlimited quantities.

The Subsistence Division purchased for overseas shipment a monthly average of 20,000,000 cigars and 425,000,000 cigarettes. Abundant supplies of tobacco were on hand in the commissaries overseas, and the soldier could buy it at actual cost. There was no profit or tax added on any tobacco shipped to France, and it was sold at retail to the troops at a cost lower than the price paid by the biggest wholesalers in the United States. The plan for the purchase of cigars and cigarettes was to divide the contracts among the most popular brands in the same proportions as the latter are sold in this country.

Candy in the days of the old Army was considered a luxury. The war with Germany witnessed a change. The old popularity of chewing tobacco waned; that of candy increased. Approximately 300,000 pounds of candy represented the monthly purchases during the early period of the war. This amount included both the home and overseas consumption. Demands from overseas grew steadily. The soldier far from home and from his customary amusements could not be considered an ordinary individual living according to his own inclinations, and candy became more and more sought after. As the demand increased, the Quartermaster Department came to recognize the need of systematic selection and purchase.

The first purchases were made from offerings of manufacturers without any particular standard, 40 per cent being assorted chocolates, 30 per cent assorted stick candy, and 30 per cent lemon drops. A standard was developed through the steady work of confectionery experts. This standard offered no opportunities for deception, and it guaranteed candy made from pure sugar and the best of other materials. The specifications furnished all bidders covered raw materials, the methods of manufacture, packing, and casing. Specifications were adopted after many conferences with the leading manufacturers of the country. These men cooperated in the work by giving their best suggestions and often their trade secrets.

Huge purchases of candy were made during the days when sugar was scarcest in the United States. The Food Administration was convinced that the Army should have all the candy it desired, and sufficient quantities of sugar were allotted for the purpose. From 300,000 pounds monthly the candy purchases increased till they equaled 1,373,300 pounds in November, 1918, the highest amount purchased up to that time. In December, 1918, an innovation was adopted, consisting of giving the troops a regular monthly ration of candy. The candy which had been shipped every month for sale in the various canteens had always been quickly disposed of. Many men did not get the opportunity to make purchases. The ration plan, however, assured each man a pound and a half a month, without exception. It required 3,495,000 pounds the first month of the ration system to provide each soldier overseas with his allotted portion.

In December, 1918, the Subsistence Division took over the purchase of all candy for the various organizations conducting canteens for our troops. The purchase for that month totaled 10,137,000 pounds, all of which was shipped overseas. It was the largest exportation of candy on record. The candy purchased for the canteens, commissaries, and other agencies was manufactured by the best known candy firms in the country. A portion of the candy consumed overseas was manufactured in France. This French supply was discontinued January 15, 1919, and thereafter all requirements were shipped over from the United States. The candy was sold to the men at just half the price it would have cost individuals here. After December, 1918, 50,000 pounds were furnished each month for sales purposes for every 25,000 men in France. Up to February 1, 1919, 21,000,000 pounds of candy had been sent across. The demand for candy jumped skyward after the signing of the armistice, the men then having more time on their hands in which to enjoy luxuries. Tobacco demands likewise increased.

The suffering sweet tooth of the Yank was not appeased by candy alone. The third of a billion pounds of sugar bought for the Army represents a tremendous number of cakes, tarts, pies, and custards. An old soldier recently stated that the ice cream eaten by the Army during the war would start a new ocean. The serious shortage of sugar which at one time threatened to reduce sweets to an irreducible minimum on the civilian bill of fare did not interfere with the soldier's ration, which continued to be 6 pounds monthly in this country and about 9 pounds overseas. The ration for the civilian population was reduced to 2 pounds monthly. Army officers were placed on the same status as the civilian population and were allowed to purchase only the amount stipulated for civilians for use in their homes.

Up to the signing of the armistice the total amount of granulated, cut, and powdered sugar purchased by the Subsistence Division equaled 342,745,862 pounds and cost $28,465,050. Of this amount the greater portion was shipped to the troops in France.

A close companion in popularity to candy and tobacco was the typical American product, chewing gum. This confection was found of great value on the march as a substitute for water. Its importance is shown in the vast amount sent overseas. A total of 3,500,000 packages represents the overseas shipment in January, 1919. The shipment for February was 3,200,000 packages. The winter consumption of gum was heavier than that of summer, the average monthly supply being only 1,500,000 packages during the summer of 1918. Chewing gum came to be considered a necessity by the men in France and has been found to be an invaluable aid to keeping up their spirits in the midst of hardships.

Every complaint against meals served in the Army reaching the attention of the Subsistence Division was investigated. These investigations were made in conjunction with the Inspector General's Department of the Army. Where complaints were justified, remedial action was taken. A study of the complaints revealed that most dissatisfaction was among new troops who, when first separated from the luxuries of home, wrote of their adventures at the mess table, enlarging any lack of home comforts into stories of privation. The more solid food, however, soon became popular, as the hard work in training gave an appetite for sustaining rather than for the more fancy foods.

Subsistence to the value of $327,060,097 was shipped to our forces overseas from the United States from the start of the war to December 1, 1918. The following table gives the quantity, unit price, and total value of these subsistence items:

Item.Quantity.Unit price.Total value.
Pounds.Cents.
Ham1,772,91734.42$610,238
Bacon147,956,22344.4265,722,154
Beef, fresh, frozen250,584,69223.3658,536,584
Beef, tinned140,843,47532.4645,717,792
Fish, salmon30,961,80114.244,408,960
Cheese314,20327.7587,191
Flour542,874,7975.2528,500,927
Hard bread27,978,83012.923,614,865
Corn meal16,074,6874.58736,221
Oatmeal4,661,7326.35296,020
Beans, dry39,646,67710.844,297,700
Beans, baked54,731,7869.555,226,886
Rice25,466,5477.972,029,684
Hominy1,826,2698.54155,963
Tomatoes100,081,7896.026,024,924
Peas, green4,689,4255.60262,608
Corn, sweet7,639,7865.65431,648
Beans, stringless2,148,7595.92127,207
Vegetables, dehydrated12,971,93530.253,924,010
Prunes15,748,93110.351,630,014
Fruit, evaporated8,976,84813.271,191,228
Jam26,029,02818.744,877,840
Apples, canned1,831,0966.39117,007
Peaches, canned2,415,18210.56255,043
Apricots, canned863,4159.1278,743
Pears, canned1,150,12010.22117,542
Cherries, canned423,44412.2151,703
Pineapples, canned899,2589.1282,012
Coffee39,185,16712.074,729,650
Sugar106,169,3457.437,888,382
Milk, evaporated42,922,74310.484,498,303
Lard and substitutes15,781,22824.473,861,666
Butter and substitutes16,200,79939.716,433,337
Candy7,895,05327.762,191,667
Tobacco27,449,64567.0618,407,732
Salt13,707,276.88120,624
Vinegar gallons1,319,87727.85367,586
Pickles do.1,333,21046.94625,809
Sirup do.6,171,80859.223,654,945
Cigars each160,180,2254.857,768,741
Cigarettes do.2,439,260,097.6215,123,412
Special reserve rations do.15,623,15076.0011,873,594
Emergency rations do.765,40052.50401,835
Total327,060,097

MEAT FOR THE U. S. ARMY RECEIVES THOROUGH INSPECTION. FEDERAL INSPECTORS ARE EXAMINING SHEEP AS THEY PASS ALONG THE ENDLESS TROLLEY IN THE PROCESS OF DRESSING. ARMOUR & CO.

MANUFACTURING RAZORS FOR SOLDIERS: BLADE HONING DEPARTMENT. DURHAM DUPLEX RAZOR CO.

MAKING UNIFORMS FOR THE ARMY.

View of the cutting department of a plant at Red Bank, N. J.

MANUFACTURING SPIRAL PUTTEES FOR THE ARMY.

This photo shows yarn being wound in a Cleveland, Ohio, factory.

CHAPTER II.
CLOTHING AND EQUIPAGE.

The Army raised against Germany had to have stout shoes for its feet. It required warm uniforms and overcoats and good socks and underwear. It had to have heavy blankets for its beds. The men needed raincoats and rubber boots for wet and muddy weather. Tentage was required, pup tents for the front and large tents and flies at the camps. Belts and bandoleers of cotton webbing added to the soldier's efficiency as a rifleman or machine gunner.

To procure these and other supplies for an American Army that eventually reached the strength of 3,750,000 men required the best brains in the textile, rubber fabric, and leather goods industries. From the counting rooms, from the laboratories, and from the American factories the needs of the Government called to Washington several hundred men, experts in a thousand lines, and put them into American officers' uniforms. Eventually the various agencies of the War Department purchasing these supplies were centralized in a single division known as the Clothing and Equipage Division of the Office of the Director of Purchase and Storage, which in turn was part of the Division of Purchase, Storage, and Traffic.

The total cost of this necessary equipment of textiles and leather and rubber goods was approximately $2,100,000,000. Of the enormous sum of money appropriated for the so-called quartermaster activities, a full one-quarter went for clothing and equipage of this sort.

The group who handled this enormous manufacturing effort not only conducted one of the biggest undertakings of the war but did it in a way to command the admiration of those who knew the story of what was going on. The division turned scientific attention, and that means the attention of real scientists, to the proper construction of all sorts of articles. It designed new styles of soldiers' clothing adapted in every curve and line to the service in France. It standardized dyes and made studies of protective coloring. It produced highly specialized shoes. It saved millions of dollars by the scientific study of specifications of various articles. It educated manufacturers in the production of articles strange to their experience, and in some cases developed entirely new industries. At one time it constituted the entire wool trade of the United States, since it had optioned every pound of wool in sight and had its agents out gathering up the excess wool of the earth. It was a shipmaster, an employer of men, a reformer in labor conditions, and an inventor and originator of new products.

The organization was important not only for the size of its business but because it dealt more intimately with the individual soldier than perhaps any other production branch of the Government, with the possible exception of the branch which fed him. It might seem to be a fairly easy proposition to buy clothing for a soldier, his tent, and the bed clothing that kept him warm in active service or when he was a patient in a military hospital. But it was not a simple task. None of these articles was standard for civilian use, either in material, color, or pattern. Everything had to be made to order. The ordinary factory could not begin work on contracts for these supplies on a minute's notice, but usually only after special and sometimes costly preparation.

And as the Army grew in size it had to have large quantities of special clothing. Cooks needed cotton aprons, and blacksmiths leather ones. Linemen had to have special gloves; hospital orderlies and waiters at messes required white duck suits; motorcyclists needed hoods; laborers, overalls; and firemen, helmets. There were special garments for aviators. We began capturing prisoners and they had to have special uniforms. Convalescents at hospitals needed special suits. The women nurses of the Army were supplied with uniforms, something entirely outside of previous Army experience.

The Government was something more than the designer and manufacturer of these goods, drawing the specifications, placing the orders, and then teaching the processes of manufacture in the thousands of factories which had virtually become Government plants. The clothing and equipage organization had to go further back and become the actual procurer of the raw materials; and this phase of its work eventually became one of the largest and most spectacular and romantic elements of the whole undertaking. In addition to procuring the raw cotton and the raw wool and the hides, the Government had to go into the manufacture of cloth and the tanning of leather to supply these commodities to the manufacturers of the finished articles. The Government went into a raw materials market which was already glutted with orders from the allied governments and from domestic consumption. It went into this market at first without money, since funds on the scale demanded were not available between March 4, 1917, and June 15 of the same year; and it had to buy on credit and secure the commodities in the face of cash bidding for them.

Nevertheless the whole enormous undertaking was successfully carried through. Except in rare instances, the American soldier never lacked for necessary supplies of this character. The organization which handled the work originally consisted of 6 officers and 25 clerks. When the armistice was signed this great purchasing and manufacturing agency had an enrollment of 1,693 people.

Wool was the most important of the raw materials to be procured, since wool entered into the composition of more items than any other material. Uniforms, overcoats, underwear, socks, breeches, shirts, and many other articles had to be made entirely or partially of wool. The purchases of woolen breeches alone during the war period amounted to 13,176,000 pairs. On September 10, 1918, the wool experts of the army estimated the Nation's total needs for wool up to June 30, 1919. The War Department, it was found, during this time would require 246,000,000 pounds of clean wool; the allotment to civilian needs was but 15,000,000 pounds. In other words, the war demands were to absorb practically the entire supply of wool; civilians were to be forced to do without it almost entirely.

Soon after the declaration of war the Quartermaster Corps estimated that it would require about 100,000,000 pounds of scoured wool to meet the initial demands of the Army in 1917. A meeting was called of the principal wool dealers of the United States, most of them from Boston, and a quick inventory was taken of the available wool supplies, not only in the United States, but on order from foreign countries. It was found that there was in sight 78,000,000 pounds of greasy wool, which, after being scoured, would produce 35,000,000 pounds of wool of the quality needed. This was barely one-third of the Army's demand alone. It should be noted, however, that this inventory was taken just before the annual American clip, which would be finished by the end of July.

To insure that the Government would secure every pound of wool in sight, options were promptly obtained on all wool in American warehouses or on the sea, and speculation in the prices of the domestic clip for 1917 was thus headed off by the entry of the Government itself in the raw wool business. The prices were fixed for the 1917 clip as of July 31. A year later the clothing and equipage division had become the entire wool trade of the United States. There was no wool market again and no public sale of wool until after the armistice was signed.

To handle this enormous undertaking the division appointed a wool administrator to buy wool, a wool purchasing quartermaster to pay for it, and a wool distributor to sell it to the Government contractors. The Government's wool headquarters was in Boston, with branches at Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Seattle. This organization arranged to procure the whole 1917 clip, if needed, took over all wool destined for the United States under import licenses, and sent its agents to foreign markets.

The largest of the foreign markets practically available from the standpoint of distance was the Argentine in South America. Australia and New Zealand were, of course, enormous markets, but the dearth of shipping made it impossible to spare many bottoms for the long voyage into the Antipodes. As a matter of fact, when the fighting ceased, the whole world was suffering for wool, except Australia and New Zealand. America was short of wool, France had practically none, there was a little in England, but Australia and New Zealand had the staggering surplus of 1,000,000,000 pounds. This was due to the fact that there had been no shipping available to bring this wool to America or Europe.

The Government's wool administrator secured such Australian and New Zealand wool as he could; but he had to rely principally on sailing vessels, which could not, under the most favorable conditions, go to Australia and back again in less than seven months, while nine or ten months were more often required. A quick sailing voyage to Argentina and back required five months.

Nevertheless, and this was particularly true in the early fall of 1918, when preparations were being made for the equipment of the Army in 1919, every effort was made to secure foreign wool. A South American wool-buying commission was formed and sent to Buenos Aires, arriving there October 30, 1918. By that time, however, the end of the war was in sight, and the commission never opened up its Argentine headquarters.

The Government conducted its raw-wool business on the lines of a great department store. Headquarters were established in Boston, where the wool distributors kept samples of almost every kind of wool produced on earth, these samples representing stocks on hand in the various Government warehouses in Boston and elsewhere. Charles J. Nichols, a member of a large Boston wool firm, was the wool administrator and E. W. Brigham was wool distributor. Prices were fixed, and the manufacturers bought from the samples. Carpet wool was sold at an office in Philadelphia. The wool administrator did a business that averaged $2,500,000 per day during his incumbency, his total purchases amounting to about 722,000,000 pounds of wool.

At first the supply of the better grades of wool seemed to be adequate to meet the Army's demands. Later, however, changes were made in the specifications for various cloths, uniform cloth being increased from 16 to 20 ounces in weight, overcoating from 30 to 32 ounces, shirting flannel from 8½ to 9½ ounces, and blankets from 3 to 4 pounds. These increases made it necessary for the Army to use grades of wool previously made only into coarse materials like carpet. The lower grades of wool were blended with the finer grades to provide the necessary weight and warmth, even at the expense of fineness of texture and appearance. This action explains why at the end of the period of hostilities some of the American soldiers' uniforms looked rough and uneven in color. But the necessary cloth was provided, and it was warm.

The Government saved every ounce of wool that it possibly could save. More economical patterns and layouts for the cutting of uniforms were designed in Washington and furnished to the manufacturers. The American soldier's uniform did not meet the approval of officers of the American Expeditionary Forces as to style, after the latter had become used to seeing the smartly dressed troops of Europe. Accordingly, after Gen. Pershing had recommended a better-appearing uniform, a new one was designed, incidentally with an eye to saving cloth. The coat of the uniform—formerly called the blouse, a designation which is now obsolete—was cut with new lines, making it slimmer without sacrifice of warmth or comfort. The patch pockets of the original blouse were usually unsightly bulges when the soldiers filled them with articles. On the new coat the patch pocket was retained only in appearance, the pocket actually being on the inside.

It is not known to most Americans that the breeches, which have been typical of the American service uniform for many years, were abandoned late in the war in favor of long trousers. This change was also due to studies made by the army clothing experts. The soldiers themselves were not enamored of breeches, since they had to be either laced or buttoned below the knee, a process which took time always, but seemed to take more when a man was in a hurry. The laces sometimes chafed the leg under the leggins. Then, too, it was often impossible to remove the breeches from soldiers wounded in their legs without cutting the cloth. Long trousers did away with all these objections and had the added virtue of being warmer than the breeches.

The overcoat, too, was redesigned, following Gen. Pershing's recommendations, the stock overcoat being too long to be worn in the trenches. A knee-length garment was provided which was much smarter than the older coat.

The redesigning of the overcoat and the uniform (although the new uniform never appeared in the field) accomplished numerous economies. Merely by the elimination of lacings, eyelets, tape, and stays, the new trousers cost 95.25 cents less than a pair of army breeches. By July 1, 1919, this change in design would have saved the Government $16,988,440 in orders for trousers already placed or in sight. The change in overcoat styles saved 62 cents per garment, or a total saving to July 1, 1919, estimated at $897,140. The service coat, made by redesigning the blouse, saved the Government $1.598 on each garment, or an estimated saving of $4,977,770 to July 1, 1919.

This was not only financial saving, but what was more important, it was saving the consumption of the raw material, wool. The Government could always raise more money; but if the wool supply were exhausted, all the money on earth could not buy any more of it.

A more economical cutting pattern saved twenty-three one-hundredths of a yard of cloth in the manufacture of every pair of trousers. This resulted in the total saving of 2,300,000 yards of woolen cloth. Part of the facings of the service coats and overcoats were eliminated without sacrificing warmth or serviceability, and cheaper cotton linings were substituted. Another important cloth economy came when the Army designers cut off the right-hand pocket of the O. D. shirt, on the ground that this pocket was seldom used. The designers also substituted an oblong elbow patch on the Army shirt for the circular patch formerly specified. This substitution was not economy in cloth, but the original circular patch, put on the sleeve to reinforce it at the point of greatest wear, actually resulted in reducing or shortening the life of the garment by tearing loose at the stitches, a fault which the oblong patch overcame.

In the earlier contracts the garment makers were stimulated to save wool by being allowed a percentage of the cost of yardage saved. Each contractor, too, was permitted to sell his own clippings. But as the Government obtained a more scientific grasp of the clothing problem and produced pattern layouts which utilized the maximum percentages of the cloth, the issues of cloth to the garment makers were calculated more closely. Thereafter the contractors received no reimbursement for cloth savings, and the Government itself took all the clippings.

These clippings were shipped to a base sorting plant at New York, where they were baled and shipped out to mills to be used as reworked wool in blankets and other articles. The clippings were sorted at a cost of 1.7 cents per pound and sold at an average price of 23 cents per pound, the total sales bringing in to the Government $5,500,000.

The history of the Government's wool enterprise during the war illustrates how hard it was to check the momentum of the whole production undertaking against Germany once it had attained full speed. A week before the armistice was signed the wool stocks looked small, and shortages plainly existed to cause anxiety for the executives in Washington. That was because we were thinking in terms of consumption made familiar by the terrific destruction of war. A week later the same stocks looked overwhelming in size, and the shortages had become enormous surpluses. It had been a constant worry to procure a sufficient quantity of blankets, yet as soon as the armistice was signed, we had on hand a 47-months' supply of blankets for 1,000,000 men in the United States and 2,400,000 men overseas. As soon as the German plenipotentiaries affixed their signatures to the armistice agreement at Spa an apparently small stock of marching shoes turned into a 4-year supply for 3,400,000 soldiers at home and abroad. On November 1, 1918, the Clothing and Equipage Division had on hand a reserve stock of goods valued at $811,000,000.

The entire woolen industry, from the handlers of raw wool to the textile mills, worked splendidly with the Government. At all times there was plenty of available machinery to make all the cloth for which wool could be furnished. Mills which found no Government use for their regular business output went heartily to work to make something else that the Government would need. The Government's uses for carpet, for instance, were practically negligible; so that the carpet mills, many of them, swung their entire production to Army blankets and Army duck.

Blankets, in fact, were one of the largest items. The total purchases brought to the Government warehouses about 22,000,000 blankets, at a total cost of over $145,000,000. Melton cloth for overcoats and uniforms consumed an enormous quantity of wool. The total purchases of melton amounted to more than 100,000,000 yards, or enough to stretch twice around the world at the Equator, with a strip left over long enough to reach from New York across Germany and Russia and into Siberia. The total quantity of raw wool bought by the Government up to December 14, 1918, cost over $504,000,000.

After the Government had secured the wool and various types of cloth, there still remained the task of making this cloth into uniforms. The usual method was for the Government to furnish the materials and to pay the contractor his cost of manufacturing.

All Army clothing was made up according to the so-called tariff sizes. The average coat for a man is a 38 or 40, and experience shows how many men in a given number will need this average. But there were always exceptions. One camp sent in a special order for 46 overcoats for "fats."

Through a scientific study of the problem, notable reforms in the matter of fitting soldiers were brought about. When the men were coming in greatest numbers from civilian life to the training camps they were often put to great inconvenience in securing proper clothing. Each man would ask for such sizes as he thought were correct, but it often happened that the garments supplied to him did not fit him, and he thereafter spent some hours or even days swapping garments with other recruits until he eventually acquired an outfit somewhere near his size. Then, too, there was confusion in the way the articles were supplied to the men, who sometimes had to stand in line all day long, awaiting their turn at the issue windows.

The matter of fitting was satisfactorily solved by adopting the so-called foolproof size labels. The labels originally used were merely paper tags pinned to the garments, and in the handling of garments by men unfamiliar with the fitting of ready-made clothing mistakes often resulted. As in the case of civilian clothing, all Army clothing was divided into four classes, known as "longs," "shorts," "stouts," and "regulars." A garment of any size would come in these four classes. The labels were marked with diagonal, colored stripes to indicate the general characteristics of the garment to which it was attached. Thus green meant a "short," red indicated a "long," and yellow showed the garment to be a "stout." The soldier was pretty sure to remember the color of the stripe attached to the garment that fitted him. If he were a green striper, he would refuse to accept anything that did not bear a green stripe on its ticket.

Before hostilities ceased a system providing a more scientific issue of clothing to recruits had been introduced. Under this system the recruit would enter the supply building at one end and there, in a special room, strip himself of his civilian clothing. He would thereupon enter the mill as naked as the Lord made him. He would stop first at the underwear counter, where he would procure garments that fitted him, would don them, and then pass on to the hosiery counter. Thus he would progress down the line, eventually emerging from the other end of the building a fully dressed American soldier, the process reminding one of the progress of an automobile through the Ford factory.

It required the services of some 4,000 inspectors to supervise the garment-making in thousands of shops scattered throughout the country. This inspection also looked at the character of the shops taking contracts, and the Government was sometimes hard put to it to prevent child labor and sweat shop production in the work.

At one time there came a rush order from France to supply several hundred thousand mackinaws. An officer who was familiar with, mackinaws was sent out from Washington to buy them from goods in stock. He accomplished his mission in 10 days, literally baring the shelves of the United States of these garments, his purchases including the extensive quantities of mackinaws held by mail-order houses in Chicago.

It was always a problem in clothing the Army to find olive-drab dyes that were fast in color. The first dyes used were apt to fade quickly. A certain dye was of the proper color, yet it was found on test to have the peculiar characteristic of being visible at a distance. As the new American synthetic dye industry expanded and processes were perfected, the officers of the Clothing and Equipage Division were able to cooperate with the American dye makers to produce satisfactory dyes.

Yet while the olive-drab dye used in dyeing coats and trousers seemed to withstand the sun and rain, that used in coloring the leggins proved to be fugitive to a remarkable degree. It seemed to be impossible to produce a dye that would hold its shade in leggins. The experts working on the dye problem had expended a good deal of valuable energy in worry and had grown a few gray hairs in their heads over the failure of leggin dyes when they discovered the true cause of the fading. The men were deliberately bleaching out their leggins, usually by using salt solutions on them, since anything but a faded leggin indicated that the soldier who wore it was a rookie and a greenhorn.

The materials which went into the manufacture of clothing came from various sections of the country, since the several garment industries had grown up around centers. For instance, the melton cloth came generally from the Boston district. Linings were supplied from Atlanta, buttons from Philadelphia, and duck from Chicago. This geographic distribution of supplies simplified the Government's problem of supplying materials to the various contractors. It was possible to supply materials on short notice to any garment-making district.

At one time Chicago wired that unless 500,000 yards of flannel shirting were supplied immediately hundreds of shirt factories in Chicago and the Chicago district would have to close down. Accordingly, a special freight train was loaded with shirting in the East and started for Chicago on a special movement in charge of a "live tracer"—that is, an officer who saw that the train was put through to its destination. The train arrived in Chicago on the second day after the order was received, so rapidly had the goods been procured and loaded.

In addition to the regular uniforms for the men, almost half a million articles of clothing for officers were also bought by the Government.

The Quartermaster Department went into an entirely new field when it bought uniforms for the women nurses of the Army. There was a Norfolk suit which cost about $30 and a cotton uniform that cost about $3, an overcoat costing nearly $28, and then there were waists made from navy blue silk and from white cotton, and hats.

Before leaving the subject of clothing, it is interesting to refer again to the clothing furnished for interned prisoners. This was not manufactured for the purpose. Uniforms discarded by our own men were reclaimed and dyed a special shade of green. Over 50,000 of these garments were prepared at an average cost of less than 30 cents per garment. It had been the original intention to make a special prisoner's uniform striped in resemblance to the prison suits worn in American penitentiaries.

Another interesting development in the manufacture of Army clothing was the production of a special uniform for expeditionary troops sent to Russia. The uniforms were so warm that they could well serve as the equipment for an Arctic exploration party. The determination to send an expedition to Russia was made suddenly by the Government, and the decision brought with it the problem of producing in a jiffy an equipment of garments not only expensive in themselves, but of a character unknown to the American garment trade. An agent for the division in New York at once bought on the New York market large quantities of muskrat, wolf, and marmot fur. Other agents were sent into our own Northwest and to Canada to pick up such suitable garments as these markets afforded. The Siberian equipment as specified by the commanders of the expedition called for fur caps, fur mittens and fur overcoats, mucklucks, moccasins, felt shoes, fur parkas, and underwear for 15,000 men or more. The order for the equipment came in the latter part of August, 1918, so that only the fastest kind of work would produce the garments in time to catch the last steamer that could get into the northern Russian and Siberian ports before the ice closed navigation for the season. The result was that whenever the articles specified could not be procured on time, suitable substitutes were provided.

The specifications called for 80 per cent wool underwear. Underwear with that percentage of wool could not be provided, but underwear of equal weight was substituted. Where fur-lined garments were unobtainable, fur-trimmed ones were procured. The specifications called for Buffalo coats. The division sent a man to the north woods country of Minnesota and Wisconsin, and there in the supply cities he bought sheep-lined coats with moleskin or duck shells as a substitute. These coats were the sort used by woodsmen and Alaskan miners and explorers. There was no time to procure mucklucks, moccasins, and felt shoes, so an agent of the division was sent into Canada to buy shoe pacs (or lumbermen's boots) and lumbermen's knee-length socks. The total cost of the whole outfit was more than $100 per man.

It was impossible to find any substitute for the Alaskan parka. A parka is a sort of overshirt, wind proof and waterproof and hooded, to be worn over the overcoat and cap of the uniform. Consequently it was necessary to produce the parkas in this country, although our garment makers were entirely unfamiliar with such manufacture. The work was undertaken by the International Duplex Coat Co., at 114 Fifth Avenue, New York. It was necessary from the start in turning out this order for the employees of this plant to work overtime. In order to speed the production the principal member of this firm himself took his place at the bench and worked almost day and night in cutting out garments.

CLOTHING WORN BY OUR SIBERIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES.

MANUFACTURING WOOLEN UNDERWEAR FOR THE ARMY.

The weaving department of a plant at Cohoes, N. Y.

MANUFACTURING HOSIERY FOR THE ARMY.

The knitting room of a hosiery mill at Durham, N. C.

The day approached closer and closer when the shipment would have to start across the country if it were to catch the last boat from San Francisco. On the home stretch of the race the entire working force of the plant went 36 hours, stopping only for meals. The last stitch was taken at 1.30 o'clock in the morning. The garments were then piled upon auto trucks to be rushed to the baling plant in Brooklyn. One of the loaded trucks developed engine trouble and stopped in the middle of a bridge across the East River. The officer in charge thereupon commandeered every automobile that came along, piled them all full of parkas and sent them to the baling plant. The entire shipment was aboard the train less than one hour before its starting time.

It was not only necessary for the Government to furnish cloth for the uniforms, shirts, and other articles, but it had to supply the fittings and findings as well, such needs as linings, tape, buttons, and hooks and eyes. In the calendar year 1918 the purchases amounted to over 46,000,000 yards of cotton lining and 2,500,000 yards of felt lining, worth over $18,000,000. The Government spent over $100,000 for hooks and eyes, $150,000 for tape, $1,250,000 for thread, and practically $3,000,000 for buttons.

When it was found that the standard specifications for Army uniform buttons favored a certain class of manufacturers and excluded many others, new specifications were drawn so as to make it possible for every button manufacturer in the country to compete for contracts. An exclusive study was made of new materials for buttons. They had been made of brass or bronze, but due to other war necessities for metals an effort was made to provide a substitute. It was found, too, that metal buttons sometimes resulted in infection of wounds received on the battlefield.

Substitution of vegetable ivory for metal in buttons was attempted. The Bureau of Standards in Washington tested the taqua, or ivory, nuts from which buttons are made and found them suitable. A vegetable ivory button with a shank was developed, although no such ivory button had been known before, and the Government's insignia was stamped on this button. Gen. Pershing approved the use of ivory buttons, and thereafter many manufacturers produced millions of gross of them. Every manufacturer who took button contracts agreed to turn over the ivory nut waste to the Chemical Warfare Service to be used in making charcoal for the gas-absorbing canisters of the gas masks. Most of the buttons were produced by firms in Rochester and Philadelphia. Many concerns made them who had never made buttons before. Manufacturers of electric goods, hardware, billiard balls, celluloid, pearl buttons, and phonograph records turned their plants into ivory-button factories. Enormous quantities of buttons were required. For the Army shirts alone the Government needed 216,000,000 buttons in 1918.

Flags constituted another class of goods requiring wool. In all, the division produced 40,000 flags during the war period, most of these being made at the Government's own shop at Philadelphia. It is a grim fact that many of these flags were used to wrap around the bodies of soldiers who died at sea. Thirty million chevrons for noncommissioned officers were also turned out by the Government.

The production of overseas caps for the American Expeditionary Forces was likewise an extensive undertaking. When the requisition for overseas caps came from France, it was not possible to design one here because of lack of knowledge of what was required. Later a courier bearing a sample cap came to the United States from Gen. Pershing. As soon as this sample was received a meeting of cap makers was called in New York, and 100 manufacturers attended. One and all agreed to turn over their factories to the exclusive production of overseas caps until the requirements were met. It took these cap makers only two weeks to turn out the first order. In all 4,972,000 caps were delivered.

Our experts on this side of the water were not satisfied with the overseas cap. It shrank after being wet, it quickly lost shape, it absorbed much water and did not dry out quickly, and it was unattractive in appearance. Also it did not shade the eyes, and the experience in France showed that the soldiers usually improvised peaks to their caps by sticking their girls' letters between their caps and their foreheads. Then, moreover, the standard cap was made of 20-ounce melton, which was a fabric hard to get. But there was plenty of rabbit fur available to make felt caps for an army of 6,000,000 or 7,000,000 men. Accordingly a new cap was designed, made of felt and doing away with the bad features of the melton cap; but this cap improvement came at the end of the war and was never used.

Wool was required not only for the outer clothing of the Army—for the uniforms, overcoats, and caps—but there was also a tremendous war demand for it for the manufacture of such knit goods as undershirts, drawers, stockings, gloves, and puttees. The matter of providing the Army with these necessary articles offered a problem of peculiar difficulty, since, in addition to the ever-threatening shortage of raw wool, there was an actual shortage of machinery in the knitting industry. When it was found that the regular mills could not turn out all the woolen knit goods the Army required, numerous mills which had been turning out specialties exclusively, such as women's underwear or men's union suits, were converted into factories to knit garments according to the Army specifications. Some idea of the extent of the Army's demand for this class of goods may be read in the fact that toward the close of hostilities every machine in the United States that could make hosiery at all was knitting socks for the Government.

SEWING OVERSEAS CAPS IN A ST. PAUL. MINN., FACTORY.

HEAPS OF OVERSEAS CAPS READY FOR SEWING IN A ST. PAUL FACTORY.

UNDERWEAR FOR THE ARMY AT A MILL IN ST. JOHNSVILLE, N. Y.

KNITTING ARMY UNDERWEAR IN A SYRACUSE, N. Y., MILL.

At one time there was an acute shortage of needles. Germany had previously supplied America with knitting needles. When this source was cut off, we turned to Japan. The Japanese needles proved disappointing; they were not correctly tempered and frequent breakage caused great loss. At one time it was rumored that there were 10,000,000 knitting needles in Sweden, and the need here was so urgent that several buyers were sent to that country. Their effort was well worth while, for they actually secured a million needles to help relieve the situation here. Meanwhile, American needles were improved and American needle makers were pushed to the limit; but until the close of the war there was always an acute shortage of needles for the knitting industry.

It was soon discovered that there was not enough machinery in America to knit one-tenth of the seamless woolen gloves that the soldiers required. Consequently it was necessary to adopt a substitute—a glove of knit fabric cut to pattern and sewed up with seams. In actual service this glove did not stand up to the hard usage required of it. Consequently there was designed an over-glove of canton flannel with the palm cased in leather, this to be worn outside the seamed woolen glove. In the effort to produce gloves which would give longer wear the so-called ambidextrous glove was designed so cut that it could be worn comfortably upon either hand.

Puttees, the spirally wound leggins that had long been used by the British Army, were unknown articles to American manufacture when the American Expeditionary Forces adopted them as standard articles of equipment. A puttee of knitted wool was designed and 6,000,000 of them were ordered in the spring of 1918, these to be preliminary to future orders for 8,000,000. The work required the installation of much new machinery in the textile plants. On November 1, 1918, we had produced all the puttees required by the troops then in France and had a surplus of 1,500,000 of them.

In the production of knit goods, economies in the use of material were constantly effected. An original article of equipment for the overseas troops had been a knitted woolen toque, which was a sort of stocking-cap. The toques had cost the Government $1 apiece, and some 1,500,000 of them had been piled up in the quartermaster warehouses before the toque was abandoned as a piece of standard equipment. Later a requisition was received for 400,000 woolen mufflers to be used by drivers of automobiles and motor trucks. According to the specifications these would cost about $3 apiece. Then it was discovered here that the abandoned toques might be sewed together to make mufflers. With this stock in hand it cost the Government only 20 cents each for the mufflers instead of $3, a clear saving of over $1,000,000.

The Quartermaster Department was the Mecca of inventors during the war period, who came bringing real or fancied improvements in many lines of apparel and personal equipment. One brought in a trench shower bath, consisting of a hot-water bag and a hose. He was much chagrined when informed that if this apparatus were set up in the trench there would be no room for soldiers to pass it. In no respect did the inventors have more novel ideas than they had in the manufacture of underwear. One of them brought in a patented vacuum suit of underwear which acted on the principle of a fireless cooker or thermos bottle to exclude the cold from the wearer's body. However, he had failed to take into consideration the fact that not only must cold be kept out, but perspiration must be given a chance to escape. The vacuum underwear would never dry out, after a man had become sweaty in it. For that reason it was not adopted.

A woman of Iowa invented cootie-proof underclothing by impregnating underwear with vermin-destroying chemicals. The State of Iowa was so interested in her invention that there was a public movement to clothe all Iowa troops in this underwear, should the Government fail to adopt it. The underwear was submitted to the experts of the Bureau of Entomology (the Government agency that deals with bugs), whose experts tested the invention. They found that the underwear was indeed death to the cootie. However, if the chemicals were applied in weak strength they soon evaporated and left the underwear harmless to the insect; if applied in great strength, the poisonous chemicals irritated the skin of the wearer.

During the first winter the men were in camp, the winter of 1917-18, there was no time to provide the troops with standard Army underwear. Consequently Government agents went into the underwear market and bought outright whatever was in sight. As a result, the soldiers that first winter wore underwear of almost every description and grade of merit. This gave the Army's underwear experts a fine opportunity to study the qualities of underwear of various types as proved by actual use. These studies contained hints of use to the civilian. For instance, the warning is plainly given to wear no fleece-lined underwear. A study was made of the causes of colds, and it was discovered that soldiers wearing fleece-lined underwear caught cold more easily than those wearing any other sort. The fleece of the lining absorbed perspiration and retained it, staying damp. Since many of the soldiers slept in their underclothing, they were thus encased in damp clothes 24 hours a day. Sick reports plainly showed the result of it.

When it comes to the production of cotton cloth for the Army's uses, the figures are so large as to appear almost fantastic. In all we procured over 800,000,000 square yards of cotton textiles. This was enough to carpet an area nearly four times as large as the District of Columbia. In a strip 3 feet wide there was enough of it to wrap 18 layers of cloth around the equator. Spread this strip out on some cosmic floor, and you could place upon it side by side 55 globes as large as the earth.

In addition to the cotton khaki required for uniforms and other purposes, the principal other cotton items were duck, denim, webbing, gauze, venetian, sheets, pillowcases, and towels.

The purchases made by the Army were beyond anything that had been known in the textile industry. In March, 1918, the supplies of cotton khaki on hand seemed to indicate a surplus of 21,000,000 yards beyond the needs of the immediate future. Then came the start of the German drive, and by the middle of April this great surplus of khaki cloth was not sufficient to the need. In other words, there was a shortage of khaki, since the Army needed at once 25,000,000 yards and thereafter would require a monthly supply of 10,000,000 yards. This was looking toward the great increase in the number of men soon to be called to the colors. It was planned to draft 300,000 in June alone, and subsequent drafts would be on a like scale.

In order to supply summer uniforms for these men it was necessary for Army officers to get every yard of khaki goods in the country. All stocks of goods in the hands of dealers and manufacturers were inventoried, and the positive order went out of Washington forbidding the use of khaki in articles for civilians. In spite of the Government's tremendous demand upon a limited supply, these stocks of khaki were acquired at a price 20 per cent lower than the prevailing market.

The requirements for cotton duck and cotton webbing also leaped upward as soon as the United States began to avalanche soldiers upon France. The demands were greater than could be supplied by the output of mills regularly producing these materials, and consequently the Clothing and Equipage Division called upon manufacturers of similar materials to adapt their plants to the production of duck and webbing. This they did, in many cases at considerable inconvenience and expense. Among the concerns which assisted in supplying these materials were manufacturers of carpets, automobile tire fabric, and even lace.

Owing to the scarcity and the high cost of leather a great deal of cotton webbing was substituted in the manufacture of such equipment as cartridge belts, suspenders, gun slings, and horse bridles. Here was additional demand, and to meet it factories which had been making such things as asbestos brake linings, hose, lamp wicks, suspenders, garters, cotton belting, and other similar fabrics, became webbing mills. All these plants thus adapted to the emergency manufacture of webbing were dependent on purchased yarns, which they had to secure in the open market from yarn manufacturers.

In the South particularly, where most of this yarn was purchased, the securing of power was a serious question. Many of the mills depended upon electricity generated by water power. These power plants did not always have good railway connections and many of them had no steam power equipment even if fuel could have been furnished. In the late summer of 1918 the rivers of the South ran nearly dry, and in order to operate many of the southern mills it was necessary for the Government to allocate according to most pressing needs the available power among the mills working on contracts. Also, for a long time when transportation facilities were seriously overtaxed, it was hard to secure a steady flow of materials from the South to the northern mills.

With regard to labor, employees in the cotton and webbing mills had to be educated in the manufacture of the new types of work to which these plants had been shifted. In the South, more especially, there was a question of child labor and of hours of labor for women and minors; for the Government inserted clauses in the later contracts requiring certain standards for the benefit and protection of labor. In some instances contracts were returned because of the child-labor clause. In such cases compulsory orders were often issued, practically compelling the mills to produce the goods called for.

Considerable burlap used for packing, as well as burlap bags, silk for flags, hat bands, and badges were also purchased in quantity.

The United States was never forced to turn to the use of paper in the manufacture of clothing, as the central powers were compelled to do; nevertheless preparation was made for the time when the cotton supply of the United States might become unequal to the demand. Garments made of paper cloth captured from the Germans were shipped to the United States and carefully studied by the Clothing and Equipage Division to learn the possibilities of paper fabrics should the need for them develop.

Over 100,000,000 yards of denim were bought. Denim was used particularly in making working clothes for the soldiers. At one time the factories were consuming denim at the rate of 13,000,000 yards a month. Brown denim which was required by regulations was a material hard to get, blue denim being the standard fabric for American overalls, and consequently heavy gray goods and drills were dyed olive-drab and put into use.

As to gauze, about 140,000,000 yards of it were purchased. Sheets and pillowcases were required in such quantities that at one time every mill in the country whose normal business was the production of sheeting was working for the Government. There were over 120,000,000 yards of webbing purchased, and nearly 300,000,000 yards of the various kinds of duck.

The duck and webbing just mentioned went into the manufacture of a numerous class of articles, known as textile equipment, including such articles as belts, tool bags, tool kits, flasks, canteen covers, and the like. The procurement of the webbing for these articles was in itself a manufacturing achievement. Before the war there were only a half dozen plants in the United States which could make webbing of the grade demanded by the Army. When the armistice came there there were 150 such plants. At the beginning of the war an order for 5,000,000 yards of webbing fairly staggered the industry, but that industry was to witness the day when an order for 50,000,000 yards would be absorbed as a matter of course.

But even after the webbing was secured there were practically no factories in the United States that had machinery heavy enough to make the Army's textile equipment. This work for the standing Army had been done exclusively by the Rock Island Arsenal. In order to increase the manufacturing capacity of the country it was necessary to get the Singer Sewing Machine Co. to build special machines adapted to this heavy work; and we also had to send experts from the Rock Island Arsenal to teach all new contractors how to make the articles. Many of the factory workers were women.

In spite of all difficulties production was wonderfully increased. Along in January, 1918, about 100,000 pistol belts a month were being made; while at the time of the signing of the armistice 560,000 were being manufactured monthly. Of cartridge belts in the same period the production was increased from 85,000 to about 410,000 monthly, and of haversacks from 290,000 to about 850,000 monthly.

No soldier could be sent overseas without a haversack, a cartridge belt, and a canteen cover; yet during the period of active hostilities no movement of troops was delayed one day on account of the lack of textile equipment. Up to December 1, 1918, the production of haversacks was over 2,500,000 in number, costing over $8,000,000; of canteen covers, about 3,750,000, costing $2,250,000; of cartridge belts, about 1,500,000, costing over $4,000,000. Another large item was bandoleers, which were procured to the number of over 31,000,000 at a cost of $5,500,000. These are only a few of the major items, but they serve to illustrate the extent of the purchases of textile equipment.

At the end of hostilities the Government was buying textile equipment at the rate of $22,000,000 a month, and was working toward the goal of being able to supply 750,000 men a month with all articles of textile equipment.

When the Army began to expand in size at an unexpected rate in the spring of 1918, it created a great shortage in cotton underwear. Government agents went out over the country and bought all cotton underwear stocks. In order to provide a sufficient manufacturing capacity for cotton underwear, women's underwear factories were enlisted for war work, and so were even corset factories.

The Army experts in cotton textiles also effected many economies. A standard pattern layout was drawn for the overall makers with consequent large savings of cloth in the manufacture of brown denim fatigue clothing, or soldiers' working clothes. At one time practically every overall factory in the United States was making fatigue clothing for the Army, after Gen. Pershing had cabled an order for 3,000,000 garments to be delivered in 90 days.

In making the soldiers' barrack bags, in which they pack their clothing and personal effects, the manufacturers in cutting out the pattern left a 3-inch strip of cloth. Army officers discovered these 3-inch strips and also noted the fact that every barrack bag must be provided with a draw-string. The specifications were thereupon changed so that these 3-inch strips could be used as draw-strings in the barrack bags, a trifling economy apparently, yet amounting to a saving of 6 cents in the cost of each one of millions of these bags.

A vast amount of tentage was required, not only for tents themselves, but also for such articles as paulins, tent covers, bed rolls and clothing rolls, canvas basins and buckets, bags for stakes, tool bags, coal bags, and mail bags, cargo covers, wagon covers, horse covers, and many similar articles.

Valuable work was done in substituting cotton thread for linen. Linen thread became so scarce that the Ordnance Department commandeered the whole supply. This worked havoc in the shoe industry, and as a result the Council of National Defense secured from the Ordnance Department enough linen thread to take care of the Army shoe contracts. Nevertheless it was discovered that cotton thread might be substituted for linen in many industries. In fact, it often proved to be better than linen.

Valuable standard tests for waterproof cloth were also worked out. These tests were developed at the Bureau of Chemistry, a branch of the Department of Agriculture in Washington. In these tests cloth was required to withstand a deluge of water equivalent in intensity to a tropical rain, and also to undergo a dry temperature of 120° Fahrenheit. There were also tests to determine under what conditions the cloth would mildew. These tests are expected to have a use in the waterproof-goods industry in normal times.

Another important contribution of the Army to peace-time industry was the design of the over-suit for the use of truck drivers. This was a waterproof garment, air-tight and cold-proof. It is expected that this new garment will continue in commercial use.

The principal items of rubber goods bought by the Army were rubber boots and overshoes, raincoats, and slickers. The production of rubber boots for the Army took practically the entire capacity of all mills in the United States, the rubber boot manufacturers having pledged themselves to discontinue their civilian business until the needs of the Government were taken care of. Of different types of rubber boots, the purchases were considerably over 4,000,000 pairs, at the cost of $20,500,000.

Incidentally there was worked out an improvement in rubber boots to prevent them from blistering the heels of wearers. It was discovered that a rubber boot blisters the heel because it rubs slightly as the wearer walks, no matter how well fitted to the foot the boot may be. To the specifications for the Army's rubber boots was added the requirement that straps be incorporated in the article to be buckled both around the ankle and around the instep, thus holding the boot so that it can not slip.

Raincoats caused a good deal of trouble, as there was not a sufficient manufacturing capacity in this country to meet the requirements. Practically all stocks of commercial raincoats were purchased, on the theory that even a poor cover was better than none. As these garments were made for civilian use, they were not built according to Army specifications, and considerable criticism was made as to their quality.

When the manufacture of raincoats commenced on a large scale, many new concerns went into the business, and some of them, either through lack of experience or through carelessness or intent, made garments that were not properly cemented. This led to investigations and indictments. The total purchases of ponchos, raincoats, and slickers amounted to about 10,000,000 garments, costing over $46,000,000.

In all 7,000,000 service hats of felt were manufactured on orders placed by the War Department. The felt for these hats was made of rabbit fur imported from Australia, New Zealand, and Russia and produced in the United States. Hats were made principally at Danbury, Conn., and Fall River, Mass., with smaller sources of supply at Yonkers and Peekskill, N. Y., and Reading, Pa.

The numerous requirements of the Army for pillows created a shortage in feathers. In all there were manufactured on Government order 500,000 pillows weighing 2½ pounds each. It had been the original intention to fill these pillows with duck feathers; but when the American duck-feather supply was exhausted and thousands of the ducks of China had given up their plumage for the comfort of the American soldiers, and still there were not enough feathers for the pillows, adulterations with goose feathers and other light plumage were permitted.

The procurement of leather for the Army, both the raw material and the finished products of leather, was one of the most important undertakings, the principal war uses for leather being in shoes for the soldiers and in harness for the horses and mules.

When the Government entered the leather market it found a high level of prices, due to the large quantities of leather and leather equipment which America had been exporting to the European nations at war. The tanners were called together, and they came to an agreement with the Government as to the prices of all grades of equipment which the Army expected to buy. The packers next agreed on a maximum price for hides suitable for Army leathers. The Government took an option on 750,000 hides then in the hands of the packers.

By consulting with the industry at all times the Government officers were able to stabilize prices of leather. The price of harness leather, which was originally fixed at 66 cents per pound, was advanced only 4 cents during the 18 months of the war period, while russet leather never advanced more than 4 cents per pound above the $1.03 fixed at the beginning of the war.

As the stocks of leather on hand diminished it became necessary to stimulate the production of leather goods, and there was formed a hide and leather control board, with a representative on it from each branch of the trade, one for harness, one for sole leather, one for upper leather, and one for the sheepskin trade. This board also inspected leather at all the tanneries and the finished leather in the various factories, a course of action which resulted in great improvement in the quality of leather, particularly in leather used in shoemaking.

At the outset the Quartermaster Corps, the Ordnance Department, the Signal Corps, the Engineering Department, the Medical Department, the Navy, and the Marine Corps were all buying leather or leather equipment, and the Y. M. C. A. and the Red Cross were also in the market for large amounts of leather materials. These activities, except those of the Navy and Marine Corps, were all eventually brought under the administration of the Clothing and Equipage Division, thus virtually eliminating competition in the leather market.

At the signing of the armistice it is safe to say there was enough leather equipment, either in the United States or in France, or in process of manufacture here, to meet the needs of 5,000,000 men. Leather equipment was available at all times. The principal items of leather were harnesses, shoes, jerkins, gloves, and mittens.

In all, $75,000,000 was spent for harness and leather equipment. The procurement of saddles in itself was a hard problem, since there were only three or four makers of saddletrees in the United States, and only one of these could get the ash or basswood required. The division induced various furniture factories to install the special lathes required for turning saddletrees, and in this way built up eight factories, which gave us sufficient capacity. Belting manufacturers and manufacturers of shoes were educated in the art of producing the leather for the saddles. The Army harness is of russet leather, a product for which there is no commercial demand. The result is that surpluses of Army harness can not be disposed of to advantage.

Dieing Out Uppers with Clicking Machine.

Pulling Upper Over Last.

MANUFACTURING ARMY SHOES.

Stitching Vamp to Quarter.

Attaching Heels.

MANUFACTURING ARMY SHOES.

The former American Army shoe built on the Munson last and known as the russet marching shoe was machine sewed, had an upper of calfskin with the rough side turned in, and was lined with duck. This shoe proved to be short lived when subjected to the severe service in France. At the beginning of the war a new shoe was designed for trench service. This was a much heavier shoe and the calfskin of the upper was turned rough side out. There was no lining in the shoe. The shoe had two heavy soles, the outer one being hobnailed. Yet this shoe, too, proved to be unsatisfactory for the service. The uppers wore fairly well, but the soles could not stand the constant submerging in mud and water. The demands of trench service eventually led to the design of what was called the Pershing shoe. This was a shoe with three heavy soles, stitched, screwed, and nailed together. It had steel reinforcements on toe and heel. The outer sole was studded with hobnails.

The original requisitions from France for this shoe called for leather tanned with bark. As bark tanning is practically obsolete in the United States to-day, it was necessary to go into the tanneries and build up what was virtually a new industry. It may be mentioned that the design for the Pershing shoe was completed in 30 days.

The culmination of the shoe development was the model known as the Victory shoe. This model corrected certain defects in the Pershing shoe. The Pershing shoe was prone to rip along the back stays, and the upper did not fit snugly. In the Victory shoe the entire back of the upper was one piece.

At one time 52 shoe factories in 13 States were working on Army shoe contracts. A scheme of packing shoes for overseas shipment in burlap bags instead of in boxes was worked out, and it resulted in saving a great deal of space on board ship.

Machinery and tools for the shoe repair shops of the salvage division were purchased by the Clothing and Equipage Division. This was the first time that Uncle Sam had ever acted as cobbler for his soldiers. About 2,000 machines for repairing shoes were bought, besides some 28,000 repair kits, each one of which cost $135. Among the items of supplies for the Army shoe repair shops may be noted 20,000,000 pairs of half soles.

A shoe waterproofing grease, or dubbin, as it is called, which had no odor and which would not turn rancid, was developed. The experts worked closely with officers in the field in training soldiers in the care of shoes to make them last as long as possible. Every man who received a new pair of shoes was required to break the pair in by standing in them in water for a certain period and then walking for an hour until the shoes dried on his feet. The men were cautioned not to dry their shoes by placing them too closely to any heating apparatus, as this shortens the life of the leather. Good care of the soldier's feet has long been standard Army practice with us. No soldier in 1917 and 1918 was permitted to wear darned socks, unless he wore two pairs at once. At regular intervals officers inspected their men's feet, treated any blisters or sores that might exist, and dusted the feet with powder.

Bad shoe fitting means foot troubles, leg troubles, and sometimes even spinal and mental troubles. E. J. Bliss, a Boston manufacturer of shoes, developed a shoe fitting system which was adopted as being unexcelled. The fitter was an implement about like a roller skate, with movable wings on the sides and a movable plunger in front of the toes. The soldier to be fitted equipped himself with rifle and loaded pack. With this weight on his shoulders he stepped both feet upon the skate-like devices and then raised on the balls of his feet, until the weight and movement pressed out the wings as far as they would go and advanced the front plungers. With the size thus automatically determined, the next step was to check the accuracy of it. This was done by inserting a pair of implements with knob-like ends in the toes of the shoes, the implements just filling the space in front of the soldier's toes. Wearing shoes and implements, the soldier then walked about the room, stepped upon a platform, climbed a cleated ramp, and otherwise simulated actual service demanded of shoes in the field. If the checking implements in the shoes did not hurt his toes the fit was regarded as correct.

Produced.Shipped overseas.
Blankets19,419,0003,127,000
Coats, denim10,238,0003,423,000
Coats, wool12,365,0003,871,000
Drawers, summer38,118,0003,889,000
Drawers, winter33,766,00010,812,000
Overcoats7,748,0001,780,000
Shirts, flannel22,198,0006,401,000
Shoes, marching and field26,423,0009,136,000
Stockings, wool, light and heavy89,871,00029,733,000
Trousers and breeches, wool17,342,0006,191,000
Undershirts, summer40,895,0004,567,000
Undershirts, winter28,869,00011,126,000

CHAPTER III.
MISCELLANEOUS QUARTERMASTER UNDERTAKINGS.

Sergt. Irving Berlin, one of the fountain sources of American jazz music, found a special job cut out for him when he was drafted into the military service. The needs of the war machine called upon a wide range of individual talents, and this range did not exclude the artists. The painters engaged in camouflage work and made sketches and pictures of such things as unusual surgical operations for the permanent records of the Government, the poets fired the zeal of the country, and the musicians inspired the soldiers by providing them with music.

The American Expeditionary Forces as they grew in size found themselves possessed of some 390 regimental bands. These bands organized themselves, gathered such music as they could get, practiced, and presently regaled the soldiers of units to which they were attached; and then the inevitable happened—they played and played the same old pieces until their audiences yearned for something new. One day a cry of distress trickled through the cables, and then the plight of the hapless lover of band music in France became the problem of the quartermaster organization in the United States, resulting in the largest purchase of band music ever made, 200,000 sheets of it, costing nearly $50,000.

The music problem of the American Expeditionary Forces was put into the hands of a special committee of three well-known authorities in the musical world. Sergt. Berlin was the authority on popular numbers; Lieut. R. C. Deming, the bandmaster at Camp Meigs, Washington, D. C., was the member in charge of the ceremonial numbers; while Mr. Ward Stephens, the well-known composer, organist, and accompanist, was in charge of the concerted numbers.

This committee picked out a repertoire of 333 selections, consisting of 172 concert pieces, 43 ceremonial numbers, and 118 popular numbers. Four hundred complete sets of these were bought, one for each of the 390 bands of the American Expeditionary Forces, with 10 sets as a reserve. The music was bought from some 27 music publishers, the largest suppliers being Carl Fischer, the Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co., the Leo Feist Co., the Jerome H. Remick Co., and G. Schirmer (Inc.), all of New York, and the Oliver Ditson Co., of Boston.

Each complete set was packed in a separate case so that each case upon arrival in France could be sent immediately to a band of the American Expeditionary Forces without being disturbed. The sorting and packing of this consignment of sheet music was handled by Sergt. Berlin and a staff of technical musical assistants, who, at his request, contributed their services.

The supply of music was but one of hundreds of enterprises required to make the Army efficient, comfortable, and happy, quite aside from the more obvious ones of supplying guns and ammunition, artillery, aerial observation, and food and clothing. And these scattered undertakings in military supplies accounted for the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars. Nearly all of them were quartermaster enterprises. But before we lift the curtain on this, one of the most interesting branches of our military preparation, involving, as it did, the scientific solution of problems ranging from the production of super-gasoline for the fighting airplanes to the proper and most economical method of cutting up the carcass of a steer, let us continue the musical overture by observing how the Army secured its band instruments.

There was a special branch of the Quartermaster Corps which concerned itself exclusively with the musical requirements of the Army. This branch bought in all approximately 143,000 musical instruments. These were secured at a saving of about $500,000 under the prices which the Government had been paying for such instruments prior to the war. Without going into the details of how this economy was effected, one typical instance may be cited. For years it had been the custom of manufacturers of musical instruments to embellish the trumpets and brass horns of bandsmen with engraving, chasings, and other markings. These were decorative only and had nothing to do with the quality of tone produced. By eliminating all such markings from the specifications, a substantial saving in cost was attained.

The principal suppliers of musical instruments were the Wm. Frank Co., of Chicago; J. M. York & Son, of Grand Rapids, Mich.; and the H. M. White Co., of Cleveland, Ohio. C. S. Conn & Co., of Elkhart, Ind.; the Eugene Geisler Co., of Chicago; and the Rudolph Wurlitzer Co., of Cincinnati, also supplied several thousand musical instruments.

FUEL, OIL, AND PAINTS.

During the months of hostilities the American public was constantly informed in advertising literature that fuel would win the war, and indeed fuel would win it, and did win it, in the sense that without fuel or with any grave shortage of fuel we could not have won. In this sense there was no commodity contributing to success in the great drama more important than coal. Coal not only furnished the power that transported the khaki-clad millions to France, but it furnished the manufacturing power in the United States and supplied the coke, which is essential to the manufacture of steel, thus entering into every rifle and piece of artillery.

MINING COAL FOR THE GOVERNMENT'S NEEDS WITH ELECTRICALLY OPERATED MACHINES.

6-TON ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE PULLING A STRING OF COAL CARS.

PICKING TABLES AND LOADING BOOMS IN A WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINE.

TWENTY-TON ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE BRINGING COAL OUT OF MINE.

America began keeping the records of coal mining in the year 1807. Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated President of the United States in 1913. In the 106 years between 1807 and 1913, and including those years, American mines produced a total of 9,844,159,937 tons of coal. In the succeeding five years of President Wilson's administration American mines turned out 2,960,938,597 tons of coal, almost one-third as much as was mined in the entire 1807-1913 period, and almost one-fourth of all the coal mined in the United States since records have been kept.

The American coal miners in 1918 met the war emergency by producing 150,000,000 tons of coal more than they had dug in 1914. The shortage of coal in the winter of 1917-18 was due not to the inability of the mines to produce the required tonnage but to inadequate railroad transportation facilities and severe weather conditions.

The war-coal project was in the hands of the United States Fuel Administration, but the office of the Quartermaster General assisted in the effort. Army officers were stationed at the offices of the various district representatives of the Fuel Administration throughout the country. These officers kept in constant touch with the factories making war supplies and saw to it that coal was diverted from less essential enterprises to the munitions factories. This service operated with such excellent effect that few manufacturers working on Government contracts were compelled to suspend operations because of the lack of fuel, and those who did have to suspend were able to resume again within a few days.

During the summer of 1918 the usual seasonal slack in the demand for fuel was taken up by the action of the fuel branch in absorbing practically all of the excess coal in the United States and storing it at Army posts, camps, and stations. This action kept the mines working at maximum capacity during a period when there is normally a curtailment in output. Of course, at the time there was no realization that the fighting was to end so soon, and this policy was adopted in preparation for unchecked industrial activity during the winter of 1918-19.

The Army itself was a heavy user of fuel, requiring it not only at its various manufacturing establishments but also at the great camps for heating purposes. The following table shows the Army purchases of fuel for the calendar year 1918.

Amount.Cost.
Anthracite coal tons710,304$4,362,237
Bituminous coal do.2,706,73711,711,335
Total3,417,04116,073,572
Coke do.9,57680,643
Wood cords786,1775,178,161
Total fuel21,332,376

The Army was an enormous consumer of oil, the total oil purchases, both in the United States and in France, in the nine-month period from April 1 to December 31, 1918, amounting to $30,522,837. There were 49 items in the oil-purchasing schedule for the troops in the United States alone, including lubricating oils, fuel oils, oils for paints and varnishes, gasoline for motor trucks and airplanes, axle grease, floor oil, tempering oil, oil for the preservation and waterproofing of shoes, harness, and other leather equipment, and numerous other varieties of oils. The gasoline purchases were heaviest of all, Army motor trucks and cars in the United States requiring 484,282 barrels of it, worth $5,448,570, in the nine months between April 1 and December 31, 1918. The American Army motor trucks and cars with the American Expeditionary Forces were supplied with 703,104 barrels, worth $10,104,437, in the same period. For Army airplanes in the United States during the same months there were purchased 306,082 barrels of special aviation gasoline, at a cost of $3,906,650, and for the planes in France 146,780 barrels, worth $2,748,839.

To give the American aviator the hottest, most instantaneously explosive, and surest-fire gasoline ever produced, the American refiners turned out a naphtha along specifications drawn by the Government that was the highest refinement of gasoline ever produced in large quantities. This was done by taking the best gasoline that had ever been produced in commercial quantities and giving it another run through the distilling retorts. Thus it was literally the cream of the cream, containing only the most combustible elements of liquid fuel and nothing else.

This refinement became known as "257° fighting naphtha," and the Army confined its use to the service planes actually at the front. It was not supplied to the aviation training camps, either in this country or in France. In order to distinguish this naphtha as the finest engine fuel available and to mark it so that it would not be wasted by accident in any use other than that of service at the front, it was colored red with aniline dyes. The Army did not even trust 257° fighting naphtha to bulk transportation on tank ships, but stored it in steel drums and freighted it across the ocean in this form in cargo boats.

America has always been the largest producer of gasoline, and the experience and development in this country has resulted in many grades of the fuel. The ordinary commercial gasoline comes in five grades, the best grade being known as "straight-run" gasoline and the other grades, in the order of their cost and purity, as "casing-head," "blended," "pressure-still," and "cracked." For motor fuel for the Army the quartermaster specifications would accept nothing but "straight-run" gasoline, unblended and without dangerous additions which have a damaging effect upon motor cylinders. This gasoline, the best that could be bought by the civilian users, is known as "428° gasoline;" and it was the fuel used universally in our motor trucks and motor cars.

Above that were the three grades of gasoline, or rather, naphtha, produced specially for the American Army airplanes. The lowest grade of these was called domestic aviation gasoline, and it was the best commercial gasoline refined until its boiling point had been brought down to 347° F. This fuel was used by our aviators in this country and was known as "347° domestic aviation naphtha." A still greater refinement was the splendid "302° export aviation naphtha," which was used by planes in France, other than those at the front. The fighting naphtha was obtained by taking the cream of export aviation naphtha. Although purchased in enormous quantities, it cost the Government more than 41 cents a gallon. The Government paid slightly less than 22 cents a gallon for its motor gasoline.

Another new development in the oil industry brought about by the Government's war needs was known as "Liberty aero oil." This was an airplane lubricating oil of pure mineral origin, a refined lubricant of excellent viscosity and a low cold test, an oil which proved itself to be capable and reliable under the ever-changing atmospheric and pressure conditions of mechanical flight at the front. Liberty aero oil was a success. Most of it which was shipped overseas was made from paraffin base oils, although in this country we used successfully many aero oils of asphaltum base.

The Ordnance Department submitted a requisition for a three-months' supply of pure neat's-foot oil, which was in quantity almost twice the total American production of neat's-foot oil in the preceding year. The Government oil experts worked out a satisfactory substitute by combining animal and mineral oils. This was not only equal to neat's-foot oil under tests, but it was considerably cheaper.

The American Expeditionary Forces submitted a rush order for 6,000,000 pounds of dark axle grease. The specifications called for containers made of tin. But it was almost impossible to secure the tin for such a shipment. Experiments were conducted with all possible haste, and the result was a container made of black iron sheets treated with a special varnish to prevent the moisture in the grease from rusting the iron. This container proved to be satisfactory.

BRUSHES.

Offhand, one would scarcely say that brushes play any part of vast importance in the life of an individual; yet to buy the brushes for the Army required a special organization, competent to spend money by the millions of dollars and get value received for it.

Indeed it was quite surprising how many brushes in variety the Army required. The tooth brush, the shaving brush, the hair brush, the clothes brush, the shoe brush, and the paint brush might occur to anybody as necessities; but the Army used all these and in addition, artists' brushes, bottle brushes, chimney brushes, whitewashing brushes, gun-cleaning brushes, floor brushes, roofing brushes, stove brushes, horse brushes, and dozens of other kinds. In all, the Government bought 9,224,210 brushes, at a cost of $3,039,000. It required 59 factories in the United States to manufacture these brushes. The most numerous class of all were the tooth brushes, more than 1,500,000 of these being ordered from one company alone.

Brushes are made from many different materials, such as bristle, horsehair, fiber of various kinds, imitation bristle, split quills, and the like, but the most important is bristle. Only a little bristle is produced in the United States in comparison to the demand for it, the bulk of the supply coming from China, India, Siberia, and Russia. The procurement of bristle was no small part of the problem of supplying brushes for the Army.

Not one in every 10 tooth brushes used in the United States was of American manufacture before the war, the rest coming from Japan, France, England, Germany, and Austria. When the European supply was cut off, Japan became the principal source of supply. The problem of tooth brushes was further complicated by an embargo on bristles coming into this country and another on the exporting of bone to Japan.

The Army bought no shaving brushes made of horsehair, even in part, since horsehair is known to be the carrier of the much dreaded anthrax germ. The Government specified a shaving brush with an abbreviated handle, making it more convenient to carry. A handle-less hairbrush was also specified. Paint brushes were largely standardized, but it was impossible to standardize toilet brushes because there were not enough facilities in the country to turn out sufficient quantities, if machinery had to be remodeled to meet Government specifications.

ROLLING KITCHENS.

Those in charge of general quartermaster purchases designed and produced the liberty rolling field kitchen, an equipment which could cook for 200 men. Rolling field kitchens were not new to our Army or the trade, there being about six types of commercial kitchens manufactured at the time we entered the war. Most of these were being produced on foreign war orders. In order, however, to secure a standardized kitchen with interchangeable parts, thus insuring a constant supply of spare parts, the division designed the liberty kitchen. There were two types of it—the horse-drawn type and the motor-drawn or trailmobile type.

Each kitchen consisted of a stove and a limber. The stove unit contained a bake oven and three kettles. The limber contained four bread boxes, which were also used as water containers, one cook's chest, four fireless cookers, and four kettles. In July, 1918, contracts were awarded for 15,000 complete kitchens, including the necessary cooking and camp utensils. Deliveries of these kitchens eventually reached a rate of over 200 per day.

Two factories adopted and installed track conveyor equipment on which the assembling process was carried forward from operation to operation until the finished kitchen, painted and boxed, was delivered to the car for shipment to the port of embarkation. The kitchens were packed each in a single crate, ready to be delivered to the front after arriving in France.

Before this kitchen was designed the Army had been paying from $700 to $1,050 apiece for rolling kitchens. The average price of the liberty kitchen was $502. Subsequent orders brought the total projected purchases of mobile kitchens to 25,000, of which 10,000 were of the animal-drawn type.

Substantial shipments of these kitchens had been received overseas before hostilities ceased, and in November deliveries were expanding at a rate which would have exceeded several times the 3,000 liberty kitchens required by the American Expeditionary Forces by January 1, 1919. About 7,000 rolling kitchens of all types were shipped to France.

TOOLS AND TOOL CHESTS.

Another important result accomplished in the purchase of general supplies was the standardization of tool chests. At one time the Army was buying and using approximately 100 different kinds of quartermaster tool chests. A committee to standardize tools and tool chests was appointed, and this committee reduced the number of types of tool chests to seven standardized ones—the carpenter's chest, the blacksmith's, the farrier's, the saddler's, the electrician's, the plumber's, and the horseshoer's emergency chest.

The committee also standardized the tools. Many varieties of such things as drawknives and handsaws had been purchased previously. This committee adopted a standard type of draw knife and a standard handsaw, and also standardized many other tools. Standardization of tool chests effected a large saving in transportation space by keeping the dimensions to a minimum. The standardized carpenter's chest occupied 3½ cubic feet less space than the older type wooden chest.

Since at the time the armistice was signed the Army was in the market for approximately 135,000 tool chests of the seven standardized types, the saving in shipping space would have been no slight achievement. But there was also in sight an enormous saving of money, not to speak of the fact that standardization would greatly increase the rate of manufacturing the chests.

HARDWARE.

The general supplies division of the quartermaster organization operated much of the Army's hardware store. In this work the division not only standardized Army tools, but also standardized the proportions in which the various tools were bought. This was not only an intensely interesting development, but it was of utmost importance to the American people, since it saved large sums of money and great quantities of shipping space.

The supply officers of the American Expeditionary Forces early began making up their estimates of the materials that must be produced in the United States and shipped to France, to maintain the efficiency of an indefinitely growing Army over a protracted period of time. In the matter of hardware these estimates came originally from the company units. Each repair unit, for instance, would look over the future, and its officers would estimate kinds and quantities of tools required for such and such a period. These little estimates came together in larger groups, and so on, the consolidation of figures continuing until eventually in the case of a certain tool there would be one figure on file at headquarters. Then one day one of those long daily cablegrams from France, signed "Pershing," came to Washington, bringing the future requirements for tools and other hardware.

Theoretically it might be assumed that the proportioning of items in these requisitions would be correct and that the American Expeditionary Forces might be expected to need tools in the proportions named. Of course, Sergt. A, in a repair unit with the artillery, might estimate too many hammers and too few wrenches, but Machinist X, miles away in some base shop, might call for too many wrenches and too few hammers. These two estimates would thus balance correctly; and, following out this line of reasoning, it would seem that the entire American Expeditionary Forces' hardware requisitions, compiled as they were, would be properly proportioned.

Yet when these requisitions came to Washington and were found to call for the manufacture of such things as files and bolts by the tens of millions, the supply officers here would not accept the theory that the proportions of various sizes called for were correct, but turned the searchlight of science upon these estimates.

The method selected of checking these estimates was simplicity itself, yet unique in the history of American industry and almost majestic in the scope of its comprehensive vision. The officer in charge of the procurement of hardware, in the case of files, for instance, simply called together the entire file-manufacturing industry—and that means that not a single manufacturer was overlooked—and asked that industry to assemble the results of its experience over a period of the last five or six years. Each manufacturer would show, for instance, how many flat files he had sold of each length and of each type of cutting surface—either bastard, second cut, or smooth—how many half-round files, how many hand files, how many round files, how many square files, how many warding files, how many knife files, how many taper files, etc., all by lengths and by cutting surfaces. Thus when all these experience figures were assembled, the officers in charge at Washington knew exactly in what proportions the whole American industrial world had used files of various types throughout a considerable period of time.

This procedure was followed with respect to many common articles in hardware. The Hardware Manufacturers' Organization for War Service was formed to give just such assistance, cooperating up to 100 per cent of the hardware industry. The consolidation of the experience figures in American hardware consumption resulted in a schedule of supplies known as the Army's hardware tariff, a schedule showing the proportions in which hardware might be expected to be consumed.

The hardware tariff disclosed some surprising errors in the estimates from the American Expeditionary Forces. The American Expeditionary Forces' requisitions, for instance, had called for a total of 127,180,387 bolts of various kinds. The experience of bolt consumption in the American industry was able to correct this to a total of 125,285,000 bolts, or a saving of nearly 2,000,000 in number of pieces. The requisitions had called for 39,945,458 large carriage bolts. The experience of American consumption showed that only 9,700,000 large carriage bolts would be required. The original specifications had called for 31,839,741 small carriage bolts. The experience in American consumption showed that 60,300,000 would be necessary. In other words, the off-hand estimates of the American Expeditionary Forces had called for 30,000,000 too many large carriage bolts and nearly 30,000,000 too few small carriage bolts.

The specifications from France called for 5,000,000 stove bolts of the five-eighths-inch dimension. Since this size was not used or was not made at all by stove-bolt manufacturers, the item was canceled, and 2,000,000 smaller-dimension bolts substituted.

All bolts were supplied in quantities and proportions determined by following the proportions of the scientific tariff. They were shipped to France in these proportions, whence reports from the American Expeditionary Forces showed that the quantities sent completely covered the needs of the troops in the field. The saving in the manufacture of bolts alone came to nearly $4,000,000, and this says nothing of the saving in railroad and ocean freight charges, or the still more important saving in ocean tonnage space, since the bolts supplied according to the scientific tariff occupied many hundreds of cubic feet less space than the bolts originally specified would have filled.

The same procedure was followed in the supplying of files. The hardware manufacturers consulted their records and on the basis of actual consumption in American industry discovered that a repair unit consisting of a machine shop, a horseshoeing shop, a blacksmith shop, and a woodworking shop, with 11 mechanics working in the unit, would consume 305 dozen files per year, the experience tables showing precisely the proportions of the various sizes of files in this consumption. Consequently, when the American Expeditionary Forces requested 439,200 dozen files, the quantities of each size, kind, and style as specified in the requisition from France were disregarded, and the so-called tariff proportions substituted. The files as supplied not only proved adequate in number in every style, but they cost $250,000 less than it would have cost to fill the original order. Moreover, by using tariff sizes the industry was able to make immediate shipments and to run at full production from the start, since it needed only to produce files in the proportions known in the regular trade.

What was done with bolts and files was done in many other lines of hardware. When the American Expeditionary Forces saw that its hardware was coming in correct quantities, its officers notified the hardware supply organization to ship all tools and hardware materials in accordance with the so-called tariffs. The executive committee of the Hardware Manufacturers' Association for War Service, which made possible this achievement in commercial science, consisted of Messrs. Murray Sargent, Alexander Stanley, Charles W. Asbury, Fayette R. Plumb, and Isaac Black.

The standardization of proportions in the hardware supply succeeded in cutting an original requisition of the American Expeditionary Forces for 8,750 tinners' machines to 860, and an original requisition for 21,600 tinners' assorted groovers to 240, and still met every need of the Army's tin shops in France.

The Army hardware office was also called upon to supply such small hardware as fasteners for gas-mask knapsacks and pistol holsters, and some metallic parts for cartridge belts and similar goods. Less than two months before the armistice was signed orders were in sight for the manufacture of some 500,000,000 pieces of these small metallic devices. Most of them were to be made of brass. The uses of the Army in October, 1918, were calling for these articles in such quantities that it required approximately 250,000 pounds of brass per working day to meet the demand.

AMBULANCE BODY BOXED FOR SHIPMENT OVERSEAS.

PHOTO SHOWING METHOD OF CRATING CHASSIS FOR OVERSEAS SHIPMENT.

INTERIOR VIEW OF COAT FACTORY OPERATED BY THE PHILADELPHIA QUARTERMASTER DEPOT.

INTERIOR VIEW OF FLAG AND CHEVRON FACTORY OPERATED BY THE PHILADELPHIA QUARTERMASTER DEPOT.

At one time there came an order to procure 135,000,000 stud fasteners within approximately 90 days. The result was that one manufacturer, who had been producing 400,000 such fasteners in a day succeeded in raising his production to 1,000,000 per day, and this was only typical of the expansion elsewhere in the industry. The demands of the Army overtaxed the brass rolling-mill capacity of the land. As a result the hardware specialists investigated the possibility of substituting iron and steel for brass, and these substitutes were under consideration when the war came to an end.

Vast quantities of large sizes of rope were requested for overseas to replace steel hoisting cables, which could not be secured in sufficient quantities. Standard specifications drawn by the Government in cooperation with rope manufacturers insured the supply to the Army of rope only of the highest grades. Approximately 14,000,000 pounds of manila rope, 2,500,000 pounds of halter rope, and 2,000,000 pounds of cotton and jute twine were purchased at a cost of approximately $9,000,000.

Army hardware men bought 1,534,679 axes, at a cost of $1,838,979. They bought 1,256,994 shovels at a cost of $1,140,412, and 425,522 wrenches costing $395,776. They purchased 380,752 fire extinguishers at a cost of $1,761,711. They purchased 2,621,521 safety razors and 45,300,000 safety razor blades, the razors costing $3,171,806 and the blades $1,318,750. These items selected at random give some idea of the extent of the Army's hardware business.

QUARTERMASTER FACTORY ENTERPRISES.

It may not be generally known that the Quartermaster organization was an extensive manufacturer of war goods in Government shops. In another chapter has been described the method by which the Army was supplied with clothing. While many of the clothing contractors were private manufacturers, the Government itself manufactured more uniforms than it secured from any single outside source.

There were two Government uniform factories—one at the plant of the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot and the other at the Jeffersonville (Ind.) Quartermaster Depot. The Philadelphia factory also manufactured chevrons, flags, and tents. The Jeffersonville depot produced army shirts in addition to outer clothing. The Jeffersonville depot expanded in size during the war until it became the largest shirt manufacturing establishment in the world. When the armistice was signed the Philadelphia uniform factory was rapidly gaining the eminence of being the largest clothing manufacturing plant in the United States.

The total value of the articles manufactured by the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot during the war was $26,230,000. The garment factory at Philadelphia was started in June, 1918, and in five months it turned out 751,883 garments and 45,578 flags of various kinds. It was working toward an output of 12,000 pairs of trousers and 6,000 woolen coats per day. There were 3,000 employees in the shop and 2,000 outside seamstresses. The outside seamstresses made denim jumpers and trousers, white clothing, and olive drab shirts, the production of shirts alone reaching a total of 1,359,801 garments.

The Philadelphia factory attained an output of 5,000 pairs of chevrons per day, most of them embroidered by hand or by machinery. Before the war the Philadelphia factory had a maximum capacity of 68 pyramidal tents per day. This output was raised to 300 per day.

The Jeffersonville uniform factory was established in February, 1918. Jeffersonville is just a few minutes' ride from Louisville, Ky., which is a clothing center, and therefore there was little trouble in securing experienced workers. The factory was operated day and night with two shifts, each working eight hours. The plant reached a capacity of 750 woolen coats and 1,500 pairs of woolen trousers per day. The salaries of the women employees ranged from $50 to $80 per month. The Government established at Jeffersonville one of the most modern woolen cloth shrinking plants in the United States, costing approximately $50,000 and providing a capacity for sponging 10,000 yards of cloth per day. The Army supply officers pronounced the uniforms turned out at Jeffersonville to be the best and most honestly made clothing delivered to the Army during the war, yet the cost of manufacturing uniforms in this plant was at least 25 per cent under the average price paid to private contractors. The average cost of making a woolen service coat at Jeffersonville was $1.02, and the average cost of making a pair of woolen trousers was 54 cents.

The shirt factory at Jeffersonville was that depot's largest manufacturing enterprise. The Jeffersonville depot had been making army shirts since 1872. The shirt factory greatly expanded during the Spanish-American War, until it was employing nearly 2,000 operatives, mostly home workers. Thereafter the depot continued to make shirts at the rate of about 200,000 per year until the United States declared war against Germany, and in that time it had accumulated a roll of 2,000 sewing operatives who had worked for the factory at one time or other.

A PAIR OF ARMY SHOES BEFORE AND AFTER BEING SALVAGED AT JEFFERSONVILLE QUARTERMASTER DEPOT.

TWO VIEWS OF THE RESCO SHOE-FITTING MACHINE.

SHOE-FITTING MACHINE WITH PLUNGER AND WINGS OPEN.

SHOE-FITTING SCHOOL, CAMP MEIGS, D. C.

When the great demand for shirts came in the spring of 1917, the most expert of these seamstresses were hired outright by the month to act as instructors in the homes of new sewing women who had volunteered for the work. Advertisements were then sent out through the newspapers of that entire section for women workers, and presently the factory had a sewing force of 20,000 operatives from practically every town and village throughout southern Indiana and northwestern Kentucky. The output of shirts was increased from 600,000 per year to 8,500,000. Each home worker was supplied with one complete shirt to be used as a guide, and she secured from the factory as often as she needed it shirt material cut from the pattern and tied up in bundles of 10 sets. A large corps of sanitary inspectors was employed to visit the thousands of homes and see to it that the shirts were made under proper conditions. All shirts accepted from the home workers were thoroughly fumigated before being issued from the depot.

SHOE FITTING.

The Quartermaster Department, along with its other activities, was a school-teacher on a large scale. Without going into a general description of the quartermaster schools and the branches they taught, we will here consider some of the most interesting educational enterprises such as the shoe-fitting schools, the schools for butchers, and the school of goods packing.

Elsewhere in this volume the mechanical system of shoe measuring, perfected and adopted by the War Department, was described. Studies made at the camps at various times during 1917 and 1918, studies which examined nearly 59,000 men, showed that a little more than 70 per cent were wearing shoes too short, more than 9 per cent were wearing shoes too long, while less than 19 per cent were correctly fitted. It is probable that these proportions ran clear through the Army before shoe fitting was scientifically taken up, and there is no reason to believe that in civil life the averages of correct shoe fitting are any better.

After the so-called Resco system of shoe fitting was adopted, schools for shoe measuring were held at Camp Meigs, D. C., and at Jefferson Barracks, Mo. Each camp and cantonment in the country sent two officers to one or the other of these schools. The course of instruction lasted five days and consisted of lectures by experts and demonstrations of the various appliances. In this way the science of correct shoe fitting was scattered throughout the Army.

MEAT CUTTING.

It is no easy trick to teach a man to cut meat properly; butchering is a skilled trade. As soon as it was apparent that the American Expeditionary Forces in France were to be greatly expanded in size, our officers overseas sent requests that several trained and experienced butchery companies be sent over to cut meats properly for the organizations abroad. In order to comply with this request there was added to the curriculum of the quartermaster training camp in Florida a butchery course in the cutting, boning, rolling, and tying of fresh and frozen beef.

In this course there was developed an entirely new method of cutting beef known as the "natural guide" method; and by it men who had never cut meat before were developed into practical meat cutters in less than eight weeks of instruction and practice. The natural guide method, which was found to be far superior for Army use to any other meat-cutting system which had been known, was exactly what it was named, as it was essentially a separating rather than a cutting process. The beef quarters were boned and divided into their major parts by following the natural separations between muscles, tissues, and bones.

This method, which is not at all like that in commercial use, proved to be more economical than any meat-cutting system known, because it utilized every ounce of meat and produced a greater proportion of choice cuts suitable for pot roasts and other roasts than the older Army Cooks' Manual method of meat cutting. The Cooks' Manual method was similar to the method used by the retail butcher, in that it cut meat along artificial indetermined lines. The natural guide method actually produced 3 per cent more edible meat than the other method, since even the most expert meat cutters can not remove all meat from the bones by the Cooks' Manual method. Moreover, by the natural guide method all cuts are uniform, and the fats, suets, and bones are separated as clean, sweet, edible products.

Butchery companies were trained by the natural guide method and sent overseas in numbers sufficient for the requirements of the American Expeditionary Forces.

After the discovery of this method and the fact that it produced at least 3 per cent more meat than even the expert cutters could secure by the artificial cutting system, it was evident that further research work along this line would be profitable. Even expert butchers, in spite of all their skill and care, wasted meat. What must be the conditions in the mess kitchens of the Army where the cooks, with no expert knowledge of butchery, cut the meats? It was evident that numerous edible by-products of meat, such as fats and marrow, were going into the kitchen garbage pails and thence to the rendering plants.

The result of the investigation was a project to establish central meat-cutting and rendering plants for all large concentrations of troops, where all meats would be cut, boned, rolled, and tied, by experts, and delivered direct to the company kitchens ready for roasting or cooking in any manner. The fat and suet at such plants would not be soiled or made unsound by handling, and so it could be rendered and its food value retained. The oil could be cooked from the bones as a valuable by-product, the bones could be dried and sold commercially, and the plant could also have machinery for making sausage and hamburg steak. A plant of this character was put in operation during the summer and autumn of 1918 at Camp Johnston, the quartermaster training camp, and it proved to be a complete success. When the armistice was signed, the General Staff was considering the proposition of establishing these centralized meat plants at all the larger camps.

The meat experts also effected notable economies in ship space by developing what was known as shankless beef. Shank-less beef was beef quarters with the four shanks removed. Quarters thus prepared occupied 14 per cent less freezer, cargo, and shipping space than quarters with their shanks.

A still further economy in shipping space was projected in the plan to bone all beef at the packing plants and ship it boxed or frozen in molds and wrapped in burlap. This method saved about 50 per cent of cargo space, and it began to be extensively used during the winter of 1918-19. One set of packages included tenderloins, sirloins, butts, loin steaks, top rounds, and shoulder steaks. Another set of packages contained roasts, including prime ribs, rumps, bottom rounds, and bottom chucks. A third set was for stews, including flanks, plates, blades, necks, shanks, and trimmings.

PACKING.

American exporters generally for many years have had the reputation of packing goods improperly for overseas shipment. Time and again travelers and investigators in foreign lands have pointed out that if America expected to compete successfully with other manufacturing nations in foreign trade, she must learn to pack goods so that the packages will not break en route and damage the contents. When we sent an Army of over 2,000,000 men to France, it was evident that unless we learned quickly how to put up our supplies properly for overseas shipment, our lack of knowledge would be costly to us.

Accordingly the packing service branch of the Quartermaster Department was established. One of its first acts was to set up a school of baling, packing, and crating, this school being located at the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis., where studies of packing were being made by scientists. The school started in July, 1918, and before the armistice came it had graduated 400 students from its six-weeks' course.

Now, while it was important that Army supplies reached the other side in good condition, it was soon seen that of even greater importance would be the economy that might be effected in shipping space by the scientific packing of goods. This obscure and little known packing service branch was really one of the most important agencies in the whole war organization, since the results which it accomplished in the saving of ship space were nothing short of astonishing. These economies came at a time when the German submarines were still highly destructive to American and allied shipping, and the shortage of ocean tonnage was one of the most disturbing factors in the whole war situation. The American packing service, in saving thousands of tons of shipping space, in reality offset the operations of the U-boats over a considerable period of time.

These space economies resulted usually from specifications drawn by the packing experts reducing the sizes of packing cases that were too large for the goods contained, and also by packing articles more compactly. For instance, these experts studied the rolling kitchen and determined the most compact assembly of its parts in a crate. The crate was then carefully designed to occupy a minimum amount of space. Some 18,000 rolling kitchens were packed ready for shipment to France. Had all of these been floated, a total of 22,500 cubic tons of ship space would have been saved, or the equivalent of five or six whole shiploads. As it was, room aboard ship could be found for only 6,940 rolling kitchens, which by being scientifically packed occupied 8,700 cubic tons less cargo space, or about two whole shiploads, than they would have occupied otherwise.

Wherever possible, entire units of such heavy articles as escort wagons and ambulances were packed in single crates. Wherever open spaces were inevitable in the crating, these vacancies were filled with various subsistence stores, such as dried peas or beans. Galvanized-iron cans, for instance, were packed with two sacks of flour inside each one.

The experts studied boxing to determine the best thickness of wood required by various commodities and the proper method of strapping or otherwise fastening the boxes. As a result there was a great improvement in the condition of goods arriving in France.

In no respect did the packing service effect greater space economy than in the packing of clothes for the American Expeditionary Forces. Formerly clothing had gone forward to troops packed loosely in wooden boxes. The packing service devised the system of baling all clothing, and a baling plant was set up at the Army supply base in Brooklyn. The service gave scientific attention to the proper folding of garments and eventually, after exhaustive experiments, developed a system of folding that allowed the maximum number of pieces which could go into a bale. It was found that these new methods saved two-thirds of the space that had been used formerly for the shipment of the same quantity of goods in boxes, to say nothing of the great saving both in labor and in boxing materials.

A FIELD OF ROLLING KITCHENS AT NEVERS, FRANCE.

FIELD KITCHEN EQUIPMENT.

MULES AFTER MALLEINING.

Malleining is a serum test to determine if the animal is suffering from glanders.

The baling plant at New York in the calendar year 1918 shipped to France approximately 1,000,000 bales of clothing and textile and other equipment that could be baled. The saving in money to the United States Government by this method of packing at this one plant in a single year amounted to approximately $55,000,000. The largest item in this economy was the matter of cargo space, which is estimated at $49,080,000 saved to the Government. The complete statement of the financial saving in the shipment of these 1,000,000 bales is as follows:

Material$1,940,000
Labor583,000
Tare weight75,000
Cargo space49,080,000
Total51,678,000
To these savings are to be added:
Savings effected in rent and maintenance700,000
Freight to the shipping warehouses490,000
Rent of additional warehouse awaiting shipment30,000
Freight from warehouse to ship side1,250,000
Re-cooperage200,000
Unloading at the forwarding stations1,000,000
Total3,670,000
Grand total55,348,000

In addition to the financial saving there was a large saving in raw materials, which count for more than money to a nation engaged in a desperate war. This million bales of clothing saved 58,000,000 board feet of lumber, which would have been used in boxing had the old system of packing been followed. The lumber which might have gone into these boxes requires 30 years for its growth, but the burlap covering the bales was made of jute, which is raised in semiannual crops.

The size of the bale adopted was 30 by 15 by 14 inches and up to 19 inches. It is interesting to note that this size was determined upon because it was found that the burlap covering such bales of this size would cut into sandbags with a minimum amount of waste material. The Army abroad used great quantities of sandbags. Thus, by wrapping bales in burlap pieces of proper size, there was saved a considerable amount of cargo space previously occupied by baled burlap being shipped to France to be made into sandbags. It is also notable that baled clothing arrived in France in much better condition than clothing which had been packed in cases.

HORSES AND MULES.

The Quartermaster Corps was charged with the duty of providing horses and mules for the Army. This function is known technically as remount, and the buying of horses was in the hands of the remount division.

There were three permanent remount depots in the United States when the war began in April, 1917—one at Front Royal, Va., one at Fort Reno, Okla., and one at Keogh, Mont.,—an auxiliary remount depot at Fort Bliss, Tex., and a purchasing headquarters at Kansas City, Mo. When it became apparent that the Army would need a large number of horses, some of the most celebrated horsemen and riders in the country offered their services as buyers. Some 50 of them were commissioned as captains in the Quartermaster Reserve Corps and sent to the various purchasing headquarters for short training in the proper types of horses and animals required by the Army. These buyers purchased a large number of excellent animals.

In addition to the existing three remount depots there were established 33 additional auxiliary remount depots and two animal embarkation depots. The horses purchased were shipped to the various remount depots and there trained and conditioned for Army use.

It required a large number of officers and men to care for the remount establishment. Shortly before the armistice was signed there were approximately 400 officers and 19,000 enlisted men in the American remount service. The following statement shows the total numbers of horses and mules purchased for the American Army in the calendar years 1917-18, including those acquired by the remount service in France:

(a) Number of horses and mules purchased from Jan. 1, 1917, to Jan. 1, 1919.
Where purchased.Horses.Mules.Grand total.
Cavalry.Light artillery.Heavy artillery.Draft.Pack and riding.
From French21,45061,94442,9732,1817,160135,708
From Spanish1,40042313,3293,29518,447
From British2,6336,3884,3526,71494321,030
In United States60,439106,5549,129114,6879,450300,259
Private mounts50747554
Young horses4,4741,0455,519
Total purchased to Jan. 1, 191990,903176,40156,454136,91120,848481,517
Horses.Mules.Total.
In America24,1446,04030,184
Abroad37,6155,66743,282
Total61,75911,70773,466
(c) Number of horses and mules on hand in the United States and insular possessions,Jan. 1, 1919.
Horses:
Cavalry83,774
Draft77,172
Mules:
Draft96,542
Pack and riding13,950
Grand total271,438

Thousands of American animals were shipped to the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Because of the lack of tonnage there were no animal shipments between March 26, 1918, and August 11. Between the declaration of war and March 26, 1918, a total of 30,329 animals were shipped abroad, and in the August 12-November 30 period 37,619 animals crossed the Atlantic, making a total of 67,948 American horses and mules sent to the American Expeditionary Forces.

The total expenditures of the Army both abroad and at home for horses and mules during the war period was $115,957,000, divided about half and half between the United States on the one hand and France, England, and Spain on the other.

The largest remount depot developed during the war is located at Camp Jackson, Columbia, S. C. This depot has a capacity of about 10,000 animals and its construction cost was about $300,000. Soon after the armistice was signed, when it became apparent that animals would no longer be needed, thousands of horses and mules at the different remount depots were sold at auction, these auction sales drawing large crowds of buyers.

STORAGE.

The problem of storing Army supplies became great only after hostilities had ceased. Before that time supplies were going through the warehouses and to the ships at the deep-water ports so rapidly that there was no backing up of the tide of them in the vast warehouse facilities that had been provided as a war measure. But as soon as the armistice was signed and the Army no longer grew in size but rapidly diminished as men were discharged, the manufacturing operations under way, necessarily continued for a time on a scale which had been developed in preparation for an Army nearly double the size of the one that existed on November 11, 1918, soon began filling up the warehouses.

The total storage capacity which the Army had on hand at the time of the fighting, exclusive of that at ports and that for the Department of Military Aeronautics, was as follows:

Zone.Depot.Warehouse.Open.Total.
Square feet.Square feet.
1Boston1,295,4601,295,460
2New York2,900,1412,900,141
3Philadelphia2,333,1242,333,124
4Baltimore1,468,5721,468,572
5Atlanta1,499,84814,3001,514,148
6Jeffersonville2,000,0002,000,000
7Chicago3,825,2861,742,4005,567,686
8St. Louis1,216,7761,216,776
9New Orleans405,172100,000505,172
10San Antonio991,582991,582
11Omaha130,472130,472
12El Paso232,80380,212313,015
13San Francisco1,170,5331,170,533
14Newport News234,879234,879
15Washington, D. C.815,606342,1001,157,706
Grand total20,520,2542,279,01222,799,266
Camps5,326,5905,104,90110,431,491

The operation of one of the Quartermaster depot warehouses might be described at this point, and the general supply depot at Jeffersonville, Ind., is typical. During the war this depot procured for the Quartermaster Corps of the entire Army all horse-drawn vehicles and harness, and such items as barrack ranges, field ranges, and ovens, pack-train equipment, and other supplies.

The war deliveries began at Jeffersonville in the late summer of 1917. Receipts soon outgrew storage space. Adjoining lands were leased, and supplies, covered by paulins, were stored in the open. This early period of the war, prior to the spring of 1918, was a back-up period at all the warehouses, as supplies were produced faster than men were trained and transported to France. In the late spring of 1918 Jeffersonville began making heavy shipments of supplies overseas and from then on shipments exceeded receipts. For three months before the armistice was signed the Jeffersonville depot's shipments averaged 60 carloads a day and its receipts about 25 carloads.

After the armistice was signed, Jeffersonville was designated as the depot for the storage of all surplus horse-drawn vehicles and black harnesses therefor. Extensive temporary storage sheds were erected. Inbound shipments increased to about 80 cars a day. The depot has stored 4,000 rolling kitchens of the trailmobile type, these kitchens being packed in boxes, each package weighing about 4,300 pounds. The work of storing these kitchens is still in progress, and the pile of boxes will ultimately be 45 feet wide, 30 feet high, and 1,000 feet long. As the pile is made, corrugated-iron roofing is placed on the sides and top, thus forming a waterproof building.

Crated automobile trailers, weighing about 9,000 pounds per crate, are being handled in the same manner. Wagons are stored in galvanized-iron warehouses, each one capable of receiving 2,500 wagons, without wheels. Wagon wheels are stored in specially adapted sheds. About 2,000 automobile trucks have already been received for storage in specially constructed sheds. These trucks are mainly Nash Quads, four-wheel-drive trucks, and G. M. C. ambulance chassis. These chassis are stored on end, resting on the bumpers. The engines of all trucks are well oiled and the magnetos are covered with waterproof material.

STORAGE OF AUTOMOBILE CHASSIS, JEFFERSONVILLE, IND.

STORING ROLLING KITCHENS.

METHOD OF STORING WAGON WHEELS AT JEFFERSONVILLE QUARTERMASTER STORAGE DEPOT.

METHOD OF STORING HORSE COLLARS AT JEFFERSONVILLE DEPOT.

As the supplies backed up into the warehouses, it became necessary for the Army to know where it stood in the matter of property; and a complete inventory was ordered, since there had been no time during the hurry and bustle of the war period to take stock. This inventory in itself was an enormous undertaking. To prepare for it the quartermaster training school at Camp Meigs, D. C., was completely transformed into a school for training experts for taking inventories. A standard scheme was worked out. The experts, after being trained in the standard method, were sent out into every zone in the country as instructors. In each zone they convened the so-called "town meetings." The town meeting was made up of Army storekeepers from each depot, post, camp, and station in the zone—any place where Army supplies were stored. These representatives were schooled in the inventory method and then sent back to their stations with instructions to start the inventory on December 31, 1918. The next operation was to organize an inventory factory in Washington as the consolidating point for all the inventories in the United States.

Some idea of the number of articles which Uncle Sam accumulated as a result of the war may be gained from the fact that the inventories received in Washington filled 40,600 sheets of paper, the size of an ordinary large letterhead, with typewriting single spaced. To take the inventory required a force in Washington of approximately 100 officers and 400 civilians, while there were probably over 10,000 officers and men engaged in the entire operation over the country. The inventory was undoubtedly the largest ever taken in the world.

Before the war the standard items of Army supplies had been 20,000. The inventory in the consolidation of its figures in Washington disclosed the fact that at the beginning of the year 1919 there were 120,000 standard items, and many of these stood for large quantities of individual pieces. As this report is written, a catalogue, or standard nomenclature list of supplies, comprising 120,000 items, is being prepared, to establish throughout the United States one language of supply for all items stored, distributed, and issued under the direction of the Director of Storage.

CHAPTER IV.
MOTOR AND HORSE-DRAWN VEHICLES.

The punitive expedition into Mexico in pursuit of Francisco Villa marked the real beginning of the use of motor transportation for the Army, although for many years the motor truck had received some attention for military purposes.

In 1904 a few progressive officers at West Point made preliminary tests of 1½-ton trucks, but these tests, while demonstrating that the truck would doubtless be of value to the Army in the future, were not sufficiently successful to create any particular interest. A few trucks were in use in the Army in 1907, but no systematic tests were made until 1912. At that time officers were seriously studying the motor transportation needs and problems of the Army.

In 1914 the Society of Automobile Engineers, having learned from the experience of European nations then at war that motor transportation is one of the most vital factors in the success of any army, offered its services to our War Department for the purpose of making a complete survey of the automotive industry, in the hope that the interests of the industry and of the Army could be coordinated so that in an extreme emergency the industry might be able to provide the necessary motor equipment for the Army, and that the Army might be able to use such equipment in the most efficient manner.

Pursuant to this offer, on April 28, 1916, the War Department asked the society's cooperation in issuing revised specifications for the purchase of 1½-ton and 3-ton Army trucks. In May of the same year, a committee consisting of the engineers from five companies manufacturing trucks, from five companies assembling trucks, and an engineer from a truck company not making the types of trucks under consideration, was appointed to cooperate with Army officers in making plans to provide our troops with motor vehicles suitable to their needs. On this committee were representatives of the Locomobile Co. of America, the Packard Motor Car Co., the Peerless Motor Car Co., the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Co., the Kelly-Springfield Motor Truck Co., the Selden Motor Vehicle Co., the Commercial Truck Co. of America, the White Co., and the General Motors Co. This committee went over the Government specifications for the 1½-ton and 3-ton trucks, which had been proposed by the Army, and after a few changes had been made, the specifications were drawn up for what then seemed to be the ideal trucks for Army use in these two sizes.

Trucks at this time were urgently needed for our forces along the Mexican border and for the punitive expedition entering Mexico. Consequently rush orders for the first large quantities of trucks ever purchased or used by our Army were placed with the White Co., the Packard Motor Car Co., The Garford Motor Truck Co., the Kelly-Springfield Motor Truck Co., the Four Wheel Drive Co., and the Jeffery (Nash) Quad. It was with the trucks of these concerns that our Army officers obtained their first real experience on a big scale with motor transportation. The trucks themselves also received the most severe tests while in service on the border and in Mexico.

Not only did the Army officers secure valuable experience in operating this motor equipment but the manufacturer also took this exceptional opportunity to study motor vehicles in actual operation under Army conditions, and early in 1917 revised specifications for Army trucks were issued as a result of the numerous conferences that had been held between representatives of the War Department and the automobile industry.

In May standard specifications for the so-called class A (1½-ton to 2-ton) and the class B (3-ton to 5-ton) motor trucks were established, showing that the fundamental requirements of motor trucks for the Army were as follows: low-gear reduction, larger engines, 4-speed transmission (with very low first speed), maximum ground clearance, demountable tires of standardized size and specifications, large gasoline tank, electric lighting system, 3-point engine suspension, locking differential, extra quality alloy steel springs, and larger radiators.

After deciding on the requisites of an Army truck, the matter of standardization began to receive definite attention, it being the belief of many of the Army officers that it would be entirely possible and practicable so to standardize Army vehicles that but one type of truck would be sufficient for each size, and it became quite evident if this ideal could be worked out, the maintenance of Army vehicles would be a simple matter. Without some standardization, the providing of the proper stock of spare parts became a problem of extreme difficulty.

In the early summer of 1917 an appropriation of $175,000 was set aside by the Quartermaster Department for the purpose of financing the cost of designing and drawing up specifications for a complete new vehicle, which would become a standardized truck for our military forces. On August 1, 1917, there were assembled in Washington 50 automotive engineers who had been in touch with the truck needs of the Army; and these men, with the help of Army officers, began the task of designing a sample standardized truck, first centering their efforts on the 3-ton size, as this was at that time most urgently needed by the Army. On October 10 of this same year the engineers had finished designing the new type of truck and had completed the first two sample trucks of this type, afterwards known as the "Standardized B." These two sample trucks were driven to Washington on October 19, were formally presented to the War Department, tested, and pronounced wholly successful.

Orders for 10,000 of these class B trucks were placed within the next few weeks. Five additional trucks were rushed through the plants as a check on tools and were completed January 10, 1918. In April, actual production having begun on the first 10,000, the purchase of an additional 8,000 was authorized, and orders for them were placed in May. In September, 1918, additional orders were placed for 25,000, but on account of the signing of the armistice no trucks were delivered under this last order.

Production of these standardized class B trucks was directed by the following men, who were called to Washington: Christian Girl, head of the Standard Parts Co., of Cleveland; James F. Bourquin, Continental Motor Co., Louisville, Ky.; Percy W. Tracy, of the Premier Motor Co., Indianapolis; Walter S. Quinlan, of the Maynard H. Murch Co., Cleveland; Guy Morgan, of the Mitchell Motors Corporation, Racine, Wis.; J. G. Utz, of the Standard Parts Co., Cleveland; G. W. Randels, of the Foote-Burt Co., Cleveland; and A. G. Drefs, of the Miller-Franklin Co.

All materials for the building of a standardized truck were mobilized through officials at Washington. In general, it was the idea to have at least three or four sources of supply for each part that went into the standardized truck, and as a result 150 parts manufacturers were given contracts.

During the time in which the Quartermaster Department was attempting to standardize all Army cargo-carrying vehicles, and up to May 15, 1918, the other branches of the Army were buying commercial trucks of different makes for their special uses. The Ordnance Department had concentrated on the Nash and F. W. D. trucks for ammunition and other ordnance work, and had ordered approximately 30,000 of these two types. The Signal Corps had specialized in the light and heavy aviation trucks, these being assembled from known and tried units, such as motors, axles, transmission, etc., and equipped with special apparatus for the Signal Corps. Approximately 4,000 of the light aviation and 4,600 of the heavy aviation trucks were ordered. The Engineer Corps had adopted the Mack 5½-ton truck and had ordered approximately 3,600. The Medical Corps had gone in for the G. M. C. model 16 for ambulances, of which approximately 5,800 had been ordered, and they had also purchased approximately 2,600 Ford ambulances.

These five branches of the Army had purchased trucks of other makes as well, and during the winter of 1917 and 1918 it became evident that the buying of so many makes and from so many different manufacturers was not a logical solution of the motor transportation problem. Each corps had its own ideas as to the type of truck required, and the sum of these ideas resulted in a decided lack of standardization for the Army as a whole, and no complete standardization for any corps as a unit.

During the first year of operations in France the American Expeditionary Forces had purchased various types of vehicles abroad in order to fill their immediate requirements, and the result was that over 200 different makes of motor vehicles were actually in use by the American Expeditionary Forces. This diversity in types was to some extent caused by lack of shipping space in which to transport motor equipment abroad. Not being able to secure sufficient trucks from the United States, due to shortage of ocean tonnage, the American Expeditionary Forces were compelled to purchase a miscellaneous assortment of foreign-made vehicles, thus complicating the maintenance problem beyond the possibility of a satisfactory solution.

The buying of motor equipment by so many different agencies of the Government was not only confusing to the manufacturer, who was selling to five different corps, but it also precluded any possibility of real standardization; and with a view of eliminating these two evils, Special Order 91, W. D. 1918, and General Order 38, W. D. 1918, were issued. The first created a standardization board and the second consolidated the procurement of all motor vehicles in the Motor Transport Service, which service operated under the direction of the Quartermaster General.

Under the special orders the standardization board was charged with selecting and approving the proper types for the use of the Army, the board being composed of representatives from each of the various corps. In this manner the various ideas of the different corps were coordinated through the discussion of the board, and the final result was that the following chassis were standardized for use:

Passenger cars: light, Ford and Dodge; heavy, Cadillac.

Ambulances: G. M. C. and Ford (with longer wheel base).

Trucks: one-half-ton to ¾-ton, Ford and Dodge (same chassis as in passenger cars); ¾-ton to 1-ton, G. M. C. Model 16; 1½-ton to 2-ton, White; 3-ton to 5-ton, Quartermaster standardized "B."

The 4-wheel-drive TT type, called the "Militor," was also standardized, this being a special truck tractor designed by the Ordnance Department. These latter vehicles were never furnished to the Army, as production had not progressed far enough at the time of the signing of the armistice.

On this limited number of chassis could be mounted any bodies required by the Army. For instance the White ¾-ton to 1-ton chassis could be used as a passenger car when equipped with pneumatic tires and with the ordnance staff observation or reconnaissance body. The Ford and Dodge chassis could be used either with the regular passenger-car bodies or with light-delivery or light-repair bodies. The G. M. C. chassis could be used either as an ambulance or could be equipped with a light-cargo body, thus providing a ¾-ton to 1-ton truck. The standardized "B" chassis could be used with special machine-shop bodies, special Signal Corps apparatus, or the regular "B" cargo body, etc. The work of the board was painstaking and thorough, and decisions were rendered only after experts had been consulted and exhaustive tests made.

While the board was standardizing on the types of vehicles to be purchased in the future for the Army, the Motor Transport Service was being formed, and by June 1, 1918, the consolidation of procurement, inspection, production, maintenance, etc., was well underway.

The needs of the American Expeditionary Forces for motor equipment were increasing by leaps and bounds, and the Motor Transport Service found that it was impossible to purchase the trucks standardized by the motorization board in sufficient quantities to meet the overseas requirements. It was therefore decided, after the consent of the board had been received, that certain other types of vehicles should be procured to fill the requirements of the Army until such time as production of the standardized truck could be increased. Therefore, the makes of trucks which were already in use in large quantities with the American Expeditionary Forces were temporarily made standard to meet the immediate needs of the Army. It being extremely difficult to purchase sufficient trucks, even of these additional makes, to meet the needs overseas, it was decided that still other makes of trucks would be procured for use in the United States, thus allowing all the makes standardized for overseas use to be shipped to France.

The Motor Transport Service operated from May 15 until August 15, 1918, when the Motor Transport Corps was organized under General Order No. 75. This order created a separate corps under the operations division of the General Staff for the operation as well as the procurement of all passenger and cargo carrying motor equipment for the Army. A few weeks later, however, Supply Circular 87, P., S. & T., was issued, placing the procurement of the above under the Director of Purchase, Storage and Traffic (Motors and Vehicles Division), but the operation and maintenance of vehicles was left with the Motor Transport Corps. From September on these organizations remained unchanged up to and after the signing of the armistice.

The table appended shows the status of the procurement and production of motor-vehicle orders as of November 1, 1918, 11 days prior to the signing of the armistice. It will be noted that there had been ordered for delivery before July 1, 1919, a total of 185,000 trucks, 23,053 ambulances, and 38,462 passenger cars.

The Army in April, 1917, possessed 3,039 trucks, 437 automobiles, 670 motor cycles, and 12 tractors. One and one-half years later it owned approximately 85,000 trucks, and had the war continued until July 1, 1919, there would have been approximately 185,000 trucks provided for its use by American industry. In addition, this same industry would have provided 30,000 ambulances, 40,000 passenger cars, 70,000 motor cycles, 70,000 bicycles, making a grand total approaching 400,000 vehicles, costing (with spare parts) over $700,000,000.

From the very beginning the Government received the hearty cooperation of the entire industry. The need was urgent, the demand tremendous, and many manufacturers were called upon to sacrifice their own product in order to meet the needs of the Army, and many were on a 100-per-cent war-work basis.

Motor truck production.
VEHICLES STANDARDIZED FOR OVERSEAS SHIPMENT.
Name.Class.Capacity.Manufacturer.Address.Total ordered to Nov. 1, 1918.Total completed to Nov. 1, 1918.Floated overseas.
G. M. C. standardAA1-tonCommerce Motor Car Co.Detroit, Mich.450
Do.AAdo.Velie Motors Corp.Moline. Ill.1,000
Do.AAdo.Dort Motor Co.Flint, Mich.1,000
Do.AAdo.Elgin Motor Car Corp.Elgin, Ill.500
Do.AAdo.Lexington Motor Co.Connersville, Ind.500
Do.AAdo.Auburn Auto Co.Auburn, Ind.500
Do.AAdo.Hupp Motor Car Corp.Detroit, Mich.500
Do.AAdo.General Motor Truck Co.Pontiac, Mich.1,000
Do.AAdo.Saxon Motor Car Co.Detroit, Mich.500
Do.AAdo.Campbell Motor Car Co.Kingston, N. Y.200
Do.AAdo.Columbia Motor Co.Detroit, Mich.300
Do.AAdo.Moon Motor Car Co.St. Louis, Mo.300
Do.AAdo.Liberty Motor Co.Detroit, Mich.450
G. M. C. ambulanceAAdo.General Motors Truck Co.Pontiac, Mich.5,8115,5534,001
WhiteAAdo.The White Co.Cleveland, Ohio.2,6952,196809
Total15,7067,7494,810
Dodge light deliveryAA½-tonDodge Bros. Co.Detroit, Mich.9,3522,6441,802
Dodge light repairAA¾-tondo. do.1,0121,012
Ford light deliveryAAdo.Ford Motor Co.do.12,0025,4927,206
Ford ambulancesAAdo.do. do.10,0425,3404,362
Total32,40814,48813,370
White standardA1½-tonThe White Co.Cleveland, Ohio.9,2011,8131,532
Do.Ado.Peerless Motor Co.do.3,000
Total12,2011,8131,532
Light aviationA1½ to 2 tonGeneral Motor Truck Co.Pontiac, Mich.2,4001,888 1,829
Do.Ado.Paige Motor Car Co.Detroit, Mich.500480
Do.Ado.Republic Motor Truck Co.Alma, Mich.500354
Do.Ado.Denby Motor Truck Co.Detroit, Mich.500488
GarfordA1½-tonGarford Motor Truck Co.Lima, Ohio.5,0101,010499
PackardAdo.Packard Motor Car Co.Detroit, Mich.831636526
Pierce-ArrowAdo.Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Co.Buffalo, N. Y.4,0232,423534
Total13,7647,2793,388
Standardized BB3-tonPackard Motor Car Co.Detroit, Mich.55
Do.Bdo.Gramm-Bernstein Motor Truck Co.Lima, Ohio.3,7501,000
Do.Bdo.Kelly-Springfield Motor Truck Co.Springfield, Ohio.1,045301
Do.Bdo.Indiana Truck CorporationMarion, Ind.2,545475
Do.Bdo.Service Motor Truck Co.Wabash, Ind.1,795337
Do.Bdo.Republic Motor Truck Co.Alma, Mich.3,750967
Do.Bdo.Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Co.Buffalo, N. Y.1,000975
Do.Bdo.Selden Truck Sales Co.Rochester, N. Y.3,7501,000
Do.Bdo.Bethlehem Motors CorporationAllentown, Pa.2,725675
Do.Bdo.Diamond T Motor Co.Chicago, Ill.3,203638
Do.Bdo.U. S. Motor Truck Co.Cincinnati, Ohio.2,545490
Do.Bdo.Brockway Motor Truck Co.Cortland, N. Y.2,202587
Do.Bdo.Velie Motors CorporationMoline, Ill.3,045455
Do.Bdo.Sterling Motor Truck CorporationMilwaukee, Wis.1,795479
Do.Bdo.Garford Motor Truck Co.Lima, Ohio.1,750978
Do.Bdo.Hurlburt Motor Truck Co.New York, N. Y.100
Do.Bdo.Midland Motor Truck Co.Oklahoma City, Okla.500
Do.Bdo.Atterbury Motor Car Co.Buffalo, N. Y.750
Do.Bdo.Standard Motor Truck Co.Detroit, Mich.750
Do.Bdo.Maccar Co.Scranton, Pa.500
Do.Bdo.Clyde Cars Co.Clyde, Ohio500
Do.Bdo.Rowe Motor Manufacturing Co.Lancaster, Pa.500
Do.Bdo.J. C. Wilson Co.Detroit, Mich.500
Do.Bdo.Lewis Hall Iron Worksdo.500
Do.Bdo.Denby Motor Truck Co.do.1,500
Do.Bdo.Winther Motor Truck Co.Winthrop Harbor, Ill.500
Do.Bdo.Vim Motor Truck Co.Detroit, Mich.500
Do.Bdo.Signal Motor Truck Co.do.500
Do.Bdo.United Motors Co.Grand Rapids, Mich.500
Total43,0059,4527,655
PackardB3-tonPackard Motor Car Co.Detroit, Mich.10,1064,8563,479
Heavy aviationBdo.United Motors Co.Grand Rapids, Mich.200188 2,110
Do.Bdo.Federal Motor Truck Co.Detroit Mich.1,0001,000
Do.Bdo.Kelly-Springfield Motor Truck Co.Springfield, Ohio.2,2251,725
Do.Bdo.Standard Motor Truck Co.Detroit, Mich.250186
Do.Bdo.Velie Motors Corporation.Moline, Ill.1,000700
RikerB4-tonLocomobile Co. of America.Bridgeport, Conn.3,6901,6901,351
Pierce-ArrowB5-tonPierce-Arrow Motor Car Co.Buffalo, N. Y.3,1701,9701,660
MackB5½-tonInternational Motors Co.New York, N. Y.5,5752,5631,365
Total27,21614,8789,965
Four-wheel driveTT2-tonNash Motors Co.Kenosha, Wis.14,6848,139 7,034
Do.TTdo.Hudson Motor Car Co.Detroit, Mich.3,000219
Do.TTdo.National Motor Car & Vehicle.Indianapolis, Ind.3,00095
Do.TTdo.Paige Motor Car Co.Detroit, Mich.3,000145
Do.Winchdo.Nash Motors Co.Kenosha, Wis.100100
Do.Winch3-tonFour-Wheel Drive Auto Co.Clintonville, Wis.800364
Do.TTdo.do. do.7,1504,233 4,748
Do.TTdo.Mitchell Motors Corporation.Racine, Wis.5,023855
Do.TTdo.Premier Motor Co.Indianapolis, Ind.4,5001,307
Do.TTdo.Kissel Motor Car Co.Hartford, Wis.3,500997
Total44,75716,45411,782
Cadillac, limousinePass.Cadillac Motor Car Co.Detroit, Mich.1,043222 1,503
Cadillac, openPass.do.do.2,9701,734
Dodge, openPass.Dodge Bros Co.do.8,5595,0653,390
Dodge, Winter topPass.do.do.3,2012,126
Ford; touringPass.Ford Motor Co.do.20,2015,3792,344
Total35,97414,5267,237

MOTOR VEHICLES FOR DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTION.
Name.Class.Capacity.Manufacturer.Address.Ordered to Nov. 1, 1918.Completed to Nov. 1, 1918.Completed to Dec. 1, 1918.Total floated overseas.
CommerceAA1-tonCommerce Motor Car Co.Detroit, Mich.1,5481,5481,548272
Ford trucks¾ to 1 tonFord Motor Co.do.2,4942,4742,4741,772
Total4,0424,0224,0222,044
White UnstandardizedA1½-tonThe White Co.Cleveland, Ohio.394394394327
Kelly-SpringfieldAdo.Kelly-Springfield Motor Co.Springfield, Ohio.3561616
DenbyAdo.Denby Motor Truck Co.Detroit, Mich.500182
InternationalAdo.International Harvester Co.Akron, Ohio.1,125125485
Miscellaneous AmericanA1½ to 2 ton949945949220
WilsonA1½ to 2 tonJ. C. Wilson Co.Detroit, Mich.20075
MorelandAdo.Moreland Motor Truck Co.Los Angeles, Cal.854376
Miscellaneous American ambulanceAdo.787878
Total3,6871,6012,255547
WhiteB3-tonThe White Co.Cleveland, Ohio306306306280
PeerlessBdo.Peerless Motor Car.do.385385697385
MackB3½-tonInternational Motors Co.New York, N. Y.368368368278
VelieBdo.Velie Motors Corporation.Moline, Ill.12528
Gramm-BernsteinBdo.Gramm-BernsteinTruck Co.Lima, Ohio.10066
FederalBdo.Federal Motor Truck Co.Detroit, Mich.50085
StandardBdo.Standard Motor Truck Co.do.2873589
SeldenBdo.Selden Motor Truck Co.Rochester, N. Y.171711215
RepublicBdo.Republic Motor Truck Co.Alma, Mich.250
MorelandB4-tonMoreland Motor Truck Co.Los Angeles, Calif.6040
WhiteB5-tonThe White Co.Cleveland, Ohio.48484834
PackardBdo.Packard Motor Car Co.Detroit, Mich.65606017
HurlburtBdo.Hurlburt Motor Truck Co.New York, N. Y.200
FederalBdo.Federal Motor Truck Co.Detroit, Mich.30053
Miscellaneous AmericanB3 to 5-ton278278250209
Total3,4431,5512,2111,20
Dodge SedanPass.Dodge Bros.Detroit, Mich.10
Dodge Roadsterdo.do.do.55022175
Ford Roadsterdo.Ford Motor Co.do.435185186
Ford Closeddo.do.do.161616
Miscellaneous Americando.958958958
Total1,9691,1811,335

MOTORCYCLES, SIDE CARS, AND BICYCLES.

The need of the Army for motorcycles, side cars, and bicycles was so tremendous that for many months during the war practically the entire output of these vehicles of the kinds selected as being most suitable for Army use was taken by the Government.

It was found that the Indian and Harley-Davidson motorcycles were best adapted to meet the necessities of the Expeditionary Forces in France, and these types were standardized for overseas shipment. Orders for a total of 39,070 Indian motorcycles were placed with the manufacturers at Springfield, Mass., and before the end of 1918, 18,081 of these had been delivered. From the Harley-Davidson manufacturers at Milwaukee, Wis., the Government received 14,666 machines of the total of 26,487 ordered before the end of 1918. In addition to the Harley-Davidson and Indian machines, 1,526 Cleveland motorcycles, made in Cleveland, Ohio, were contracted for, and 1,476 delivered previous to 1919.

Side-car equipment for the Indian and Harley-Davidson machines was bought in almost as great quantities as the motorcycles themselves. In fact, the demand for motorcycles and side cars from these two concerns was so great that they were working at 100-per-cent capacity for the Government before the summer of 1918.

The needs of the Army for machines increased so steadily and the requirements were so vast that both the Indian and Harley-Davidson concerns had made large additions to their plants for meeting the Government needs at the time the armistice was signed.

A standard military type of bicycle was turned out for the Army by the Westfield Manufacturing Co., at Westfield, Mass., and other bicycles were ordered from the Great Western Manufacturing Co., at Laporte, Ind., and the Davis Sewing Machine Co., at Dayton, Ohio.

Motorcycles, bicycles, and side cars.
MOTORCYCLES.
Name.Manufacturer.Address.Ordered to Nov. 1, 1918.Completed to—Shipped overseas.
Nov. 1, 1918.Dec. 31, 1918.
ClevelandCleveland Motors Mfg. Co.Cleveland, Ohio1,5267801,4761,003
Harley-DavidsonHarley-Davidson Motorcycle Co.Milwaukee, Wis.26,48512,37614,666 20,007
IndianHendee Mfg. Co.Springfield, Mass.39,87014,05418,018
Total67,88127,21034,16021,010
SIDE CARS.
Harley-Davidson.Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Co.Milwaukee, Wis.26,09911,93414,332 19,160
IndianHendee Mfg. Co.Springfield, Mass.39,12413,86316,804
Total65,22325,79731,13619,160
BICYCLES.
Military StandardWestfield, Mass.Westfield, Mfg. Co.36,00219,16422,502 26,407
Do.Great WesternMfg. Co.Laporte, Ind.15,7503,750
Do.Davis Sewing Machine Co.Dayton, Ohio15,7501,9923,252
Total67,50221,15629,50426,407

HORSE AND HAND DRAWN VEHICLES.

It was early realized by Army officers upon our entry in the war that procurement of horse-drawn vehicles for the Army would require mobilization of practically the entire wagon-making industry of the Nation. Consequently one of the first steps taken to provide the Army with the necessary vehicles of this type was to call into conference representatives of the four largest manufacturing companies in the industry.

R. V. Board, of the Kentucky Wagon Co.; A. B. Thielens, of the Studebaker Corporation of America; E. E. Parsonage, of the John Deere Wagon Co.; and R. W. Lea, of the Moline Plow Co., were named members of an advisory committee to assist the Army in the procurement of vehicles.

Our first requisition called for the manufacture of 34,000 escort wagons. This order, with the necessary spare parts for these vehicles meant the building of the equivalent of about 50,000 wagons.

At the beginning of the war the manufacture of vehicles from kiln-dried lumber was almost unknown, as there had always been a sufficient amount of air-dried lumber on hand to meet every demand for farm-wagon construction. Our first order, however, practically used up all of the air-dried lumber then in existence in the country. In order that dry lumber could be obtained in sufficient quantities to keep up with the demands for Army vehicles, the War Department entered into an arrangement by which dry-kilns were built by contractors with the Government defraying half of the cost, the wagon manufacturer being reimbursed at the rate of $10 for each wagon produced, or on a basis of $10 for each $185 worth of spare parts fabricated.

Despite the fact that ordinarily six months were required even with kiln-drying before a log was ready for fabrication into a vehicle, all orders for the War Department were filled on time and in accordance with the plans outlined. To make this possible every manufacturer of the industry capable of turning out the class of vehicles desired did his part and did it so well that up to the signing of the armistice approximately 110,000 horse-drawn or hand-drawn vehicles had been delivered, of the total of 185,727 for which contracts had been placed.

Escort wagons formed the large bulk of the requirements at the start, but as the war progressed, the necessity was created for different designs of vehicles. So from time to time there were designed drinking-water carts and wagons, medical and ration carts, combat wagons, veterinary ambulances, sprinkling wagons, and various other types to meet special needs.

In the early spring of 1918 it was found that the wagon industry had about reached its limit so far as output was concerned, and that, if the war continued another year, new sources of supply would have to be developed. Then it was that the furniture industry was called upon to produce spare parts for vehicles. Under the presidency of P. B. Schravesande, president of the Grand Rapids School Equipment Co., the Furniture and Fixture and Light-wood Industry War Service Committee was organized to cooperate in arranging to have furniture makers enter the field of manufacture of spare parts.

It was arranged that the furniture manufacturers were to produce 75 per cent of the spare parts then requisitioned, totaling in value about $8,000,000. While the furniture industry was preparing its plants for the manufacture of these parts, the wagon industry continued to manufacture 25 per cent of the required parts in order to keep up a satisfactory flow.

When the armistice was signed practically all the furniture manufacturers had prepared to fill the spare-parts orders, but none of them had reached quantity production.

Automobile-wheel manufacturers were induced to turn out the immense quantity of wheels needed for escort wagons.

There were in all about 250 manufacturers of wagons, wagon parts, and wheels. Among the prominent wagon companies engaged in this work were: Bain Wagon Co., Oshkosh, Wis.; Columbia Wagon Co., Columbia, Pa.; Deere & Co., Moline, Ill.; Emerson-Brantingham Co., Rockford, Ill.; Florence Wagon Co., Florence, Ala.; Hackney Wagon Co., Wilson, N. C.; International Harvester Co., Memphis, Tenn.; Moline Plow Co., Moline, Ill; Mogul Wagon Co., Hoskinsville, Ky.; Owensboro Wagon Co., Owensboro, Ky.; Pekin Wagon Co., Pekin, Ill.; Peter Schuttler Co., Chicago, Ill.; Springfield Wagon Co., Springfield, Mo.; Stoughton Wagon Co., Stoughton, Wis.; A. Streich & Bros. Co., Oshkosh, Wis.; Thornhill Wagon Co., Lynchburg, Va.; Tiffin Wagon Co., Tiffin, Ohio; Eagle Wagon Works, Auburn, N. Y.; A. A. Cooper Wagon & Buggy Co., Dubuque, Iowa; Winona Wagon Co., Winona, Minn.; White Hickory Wagon Co., Atlanta, Ga.; Kentucky Wagon Co., Louisville, Ky.; Studebaker Corporation, South Bend, Ind.; American Car & Foundry Co., Jeffersonville, Ind.

Among the leading automobile-wheel manufacturers who were given contracts for escort-wagon wheels were the following: Mutual Wheel Co., Moline, Ill.; Roger Wheel Co., Aurora, Ind.; Crane & McMahon (Inc.), St. Marys, Ohio; Hayes Wheel Co., Jackson, Mich.; Imperial Wheel Co., Flint, Mich.; Kelsey Wheel Co., Detroit, Mich.; Binnel Spoke & Auto Wheel Co., Portland, Ind.; Archibald Wheel Co., Lawrence, Mass.; Chattanooga Wagon Co., Chattanooga, Tenn.; Hoopes Bros. & Dalington (Inc.), Westchester, Pa.; Prudden Wheel Co., Lansing, Mich.; Standard Wheel Co., Terre Haute, Ind.; Avoca Wheel Co., Avoca, N. Y.; New Wapakoneta Wheel Co., Wapakoneta, Ohio; Piedmont Wagon Co., Hickory, N. C.

Furniture factories that assumed contracts for making spare parts for horse-drawn vehicles included about 30 furniture manufacturers of Rockford, Ill., as well as the following: Grand Rapids School Equipment Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.; Sherman Bros. Co., Jamestown, N. Y.; Ramsey-Alton Manufacturing Co., Portland, Mich.; Connersville Furniture Co., Connersville, Ind.; P. Derby & Co., Gardner, Mass.; Ebert Furniture Co., Red Lion, Pa.; S. Karpen & Bros., Chicago, Ill.; Chas. T. Lambert & Co., Holland, Mich.; The Macey Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.; Thos. Madden Son & Co., Indianapolis, Ind.; Sidney Manufacturing Co., Sidney, Ohio; Basic Furniture Co., Waynesboro, Va.; Brecht Co., St. Louis, Mo.

Number ordered between Apr. 6, 1917, and Nov. 11, 1918.Value of orders.Quantity delivered up to Nov. 11, 1918.Quantity shipped overseas.Value of quantity shipped overseas.
Commercial vehicles181,077$41,247,91189,02428,918$7,247,522
Spare parts39,690,2552,551,642
Total181,07780,938,16689,02428,9189,799,164

The following table shows the principal items listed under commercial vehicles, with the total number ordered, value of the order, and the total number delivered up to November 11, 1918:

Item.Total ordered.Value of number ordered.Total delivered.Value of number delivered.
Wagons.
Ambulance3,339$1,168,6503,319$1,161,650
Escort, model A1,000242,0001,000242,000
Escort, J-118102,07820,415,60037,6137,522,600
Combat15,5007,750,0007,0993,549,500
Drinking water2,6871,262,8902,6871,262,890
Mountain, 3-seat1,000300,0001,000300,000
Sprinkling1,056496,3201,056496,320
Bottom, dump43671,94025542,075
Milk41,40041,400
Buckboard1,859232,3751,155144,375
Total128,95931,941,17555,18814,722,810
Carts.
Drinking water22,0006,050,00014,7294,050,475
Ration15,0001,875,00010,1851,273,125
Medical5,500819,5002,350350,150
Hand7,309211,9614,607133,003
Dump1,183118,3001,037103,700
Sanitary1,009201,800811162,200
Veterinary ambulance8020,0008020,000
Disinfecting spray3710,1753710,175
Total52,1189,306,73633,8366,103,428
Grand total41,247,91120,826,238

This table shows the total number of horse-drawn vehicles sent overseas during the war; also the value of these shipments and the unit prices.

Horse-drawn vehicles.
Article.Unit.Number.Items shipped.
Unit value.Total value.
AmbulancesEach507$350$177,450
Escort wagonsdo.15,9792303,675,170
Combat wagonsdo.2,6725001,336,000
Spring wagonsdo.14723534,545
Water cartsdo.5,3142751,461,350
Ration cartsdo.3,231125403,875
Medical cartsdo.1,068149159,132
Total7,247,522

CHAPTER V.
MEDICAL AND DENTAL SUPPLIES.

Lest it be thought that the American Army was dependent in any way for its hospital facilities and surgical supplies upon private contributions, it may be said that the Government during the period between April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918, placed contracts for medical supplies amounting to $424,761,031. Contract cancellations after the armistice was signed amounted to $56,000,000. The remaining $370,000,000 approximately represents the cost to the United States of medicine, surgical instruments and dressings, ambulances, hospital furniture, equipment and supplies, and dental and veterinary supplies for the war.

This was considerably more money than was contributed by the American people to the American Red Cross, a great part of whose funds went to the relief of civilian populations in Europe, or to any other war charity. Thus it will be seen that the Government with billions of dollars to spend could well afford the few hundreds of millions necessary to give the American soldiers who needed it the best possible hospital attention. It accepted the gifts of this sort, ranging from gauze bandages to fully equipped motor ambulances, as the offerings of the people whose hearts overflowed with love and gratitude to the American soldiers and took this means of showing their concern; but the Government in no sense was dependent upon these donations.

Before 1914 four-fifths of all surgical instruments used in the United States were imported from Germany. This country, too, was practically dependent upon Germany for many of its most important medicines, including the potassium salts and such drugs as digitalin, salvarsan, atropin, etc. While in a way we had been developing substitute sources of supply in the United States for these indispensable commodities in the months between the outbreak of the great war and the date of our participation in it, the raising of a vast army and the project to send this army to the bloody battle fields of France created an American demand for medicines and surgical instruments beyond anything ever known in the United States. Yet, through the cooperation of manufacturers and the officers of the Medical Department's general purchasing office, which was on November 15, 1918, incorporated in the office of the Director of Purchase and Storage, sufficient supplies were developed, not only of medicine but of surgical instruments.

The development of the production of medicines for the use of troops in the field was particularly notable. The important drug, salvarsan, used in the treatment of syphilis, was a patented formula and had been furnished formerly by a single German manufacturer. In this country we produced arsphenamine as a substitute, gradually increasing the supply and constantly improving the drug until at length its toxicity had been so reduced that it equaled or even excelled the German product.

The facilities of the American drug and tablet manufacturers were taxed to the utmost to supply the Army. For example, during the year 1918 a total of 46,000,000 quinine tablets was produced, while 172,000,000 aspirin tablets were manufactured during the same period, and 835,000 pounds of calomel ointment, 45,000,000 iodine swabs, 10,250,000 tins of foot powder, and 300,000,000 tubes of iodine-potassium. All other items of medicines, antiseptics, and disinfectants, required by the Medical Department, were increased in proportion. This production not only strained the facilities of the manufacturers of chemicals and drugs but also called upon the glassware manufacturers for the necessary bottles and tubes in which to pack these medicines satisfactorily. Here again was an effort that required close cooperation between the trade and the Medical Department in order to meet the demand.

When it became evident that a declaration of war against Germany was imminent, the Medical Department proceeded to analyze the country's resources of medical supplies. These resources were to a large extent limited. The Allied nations had been making heavy and constant demands for these materials, so much so that even the mobilization of such a relatively small number of troops as were centered along the Mexican Border put a severe burden upon the medical supply facilities of the country.

The Council of National Defense took up the medical supplies problem at the outset. The various manufacturers sent their representatives to consult with the Surgeon General, and committees on surgical instruments, surgical dressings, medicines, and other important supplies were formed. These committees allocated among the various manufacturers the first emergency orders for these materials. The result was that the base hospitals at the 32 mobilization camps in 1917 were equipped in an amazingly short time. The New York Medical Supply Depot, which was then the largest purchasing agent, was called upon to supply 500 hospital beds each to 22 of the camps. This work was handled so rapidly that in some cases the shipments had to be held back to wait for the completion of the hospital buildings.

Perhaps the most difficult task was to determine what quantities of medical supplies would be needed for a given period. It is a comparatively simple matter to estimate the quantity of clothing necessary for a certain number of troops, or to figure what food they will require; but it is not possible to forecast the number of men who will be sick at a given camp at a specified time, nor is it possible to foretell the nature of diseases or injuries. An epidemic of measles or mumps requires different treatment than an epidemic of influenza, and makes necessary the use of a different variety of medical supplies. Experience sheets of supplies actually used in the past formed the basis of our requirements schedules.

Eventually there was worked out a system of supply based on the initial requirements of the unit of 25,000 men in the Expeditionary Forces and the automatic supply of replenishment of this equipment. In this system use was made of the knowledge and experience obtained by the British and French medical forces during their nearly three years of warfare before America went in.

The following statement of estimated expenditures for the fiscal year 1920 illustrates the difference in the medical requirements of an army of 500,000 men under peace conditions and an army of 5,000,000 men in a war such as the recent one:

Peace—500,000 men.War—5,000,000 men.
Surgical dressings$3,059,525$121,230,924
Textiles, hospital supplies880,12470,682,673
Miscellaneous hospital supplies230,47712,626,848
Medicines, etc1,969,90118,431,614
Hospital furniture and equipment500,00016,600,184
Surgical instruments200,00034,727,863
Dental instruments, equipment, and supplies150,0006,256,482
X-ray, equipment, and supplies200,0005,004,900
Field supplies300,0003,604,695
Veterinary701,6926,656,894
Laboratory852,6737,858,004
Stationery159,1832,228,634
Total9,203,575305,909,715

Civilian experts in various lines of medical supplies were brought into the organization to supply the wide range of specialized knowledge required in such a universal buying program as the Medical Department was about to conduct. Before the war the Army's purchases of instruments for oral and brain surgery, orthopedic supplies, Dakin outfits, and other special apparatus were practically negligible. During the war period these purchases amounted to millions of dollars. It may be seen readily that the purchasing office had to possess more than a superficial understanding of the materials to be bought.

Orders customarily went to the lowest bidders, with a careful review in Washington of all prices named in contracts. The inspection of material was an important phase of the work. This inspection was handled through the New York Medical Supply Depot, which called in as assistants the United States Board of Customs Appraisers at New York City. That corps of men had had long years of experience in inspecting and determining the value of surgical supplies, as most of these supplies in the past had come through the customhouse from foreign countries. The inspection of drugs was handled by the Medical Department's laboratories, the Army Medical School, and by the Bureau of Standards, which rendered valuable assistance in examining and testing samples. In addition the Medical Department maintained a corps of inspectors to travel from one factory to another, keeping in close touch with the progress and assisting in procuring raw materials and expediting deliveries.

The medical supplies were divided under the following classifications:

The New York depot was intrusted with the purchase of miscellaneous hospital equipment and dental and X-ray supplies. The St. Louis depot purchased the veterinary supplies, and the field medical supply depot at Washington purchased the laboratory and field supplies. The motor ambulance supply depot, established at Louisville, Ky., purchased ambulances and ambulance spare parts. Appreciating the necessity for a certain amount of cooperation where the purchase of conflicting articles by the various depots was concerned, the general purchasing office of the Medical Department was organized at Washington. This purchasing office bought all surgical dressings, surgical instruments, and medicines and such items as were used in the field, post, veterinary, and dental stations.

In connection with the production of surgical instruments in this country it was necessary for the Medical Department to educate in the manufacture of these instruments certain concerns which had been engaged in the production of similar devices. Men skilled in the manufacture of instruments, with long years of experience, were sent to these factories to work out with the forces there satisfactory processes. It was necessary to recruit toolmakers, jewelers, and cutlery manufacturers in order to build up a sufficient supply of forged and finished instruments.

Surgical needles, for instance, had never been made in this country, but had all been obtained in England. As a war measure the British Government placed this item on its list of restricted exports. After long and continued effort the general purchasing office developed American sources of supply of needles with remarkable success.

In one month we shipped 65 tons of surgical instruments to France. A few of the principal instruments, quantities purchased, and the prices paid were as follows:

Average cost, each.
1,301,476 hæmostatic forceps$1.04
284,600 tissue forceps.59
348,500 minor operating knives.57
225,000 probes.047
309,548 surgical scissors.741
2,102 general operating cases159.55
3,400 small operating cases45.30
10,000 instrument cases for officers' belts5.28
300,000 enlisted men's belt cases1.35

Each general operating case contains more than 50 instruments and the small operating case more than 30 instruments, and in these two items alone are more than 207,000 forgings, practically all handwork.

The quantity of surgical dressings used in peace times was relatively small, so that the sources for supplying this material had to be increased enormously. To do this the Government went out into the cotton goods industry and induced such concerns as curtain makers and manufacturers of waists and white goods to make bandages for surgical uses. The Government obtained the raw material, gray gauze, and turned it over to the various manufacturers for bleaching, cutting, sterilizing, and packing in the necessary cartons.

Among other items during the last year of the war a total of 12,000,000 individual dressing packets were purchased and 795,000 boxes of gauze bandages, 574,400,000 yards of bandage, 10,000,000 first-aid packets, and 108,000,000 yards of gauze. During the same period a total quantity of 3,814,000 pounds of absorbent cotton was also bought.

Among the miscellaneous items obtained were approximately 1,600,000 blankets, 258,000 litters, and over 1,000,000 clinical thermometers. The rate of output of clinical thermometers was not all that the Medical Department thought it should be, and as a result a large quantity of thermometers was obtained on mandatory orders.

The heaviest buying period during the war was between July 1 and November 30, 1918. The supplies purchased or ordered in that period were the following, with their costs:

Medicines, antiseptics, and disinfectants$19,728,715
Hospital furniture and equipment8,220,297
Hospital supplies, textiles69,321,787
Hospital supplies, miscellaneous1,808,465
Surgical instruments$6,576,238
Surgical dressings75,762,383
X-ray equipment and supplies2,466,089
Dental equipment and supplies4,932,178
Laboratory equipment and supplies2,301,683
Veterinary equipment and supplies3,258,119
Motor ambulances and supplies25,625,000

It is interesting to note that the purchases made in France for the Medical Department consisted mostly of large and bulky items, mainly hospital furniture and equipment, which, if transported from the United States, would necessitate the use of considerable valuable cargo space. Foreign purchases were made primarily to save ship space and not because of any shortage or failure to function in this country.

Although America is famous throughout the world for her dentists and dentistry, yet the participation of this country in the war created a demand for dental supplies that the American manufacturing facilities in existence in 1917 were unable to fill. For that reason it was necessary to extend the production capacity. The manufacturers in the trade rose to the occasion, and as a result the Government was able to supply to the A. E. F. from the United States all dental materials required, the only purchases made in France being of exceedingly bulky apparatus.

The total amount allotted for dental supplies for an army of 5,000,000 men in 1919 was $6,256,482. During the five months between July 1 and November 30, 1918, the dental purchases amounted to approximately $5,000,000.

The six leading dental items purchased by the Medical Department and the quantity and cost of each were as follows:

Items.Quantity.Cost, each.
Tooth-extracting forceps47,319$2.86
Dental Chairs:
Hospital Equipment1,112167.06
Portable3,20049.00
Lathes:
Unique11010.00
Electric7043.96
Fountain cuspidors1,25332.51
Burs3,836,776.081
Engines:
Portable1,79063.00
Electric814122.80

CHAPTER VI.
SALVAGE.

Tables of statistics are apt to be tiresome affairs; but in the annals of the War Department, as part of the record of the American Army in the great war, there is a table of statistics that is replete with human interest. This is the table which depicts the activities of the salvage operations of the Army, both at home and abroad.

Until the war came to America and brought to us the necessity of being provident, thrift and economy could not be called characteristic American qualities. As virtues in the individual we were apt to despise them. Paris can live on what New York throws away, runs the old saying. For the prudent man we invented opprobrious names. Such names and phrases were but the surface outcroppings of a national tendency to be wasteful.

But the war came along to put a stop to waste and to raise thrift high in the esteem of America. Partly because of the mounting prices of food and clothing and partly because of well-organized and well-conducted propaganda on the part of various agencies of the Government, chief among them being the United States Food Administration and the Liberty Bond and War Saving Stamp organizations of the Treasury Department, America began to practice economy in the use of materials.

How much of the credit for the change can be claimed by the Government itself we may never know; but this may be said—in urging the people to save materials in their own homes, the Government did not, as it had done in previous wars, allow the traditional wastes of military campaigns. The Government practiced what it preached. It cleaned up its own back yard and utilized every scrap of useful material. It mended the shoes and clothing of the Army; it darned the socks; it tinkered the tin cans; it starved the garbage pails by economy in the mess kitchens and recovered the valuable components of garbage at rendering plants; it collected the junk; it swept the stables and put the manure on the land, and then produced crops from the increased fertility. All of these adventures in conservation and reclamation were known to the Army simply as Salvage; which after all was but the scientific attention which the Army paid to the "p's" and "q's" of military housekeeping—it was household economy on the scale of a family of 3,500,000 members.

The figures of the Army's thrift are most impressive. The figures of our war salvage are as follows:

Financial summary of the activities of the salvage service in France for 1918.
Depots and shops.Kitchen economics branch.
Month.Value of output.Month.Recoveries.
JanuaryNo record.May$1,350.65
FebruaryNo record.June17,881.03
March$850,000.00July74,167.31
April900,000.00August23,581.20
May1,500,000.00September35,677.03
June2,000,000.00October109,013.84
July3,500,000.00November120,158.63
August5,500,000.00December92,685.43
September7,251,512.40Total474,515.12
October8,007,980.39
November8,072,042.08
December9,436,839.14
Total47,018,374.01
October$8,000,000.00
November4,000,000.00
December3,100,000.00
Total15,100,000.00
Value of output, depots and shops$47,018,374.01
Battle-field recoveries15,100,000.00
Kitchen economies474,515.12
Waste sales39,680.23
Rubber salvaged, 1,591,585 pounds, at estimated value of 10 cents per pound159,156.50
Wool cloth shipped to British, 359,920 pounds, at estimated value of 20 cents per pound71,984.00
Lumber salvaged, 1,737,940 board feet69,025.20
Total62,932,735.06
Financial summary of the activities of the salvage service in the United State from Apr. 1to Dec. 31, 1918.
Activity.Total articles.Estimated cost of service.Estimated value reclaimed articles.Estimated net saving.
Clothing, shoe, and hat repair12,635,458$7,103,940.00$37,632,158.05$30,528,218.05
Cot repair486,892779,027.201,752,811.20973,784.00
Canvas repair122,480611,900.003,023,418.792,411,518.79
Total33,913,520.84
Dry-cleaning operations4,686,4152,247,292.52[35]166,233.29
Government laundry operations72,263,9641,888,823.93[36]3,115,847.311,227,023.38
Grand total35,306,777.51
DISPOSITION OF WASTE MATERIAL.
Estimated value of material turned over to organisations941,709.00
Cash sales:
Scrap material from June 1 to Dec. 31 $1,194,395.01
Garbage, May 1 to Dec 31 414,832.60
Dead animals, May 1 to Dec. 31 7,043.91
Manure, May 1 to Dec. 31 225,227.29
Condemned hay, straw, etc., May 1 to Dec. 3150,158.92
Total1,891,657.73
Farm products invoiced to quartermaster, May 1 to Dec. 31107,271.79
Estimated net saving to Government38,247,416.03

[35] On articles dry cleaned in Government shops.

[36] Receipts and operating credits.

A consolidation of these figures shows that the total amount returned to the Government in money value by the savings of the salvage service of the Army for the single calendar year of 1918 was $101,180,151. With this figure some interesting comparisons may be made.

In 1912, to meet every expense of the American standing Army, Congress appropriated $99,676,767.43; in 1913 the appropriations were $100,292,855.04. Salvage, reclaiming the materials once wasted and using them over again, saved enough in 1918 to have maintained the entire Military Establishment in 1912 or 1913.

But there is even a more striking comparison. During the fiscal year of 1898—the Spanish-American War year—the entire appropriations for the support of the Army amounted to $70,394,739.96. Salvage in 1918 saved $30,000,000 more than was appropriated to fight the Spanish-American War up to July 1, 1898, at which date the fighting was nearly over.

Take the cost of clothing the Army raised to fight against Spain, and add to it the appropriations for clothing the Army and equipping it with shoes, leather and rubber goods, and textile equipment for the years 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, and 1917, and you have a total Government expenditure of $100,050,271.65. The savings of salvage in 1918 could pay this entire cost with $1,129,880 to spare.

It cost $20,280,000 for the clothing and equipage of the Army for the year ending June 30, 1917, at which date the war with Germany had begun. Salvage in the United States alone in 1918 saved to the Government $17,967,416 more than this appropriation.

Salvage undertakings touched intimately every soldier in the Army. This service which taught economy in the use of materials could with equal facility operate a laundry or dry-cleaning plant, or run a farm, or drive a good bargain in the sale of junk, or return goods that did not meet specifications and be reimbursed for them.

Wherever the experts of the service saw a leak through which the Government's money might flow out, they plugged it. An innovation in warfare as we knew it, it had to fight its way against prejudice at the start, but it developed what formerly was waste and a liability into a tremendous asset. Yet when the armistice came salvage had only commenced to show its possibilities. It had merely scratched the surface, but it had opened up unlimited fields for utilizing worn-out or unserviceable products or by-products of war. It had saved thousands of tons of shipping space in the transportation of supplies to the American Expeditionary Forces by using over again in France the things that otherwise would have had to be replaced by new; it saved this tonnage at the time when every ton saved counted heavily. In this and in the saving of materials at a time when all the raw materials of the earth would scarcely meet the insatiable demands of Moloch, the value of salvage can scarcely be measured by the money figures of its record.

SALVAGE IN THE UNITED STATES.

War salvage in the United States started on October 5, 1917, when the conservation branch was created in the Quartermaster Department. It started with an executive force of two commissioned officers and one stenographer. When the armistice was signed about 13 months later, the salvage service in the United States alone had a force of approximately 500 commissioned officers, 20,000 enlisted men, and 2,000 civilian employees.

In this period the method of clothing and feeding the American soldier had been revolutionized. The old way was to issue a uniform to a soldier and hold him responsible for the repair and cleaning of it. He owned his uniform and had to keep it in good condition at his own expense out of the $15 per month the Government paid him. The new way was for the Government itself to retain ownership of the uniform and to repair and clean it at public expense. The soldier was required to pay only for his laundry work at a uniform charge of $1 per month, much under what he would have had to pay at commercial rates.

Formerly the soldier had to repair his own shoes. The soldier prefers repaired shoes to new ones for campaign service because the former are broken in and are comfortable. After the salvage service was established the Government retained ownership of Army shoes and repaired them at Government expense.

Once the Army seldom conducted sales of the boxes and crates in which supplies were packed. Salvage undertook such sales, thereby bringing considerable revenue to the Army.

But in these and similar economies, it was not so much the saving of money that was important as it was the saving of materials at a time when the supply of all materials was scarcely adequate to the war demands. When our troops first reached France the officers were surprised at the emphasis placed upon salvage operations by the British and French armies. They were soon to learn that salvage was stressed because it supplied materials which were scarce. Glycerine, a component of high explosives, had become so short in supply that the British Ministry of Munitions paid as much as $1,250 a ton for it. The British army distilled its garbage and procured from the operation glycerine at a cost of $250 per ton. This was a financial saving of $1,000 a ton; but, more important, it supplied glycerine at the time when money did not count. The British Ministry of Munitions got the glycerine, which meant explosives for use against the Germans, which was the main thing.

The British appreciated the importance of salvage so much that one of the officers sent with the British mission to the United States early in the war was a salvage expert, included in the mission so that we might early have the benefit of the British experience in this work.

Although the salvage service of America was authorized in the autumn of 1917, it was not until winter was declining into the spring of 1918 that the service became a working organization fully clothed with authority. Consequently its record was accomplished within a period of 9 or 10 months. The purpose and ideals of the service were embodied in its code, known as special regulations No. 77, promulgating rules and regulations for the conservation and reclamation of Army supplies and materials. The principal provisions of these regulations were as follows:

These regulations likewise—

Thus it may be seen that special regulations No. 77 were not only a charter for the salvage service but a code of conduct in economy and thrift for the soldier of the American Army. Although the regulations did not become official until midsummer of 1918, they had a profound effect in the few months before the fighting in Europe came to an end.

Prior to July 1, 1918, all reports of garbage collection, etc., in the military camps in this country indicated that the American soldier in training wasted on the average of 2 pounds of food per day. This was not excessive, judged by civilian standards, since our large cities, a great part of whose population are fed not nearly so well as soldiers were fed in the camps, show a food waste nearly as great. But the camp waste of food was regarded as excessive by the salvage officers. Special regulations No. 77 contained minute directions for conserving food in the camp kitchens. The result of these regulations was that in the four-month period beginning July 1, 1918, the average mess waste per man in the camps fell to 0.3 of a pound per day. Since there was an average strength of 1,500,000 men in training during these four months, the reduction of waste amounted to many thousands of tons of food.

These regulations also set up a salvage equipment for the use of the Army. As a rule each camp had a shoe-repair shop large enough to fix 400 to 500 pairs of shoes per day; a clothing-repair shop large enough to take care of the everyday mending of 30,000 troops; a hat-repair shop sufficient in size to restore the headgear of 30,000 men; and other miscellaneous shops.

But at the change of seasons there could be expected an exceptionally large turn in of worn-out clothing, and to handle these periodical floods of garments large base salvage plants were established at Fort Sam Houston, Tex.; Washington, D. C.; Atlanta, Ga.; New York City; Philadelphia; El Paso; and Newport News, Va.; with a base salvage plant for rejuvenating shoes at Jeffersonville, Ind. Smaller base plants were established at Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco, and at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., and at Alcatraz Island, Calif. Other base plants to receive and classify and dispose of waste materials were established at New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, Fort Sam Houston, and Atlanta.

The shoe-salvage base plant at Jeffersonville Depot was more than a repair shop in the accepted sense of the term, for it became one of the most complete shoe factories to be found anywhere in the country. When this shop was being projected as a plant to take care of the overflow of worn shoes from the camps and depots, the United Shoe Machinery Co. agreed to furnish machinery sufficient to repair 2,000 pairs of shoes a day, supplying this equipment for a period of six months without any expense to the Government, except upkeep and the cost of supplies.

At the Jeffersonville shop shoes went through the mill from department to department much as machines are assembled in the familiar quantity-production manner. Shoes arriving were first counted, and then sorted and graded as follows:

The shoes arriving at this plant were in a condition that would have resulted in their being discarded altogether in the old days. The experience at Jeffersonville showed that 65 of each 100 pairs arriving at the factory could be repaired, and repaired cheaply. In January, 1919, of 132,112 pairs of shoes sorted, 45,000 were in irreparable condition and had to be thrown away. There were 11,475 pairs of class 2 shoes, 74,362 pairs of class 3, and 1,175 pairs of class 4.

From the sorting room the shoes went to the wash room, where they were disinfected and cleaned in a bath containing a solution of 40 ounces of formaldehyde and 1 pound of castile soap to each 10 gallons of water. After being washed the shoes were placed on rolling racks, each rack holding 24 pairs of the same size and width. The loaded racks were wheeled to the lasting section where lasts were inserted according to sizes.

Next, machines cut off the worn portions of the old heels, after which the shoes went to the stripping bench, where the old soles were removed and the shank pieces skived to prepare a smooth joint for the new half sole. The next process was welting. The welts were prepared, and tarred felt was glued to the old inner sole to fill out uneven parts and prevent squeaking. The next operation was to lay on the half sole in a setting of rubber cement. Another machine rough rounded the soles to conform with the shape of the shoes.

Then the shoes reached the stitching machines, where the soles were sewed on, and then the leveling machines, which smoothed out the wrinkles of the inner soles. The next step brought them to the heeling machines, where the complete heels were attached in one motion. Next, machinery for nailing soles and heels, and then the trimming machinery for smoothing off the work. The final mechanical operation was on the scouring and finishing machines. Meanwhile, if the shoes needed patching on the uppers, this work was done by women operating sewing machines.

The final process was to give the field shoe a thorough coat of waterproof dubbin. A good polish was put on the russet shoes. A split leather insole was inserted in each shoe to insure perfect smoothness of the bottom. A pair of laces was tied to each pair of shoes, and then the shoes were packed in boxes of 24 pairs each and turned in to the Army stores.

The Jeffersonville shop repaired 222,135 pairs of shoes in seven months of operation. Thousands of pairs of shoes were discovered to have been fitted too short. This was shown by the fact that many of the shoes were worn out entirely in the toes. A shoe that is too long will turn up at the toes, while one that is too short will stub with nearly every step taken.

On August 8, 1918, the Secretary of War authorized the expenditure of $5,287,852 for the construction of laundries to serve from 20,000 to 40,000 men in each of 20 camps and posts. About this same time repair shops were authorized at each of the training camps and special dry-cleaning plants at Atlanta, Fort Sam Houston, El Paso, and Alcatraz Island. Before the armistice was signed many of these plants were in operation. In addition to these the salvage service eventually operated printing plants, wagon repair shops, and carpentry shops, so that at the time the armistice was signed there was hardly anything of quartermaster issue not subject to rehabilitation by the salvage division.

Each shoe-repair shop at the training camps had equipment sufficient to repair 500 pairs of shoes per day, utilizing the services of 40 to 50 men. When the shops were officially authorized, an inventory of the Army's old shoes showed there were approximately 1,500,000 pairs on hand in need of rehabilitation. In order to assist the camp shops in the work, the salvage service brought between 50 and 55 shoe factories into the reclamation effort, these private factories repairing about 500,000 pairs until the camp shops were able to catch up.

Because of the shortage of linen thread it was decided to use nails for attaching half soles, particularly in the repair shops in France. More than 2,500 nailing machines were bought and shipped to the American Expeditionary Forces. The American Expeditionary Forces adopted the English system of company cobblers and regimental repair shops. Upward of 11,000 cobblers' kits were shipped to France. In July, 1918, the American Expeditionary Forces requested machinery for a base shoe-repair plant in France. This machinery was shipped considerably before hostilities ceased.

The service maintained a corps of civilian instructors, who traveled from camp to camp and improved the efficiency of the Army cobbling. The accumulation of worn shoes at the embarkation camps was sent to various contractors for repairs. By November, 1918, the shoe-repair facilities of the Army had reached full operation, 500,000 pairs of shoes being repaired that month, a figure representing all the repairing required by 1,500,000 men. All shoe-repairing activities were under the direction of Philip H. Fraher, who was assisted by Joseph Caunt, of Pasadena, Calif., a retired shoe manufacturer with a wide experience both in this country and in England.

In its clothing-repair activities the salvage service dry-cleaned uniforms and woolen equipment, repaired and renovated hats, and reclaimed outer clothing and underclothing.

For the first time in dry-cleaning history, a method was worked out to destroy all living organisms and a considerable amount of bacteria, a process which is likely to have a lasting effect in the dry-cleaning industry. The specifications of this process were the result of cooperative laboratory research by the Bureau of Standards, the Public Health Service, and the salvage division. In addition to destroying germs and bacteria the process also thoroughly cleansed the garments. Experts from the salvage division were on hand to see to it that the various contractors lived up to the standard specifications. The authorized Government-owned dry-cleaning plants, which were to be the last word in what such establishments should be, were not completed, due to the signing of the armistice. Dr. Harry E. Mechling, a graduate physician and president of the Swiss Cleaners & Dyers, of Louisville, Ky., was in charge of the Army's dry-cleaning activities.

In the repair of clothing the service received much assistance from the Red Cross. Local Red Cross units in the vicinity of camps worked in conjunction with the officers of the salvage service in the reclamation of such garments as woolen shirts, underclothing, sweaters, helmets, socks, and gloves.

The base salvage plants at Atlanta and Fort Sam Houston reached a high state of efficiency in the repair of clothing. Shipment after shipment was made from such congested centers as Newport News and Hoboken to these plants, and within a comparatively short time the property was ready for reshipment and reissue. Capt. Harvey A. Rosenthal, a graduate of the first officers' training school, and in civil life in the clothing business, was in charge of clothing repairs.

All of the camps had shops for renovating and repairing hats. The average cost for repairing a hat was 35 cents, whereas the lowest contract price was 65 cents, and the quality of work at the Government shops was far better than that obtained from private contractors.

The following table gives an idea of the approximate saving to the Government in hat-repair operations:

Place.Quantity.Cost of repair of each.Estimated total cost.
Government shop181,764$0.35$63,617.00
Contract539,495.65350,671.00
721,259414,288.00
Estimated value of hats made serviceable $1,000,746
Estimated net saving 586,468
Cost of 721,259 new hats 1,334,329

Mr. E. Leroy Cummings, of the John B. Stetson Co., of Philadelphia, was in charge of hat-repair activities.

Extensive repairs to canvas materials were confined to the base plants at Philadelphia, El Paso, Fort Sam Houston, and Atlanta, and, on a smaller scale, at Jeffersonville. Minor repairs were conducted at camp shops, some of which were only in the course of construction when the armistice was signed. Tents were generally reconditioned while standing. Patches to tents were attached by means of a nitrocellulose cement, the best cement for the purpose which the salvage service found, being called vanite. Experiments at the Bureau of Chemistry resulted in the adoption of three waterproofing compounds named Preservol, Candeline, and Truscon. These compounds were applied to both standing tents and tents which had been taken down, with complete and effective results.

Laundering was not a new activity for the War Department, since when the war was declared the Government already owned 14 small steam laundries. Later the Government went into the laundry business on the scale demanded by the great chain of training camps, building cantonment laundries at a cost of approximately $300,000 each. Experienced laundrymen were placed in charge of camp laundries. Through the cooperation with the Government's insect experts of the Bureau of Entomology, laundering processes were worked out successfully to disinfect all clothing while washing it and to free it from vermin without shrinking fabrics or causing other damage. Government laundries during the war operated 24 hours per day with three labor shifts and cleaned an average of 10,909,850 pieces of clothing monthly, with gross receipts of over $500,000 per month, approximately half of which was profit.

One of the most interesting features of laundry activity was the development of mobile laundry units for overseas use near the front. The men to operate these units were trained in a special school at Camp Meigs, D. C. Each mobile unit required a crew of 37 men. The men of the Army nicknamed these special troops the "Fighting Chinamen."

The need of the American Expeditionary Forces for wash-up and delousing stations at the front, so that even troops engaged in battle might have clean clothes, called the mobile laundry units into being. The first experimental equipment was designed and constructed early in 1918. After that the salvage service produced 50 others, 32 of which were shipped to France.

Each unit consisted of a large steam tractor and four trailers, an outfit which on the road made up a train over 100 feet long. The trailers could be placed together in the field to form a building 30 feet long and 28 feet wide, the tractor acting as the power plant. On the trailers were washing machines, wringers, drying machines, tanks for water and soap, a pump, and a dynamo to supply electric lights. One of these plants working 24 hours per day could do the washing of 10,000 men. This unit was designed by officers of the salvage division.

ONE OF THE ARMY'S MOBILE LAUNDRIES.

INTERIOR VIEW OF MOBILE LAUNDRY.

SALVAGING ARMY HATS IN FRANCE.

This photo was taken at Tours, France, 1 February, 1918.

SALVAGING ARMY SHOES IN FRANCE.

Picture taken at Tours in March, 1918, showing a few shoes worn out by the soldiers overseas.

Army laundry activity was in charge of three New York laundrymen: J. E. Dann, president of the Pilgrim Laundry, of Brooklyn, and his assistants, William Longfelder, of H. Kohnstamn & Co., and E. D. Tribbett, of the American Laundry Machinery Co.

Wherever possible waste materials were reclaimed for use by the Army instead of being sold as junk. This was particularly true of bags and burlap. Hundreds of thousands of bags and great quantities of burlap furnished by the salvage division were utilized for army purposes. Without salvage, all of this would have been thrown away or sold at junk prices. When the fighting ended the base salvage plant at Chicago was being equipped to repair about 15,000 bags daily.

The purpose of garbage separation was threefold—the reduction of mess waste, the increase in revenue to the Government, and the recovery of glycerine contents for military purposes. Before the war with Germany the Army regulations required the burning of garbage at camps. When the great training camps were established, the Government adopted generally the policy of selling garbage to contractors, except at Camps Fremont, Hancock, McClellan, Sevier, and Shelby, where it was incinerated. Originally contracts had been let on a per-man basis, the contracts extending for several months, comparable to municipal contracts for the disposal of garbage. Later on, however, the policy was adopted of letting contracts for periods of one month only, since the number of men at the camps was continually increasing, and the garbage grew correspondingly bulkier. It is estimated that this change in contracting saved the Government considerably over $400,000. Contract sale prices ranged from 1 cent to 9 cents per man per month, the latter price in most cases including the manure from the stables.

With a view to obtaining glycerine, the War Department authorized the construction of 16 garbage-rendering plants at the larger concentration centers, but only one, that at Camp Lee, was actually constructed, since it was determined later by an investigation of our national resources that the amount of glycerine to be obtained in this manner did not justify the expenditure of the money. Also the project of establishing piggeries at camps was abandoned, after investigation by the salvage service, since it would have required 18 months to clear the investment, and in the meantime the Government would have been deprived of revenue from the sale of garbage.

The disposition of waste materials was under the direction of Louis Birkenstein, of Chicago, assisted by R. D. Cunningham, of Troy, N. Y.

In response to an insistent demand that farms be operated at various camps, the salvage division, on May 15, 1918, secured $60,000 from the vocational fund for the training of soldiers and allotted sums to 15 camps.

On November 4, 1918, Congress appropriated $250,000 for the same purpose, but little of this money was expended. The total acreage under cultivation in 1918 was 3,483, and the equivalent revenue derived from the camp farms amounted to $108,000. The farm work was under the direction of Capt. Henry G. Parsons, a practical and scientific farmer.

Salvage activities, in general, in the United States were under the direction of Philip W. Wrenn, who was chief of the salvage division during the most active period of its existence.

SALVAGE IN FRANCE.

Salvage in France was under the direction of the chief quartermaster with the American Expeditionary Forces. At first, it was undertaken in a smattering way, but as the American Army grew in size, salvage increased, until the salvage service became one of the features in the field, with thousands of men and women working in salvage activities, with salvage plants, branches, and depots, large and small, saving, repairing, conserving, and putting into shape, ready for reissue, materials of all sorts and descriptions. The word "salvage" became the watchword and pride of many an organization at the front.

Each field army had its chief salvage officer. Each division of troops had its salvage organization under a salvage officer. Each organization had its salvage dump, in which it took a just pride, and there was a spirit of friendly rivalry between different organizations as to which could save the most for the Government.

In the flood times of battle, when waste materials piled up on the fields, the regular salvage specialists were assisted in various ways. In some divisions the regimental bands were designated to act as emergency salvage companies. Sometimes after an engagement whole battalions and regiments were enlisted to clean up an area, and there is one instance on record where a wise general of the American Expeditionary Forces turned out his entire field army to clean up for salvage the area which it had just won from the enemy. The salvage service in France handled not only the recovery of quartermaster supplies, but it also collected and disposed of all materials captured from the enemy, including ordnance materials, and also all materials abandoned by our own troops and found on the battle fields. When troops moved into combat they took with them only such equipment as they could carry on their backs or on the meager transportation facilities allowed. Thus they frequently left behind them an enormous quantity of their possessions; including personal baggage. The salvage units went through such areas, visited every billet, and collected all Government and personal property and cared for it. As an indication of the magnitude of this work, there was one salvage dump in France 40 acres in area piled as high as goods could be thrown from trucks.

The salvage operations in France were conducted over an area of 4,000 square miles, and there were approximately 4,000 men in the salvage service field force. The various salvage depots and shops in France occupied a floor space of 736,000 square feet and had a personnel of 11,632 on December 31, 1918. Even before the war, the Quartermaster Corps of the Army was a good-sized organization, yet there were more French women and girls mending clothing for the American Army in France at one time than there were commissioned officers and enlisted men in the whole Quartermaster Service before the war.

Clothing generally for the American troops in France was repaired at special shops and at the homes of seamstresses in the small towns and communes. Each town had a forewoman who distributed the damaged clothing, after it had been disinfected and laundered, and kept all counts. There were 880 of these home workers, nearly all of them from needy families. The best record for darning socks was made by an old French grandmére, aged more than 80.

Numerous soldiers were discovered in the American Expeditionary Forces who were unfit physically for the hard service on the front line. These were permitted to go into the various salvage depots and shops, where they learned to be shoemakers, harness makers, saddle makers, wood workers, painters, metal workers, tailors, laundrymen, electricians, mechanics, checkers, warehousemen, etc., occupations in which many of them expected to engage after their separation from the military service.

The salvage troops in France were in five classes—the salvage headquarter detachments, depot battalions, field salvage battalions, laundry units, and the clothing and bathing units. One of the last named was attached to each division to handle field bathhouses and delousing and disinfecting plants, to receive old clothes, and to issue new or reclaimed serviceable garments.

The ordnance property salvaged in the field in the period between January 1, to October 31, 1918, included 5,000,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition, 71,909 shell of the 75-millimeter size, and 16,195 of the 155-millimeter size, more than 32,000 rifles, and 21,000 machine guns and automatic rifles. The unexploded or "dud" shell is a menace to life, and the duty of destroying these in immense quantities fell to the salvage service.

Some of the salvage squads in the field were composed of men who through lack of education or lack of knowledge of the English language were unable to do front-line service. They were largely composed of American troops of alien birth.

The divisional salvage squads sorted the materials at the railhead dumps for shipment to the various depots. When trucks brought up supplies to the front and unloaded, the salvage detachments there filled them up again with all sorts of materials which had been picked up, and the trucks carried their loads back to the railheads, the railroad stations of the division. This queer conglomeration of trash consisted of everything from a hairbrush to a 77-millimeter enemy gun. To show the sorts of articles that are picked up in an area over which an army has fought, there is given here the following list of items selected at random from the check of a salvage shipment from the railhead of the Twenty-sixth Division on August 12, 1918:

The kitchen economics branch of the salvage branch of the American Expeditionary Forces in the recovery of fats and glycerine and other kitchen by-products during the month of September, 1918, saved $57,404.19 to the Government. The value was increased in October to $109,013.84, and in November to $120,158.63. In addition to this saving, kitchen salvage in October produced over 25,000 pounds of grease and over 14,000 pounds of dubbin for waterproofing shoes. This branch of the service also had the disposition of unserviceable food supplies, entailing the salvage of large quantities of flour, sugar, rice, and beans damaged in transportation or injured by exposure to weather so as to become unfitted for troops. Such vegetables as peas and canned corn, unsatisfactory for use, were dried and ground and sold for chicken feed or hog feed, bringing in a considerable revenue.

The question of laundering for the field hospitals, particularly after hard fighting, was a vital one. During the month of December, 1918, a total of 7,811,566 pieces of laundry was handled by the laundry branch of the salvage service. This included 3,700,000 pieces for the hospitals alone. The American Expeditionary Forces were required to establish three large shops for mending clothing sent to the laundries.

OUTPOST AND FIELD WIRE SALVAGED FROM BATTLE AREA, GIEVRES, FRANCE.

PORTION OF OPEN STORAGE YARD. SAPPINETS FOR TEMPORARY LINES IN FOREGROUND, CABLE REELS IN BACKGROUND.

GERMAN PRISONERS WORKING FARM LAND.

100 SOLDIERS HARVESTING SNAP BEANS AT CAMP GORDON FARM NEAR ATLANTA, GA.

The salvage service in France rendered a peculiar service in being the repository for lost articles. The baggage branch of the salvage service worked in close cooperation with the Army transportation service, railroad transportation service, the central records office, the graves registration service, the effects depot, the French railroad officials, and other agencies which might assist them to recover and handle all lost baggage for the members of the American Expeditionary Forces or for their heirs in the United States.

The garden service of the American Expeditionary Forces was operated as a separate branch of the Quartermaster Corps, but a word about its work may not be amiss here. In addition to gardens at the camps and hospitals in France, there was a large central farm at Versailles, near Paris, where American officers and men were assembled to learn intensive farming before being sent to the various stations to assume charge of garden work. This service was composed entirely of men who had been wounded or gassed, or were otherwise physically unfit for service at the front. The garden operations provided welcome additions of fresh vegetables to the American Expeditionary Forces' diet and also gave many Americans an insight of the French methods of intensive farming.

The 85,000 German helmets used in advertising the American Government's fifth war loan—the Victory loan of April, 1919—were all collected and shipped to the United States by the salvage service of the American Expeditionary Forces. In fact the immense quantities of dunnage and junk collected by the service are expected to be of untold historic value as time goes on. Various historical societies and museums are taking steps to secure collections of this war material.

Civilians in Europe are now wearing shoes built originally for American troops, later worn out by them, and still later reconditioned by the salvage service in France. A large number of these shoes recently sold for approximately $4.30 a pair. Since the average total cost to repair shoes was $1.05 a pair, the Government realized a net gain of $3.25 from every pair of these shoes.

In connection with the conservation of waste materials the salvage service conducted a considerable manufacturing enterprise in France. It turned waste into a large number of small articles, such as metal markers for graves or effects of deceased soldiers, sheet tin (this from discarded tin containers) for lining the stables at the remount depots, large shipping bags, cement sacks, collar ornaments, divisional insignia, brassards, overseas caps, guidons, curtains for engine cabs, and many other things. The service took discarded campaign hats and old uniform and overcoat cloth and made hospital slippers with cloth tops and felt soles.

Such things as waste cotton scrap, waste paper, shredded rope, tin cans, and woolen rags collected in France were saved and sold, but nothing was sold that could be utilized for repairing or manufacturing purposes. Leather scrap was used to make leather straps or shoe laces, and the worst of the leather scrap was burned at the power plants of the salvage depots as a fair substitute for coal. Old harness, books, small scraps, leather washers, and the like, canvas and burlap scrap, went to the camouflage screen makers. Woolen rags were shredded and used over again for making cloth. Cotton rags too poor for other purposes went to the paper mills. Rubber scrap became new rubber material. Nothing which had a value was allowed to go to waste.

The salvage depot at Tours, France, alone in the period from March to November, 1918, inclusive, produced goods to the value of $19,383,353.58, at a total expense of $268,955.37, giving the Government a net profit of $19,114,398.21.

The value of all this work went far beyond the value of the figures in dollars and cents, which is the only concrete way in which it can be expressed. The saving in raw material alone which it effected was an important factor in the war; yet of even greater service was the salvage production of materials, particularly ordnance materials, which took much time to manufacture at home and after that required a long haul to get them to the American Expeditionary Forces. Some of the materials recovered on the battle field were scarce and hard to get, and every pound of them recovered added that much to the power of the American Army in France.

BOOK VI.
THE CONSTRUCTION DIVISION.

CHAPTER I.
CANTONMENTS AND CAMPS.

As soon as America had arranged to raise an army by selective conscription, the Government proceeded to provide living quarters for the soldiers to be mobilized for training.

This was a job magnificent in its proportions, carried out with a speed that was little short of magical. At 16 points, widely scattered over the country, the construction expert and the civil engineer struck the earth with their potent wands; workmen swarmed forth; the staccato of myriads of hammers and the whine of saws merged into a rolling chorus of industry; and 16 new cities arose—almost overnight, it seemed—built of wood to be sure, raw and unpainted it is true, but snug and taut and equipped with every necessary convenience known to the dwellers of modern American cities.

The United States had been wont to measure other public works by that of the Panama Canal, which had been the largest construction operation ever undertaken by America, or any other nation, prior to the great war. The construction cost of the Panama Canal was approximately $375,000,000 and the operation continued over a period of 10 years. The 16 cantonments for the National Army and the 16 camps for the National Guard cost about seven-tenths as much as the Panama Canal, but they were completed in shorter time than it takes to build an ordinary suburban dwelling house.

The science of warfare had made mighty strides since America's last great war, that of 1861 to 1865, but in no respect more than in those matters relating to the individual soldier's comfort and bodily welfare. The soldier of 1863 lived in a tent, or in the chance shelter of a billet. When the weather was cold he might alternately toast and congeal at his camp fire, and at night he rolled himself in his blanket and reposed on a pallet of straw.

His grandson warrior who went to the training camp in 1917 found life comfortable in a substantial barrack, warmed with steam heat or stoves. A good mattress on a hygienic metal bed wooed his slumbers after a hard day of training.

The soldier of 1861 bathed where he could and when he could. He of 1917 kept clean daily under the shower bath. The soldier of 1861 slaked his thirst at neighboring wells or streams; and water-borne diseases, such as typhoid fever, reaped a harvest of lives. His successor drank water which was tested and filtered, sterilized when necessary, and the once fatal epidemics of armies were kept away from his cantonment. This water, moreover, came to him in a pipe under a pressure sufficient to throw a stream from a nozzle clear over his barrack, an efficient safeguard against the fire that might destroy his wooden city.

The soldier in the Civil War washed out his own clothing on the infrequent occasions when he possessed both water and leisure. The National Army recruit received his khaki immaculate from a modern laundry equipped with the latest types of labor-saving machinery. The latter's grandfather suffered from scurvy because of the limitations of his diet. The soldier of 1917 ate tender beef and green vegetables kept fresh in ammonia-cooled refrigerators. The fighter of 1861 relished the hoecake baked in the ashes; his successor partook of white bread fresh from camp ovens.

The camps of 1861 were arranged in haphazard fashion; those of 1917 were laid out by expert city planners. In the spring the soldier of 1861 waded and toiled through mud; the soldier of 1917 walked dry-shod upon walks or drove his autotruck upon macadamized or concrete or brick camp roads. The illumination of the camps of 1861 was the light of the stars and the bivouac fires; the 1917 barracks were built along streets radiant with electrical incandescence. For amusement the soldiers of 1861 had their campfire choruses and rough military sports, but the private in the National Army had the theater, the motion picture, a library of good reading matter, the Y. M. C. A. and similar clubhouses, the gymnasium, the post exchange where he could buy periodicals, candy, fruit, and other small luxuries.

And so the contrast might be carried along. The marvel of the cantonments of 1917 was not that a grateful Republic gave to its conscripted soldiers the conveniences of existence enjoyed by all urban communities, but that it provided them in such short time. Ninety days after the first spade struck into the ground the cantonments were ready to receive two-thirds of their men, while one or two of the largest of all were complete in every essential respect.

The houses of the National Army and the National Guard went up at the rate of $2,000,000 a day. It is almost impossible to visualize this speed or to comprehend the feat of nailing fifteen hundred and some odd million board feet of lumber into place in about three months, or that of stringing wire in that time in length sufficient to reach from New York to San Francisco and back and westward again to Cleveland, or that of tacking enough rain-tight roofing paper to make a canopy for the island of Manhattan, another for Atlantic City, with nearly a square mile of it left over.

The cantonment job took so many nails and spikes that it created an actual shortage in that industry. All of the factories in the United States that make metal pipes could not turn out enough to supply the needs of the water, sanitary, and heating systems of the cantonments, and so wooden pipes made from staves were used in most of the camps for piping water.

In the matter of lumber alone it has been computed that the total amount ordered and mobilized by the Washington office for the 32 camps would build a board walk 12 inches wide and 1 inch thick to the moon and half way back again. In addition to this vast quantity of lumber there were used in the camps and cantonments about 100,000,000 square feet of wall board—wall board being universally used instead of lath and plaster to line and ceil rooms—12,000,000 square feet of window glass, and 100,000,000 square feet of roofing. The 2,000,000,000 eight-penny nails used, if placed end to end, would girdle the earth three and one-half times. The heating systems would make a single steam radiator 100 miles long, while the heating boilers were equivalent to one boiler 6 feet in diameter and 3 miles long.

The rate of the flow of materials to the army of 200,000 workmen on the cantonment jobs gives an inkling of the speed with which they put lumber and nails together to make barracks. It took 12 heavy freight trains a day, 50 loaded cars to the train, to keep wood and metal supplies at the builders' elbows. These builders erected the camps at the rate of 30,000 tons of material a day. America had never seen construction progress to equal that.

We liken swift building to the mushroom's growth, but almost always this figure of speech is used as hyperbole. Some of the feats of the cantonment builders, however, equaled the growth of the mushroom in fact. In more than one instance at spots where the sod sparkled with dew at dawn, when the builders put away their tools at sunset there stood structures roofed and inclosed, needing only a few interior touches each to be ready to shelter 200 men.

Efficiency in war is a matter of teamwork. Every vital branch of the military organization must do its part well if the whole effort is not to fail. The weak link in the chain might well have been the construction organization of the Army, for here was an emergency job on a scale beyond anything in the experience of our greatest builders. America in her first 18 months of war was able to send to France across 3,000 miles of dangerous water more men than the United Kingdom in a similar period could send to the front over the netted and laned 40 miles of English Channel. No slight share of the credit for this achievement must go to the cantonment builders, who despite great difficulties had the housing ready for the new armies when they were called forth for training.

As soon as the United States entered the war the Government sent out the call for technical experts of all sorts. For a quarter of a century the United States had been specializing in technical training for its young men, and now in the hour of need the ability existed to conduct the war, which in its first year was to be largely a matter of construction and manufacture of equipment. There was a wonderful outpouring of these men of action, the technicians who had been building the bridges and skyscrapers of the Nation, developing its mines, providing its water systems, designing its machinery, organizing and commanding its trained and untrained workers, engaging in public and private works of every description and magnitude.

The Army prior to the 6th of April, 1917, consisted of a relatively insignificant force of men. For this Army the construction of barracks and other quarters had been in the hands of the Quartermaster General.

The officer in charge of the Construction and Repair Division of the Quartermaster General's Office was relieved of his former duties and placed by the Secretary of War in charge of a new and almost entirely independent division, reporting directly to the Secretary, called the Cantonment Division, and charged with providing the necessary construction and camp facilities for the National Army and the National Guard. This was in May, 1917, at which time the commissioned personnel of the division consisted of only three officers. This step was recommended by the General Staff, acting in accordance with the advice of civilian construction experts on the Council of National Defense.

One year later the personnel of this division had grown to 263 officers and 1,100 civilians in Washington, the best constructors, engineers, draftsmen, managers, purchasing agents, and other specialists obtainable by the Government; there were hundreds of other officers and civilian experts in the field for this organization; it had an enlisted personnel of some 16,000 men and employed over 200,000 laborers and craftsmen; it had jobs on hand, complete and incomplete, aggregating $600,000,000, or nearly twice the cost of the canal at Panama, while future works then being planned and later actually undertaken came to another $600,000,000; it had now become the Construction Division of the Army, attached directly to the office of the Secretary of War, charged with all the army construction within the United States. Such was the expansion of one branch of the Army to meet the emergency. Construction operations for the Army overseas, conducted principally with troop labor, was in charge of the Corps of Engineers.

Congress passed the selective service bill on May 18, 1917. Before the end of May the military authorities had decided to call the first levies of the National Army on September 1. The little Cantonment Division, which had in the week after its birth grown to a personnel of 30 officers and numerous civilian experts, received orders to have the camps—16 complete cities to accommodate 40,000 inhabitants each and 16 tent camps, with many incidental buildings and public utilities—ready in 90 days.

Actually the time allowed for construction was much shorter than that, for the last site was not approved until July 6. About 60 days later, on September 4, the National Army cantonments were ready for 430,000 men, two-thirds of the first draft. Although some construction, subsequently authorized, was not entirely complete until later, the cantonments nevertheless were at all times prepared to receive the conscripted soldiers faster than the Army could assimilate them.

However irksome to the impatient construction officers the interval between the time when the cantonments were ordered and the day when the last sites were approved, it was not time wasted by any means. There was much preliminary work to be done. The magnitude of the task ahead was appalling. Yet the Cantonment Division, with scarcely anything to start with, with not even the ground selected for a single camp site, must design and adopt types for buildings, mobilize materials, standardize everything possible, adopt an emergency contract that should protect the Government from the grafter and the profiteer, locate stores of materials, commandeering them if necessary, and also discover manufacturing plants capable of turning out supplies as rapidly as they were needed, build up an organization to handle the work in every detail, and be ready to start hammering in the nails on the day the materials arrived on the jobs. Actually these officers had something less than 20 days in which to accomplish this feat.

There had been, however, a measure of pioneering in several of these directions. The Council of National Defense had an organization of civilian experts in many lines gathered together in Washington to give advice to the military authorities. Through its committees the council prepared a form of contract upon what came to be known as the "cost-plus with sliding scale and fixed maximum fee" plan, which limited the cantonment contractor in each case to a maximum fee of not more than $250,000, the Army itself retaining control of the cost of materials and the wages paid to labor.

Since the cantonments cost anywhere from $8,000,000 to more than $12,000,000 each, the average fee to the contractor was slightly less than 2½ per cent, out of which the contractor had to pay overhead expenses, such as his main office expenses and the like; so it will be seen that the United States drove a close bargain with its cantonment builders in spite of the breathless haste to get the work done.

It was not until the 1st of June that the war authorities decided upon wood construction for the 16 National Army cantonments and canvas tentage for the 16 camps of the National Guard. According to the original plan, so far as could be foreseen, the cantonments were to be permanent camps to receive fresh contingents of selectives as long as the war should last, whereas after receiving its training the National Guard would go to France and leave its American camps deserted. The wood construction was much more expensive than tentage—amounting to $215 per man of the first draft, as it proved—but it was permanent; once installed it made no further demands for materials, and in convenience and comfort, especially in winter, it was far superior to tentage.

Meanwhile the Cantonment Division had designed a model barrack building, 43 feet wide and 140 long, to house 150 men, or one company, as the company was in the spring of 1917. Here, in the adoption of this model and general camp plans, there might easily have occurred in Washington a fatal indecision. Both the British and the French armies had found by experience that a company of 250 men was a more convenient size for trench warfare than a smaller one. There was some question whether the American Army would be guided by this experience. Gen. Pershing was to decide this matter, but he did not reach Europe until June 15. A weak executive control in Washington might have justified itself in waiting for this decision before starting in at full speed to build the cantonments. Those in charge of the program took upon themselves the responsibility of building the 150-man barrack, trusting to their own ability to adjust the buildings later to changed conditions. As a matter of fact, when the company unit was enlarged to 250 men, it was readily possible to house two companies in three barracks, leaving space in two of them for the kitchen and mess room. Still later the Construction Division built smaller barracks for 66 men each, providing four such barracks to the company.

Before a single site was selected the experts in Washington had designed the buildings and mapped out the future cities. America, leaving behind her the decorative atrocities of the old Victorian days, had been seeking beauty; and this yearning had produced a new profession, that of town planning. Town planners in the Construction Division grouped the 1,500 buildings required by each cantonment into two typical arrangements, known as the straight-line and the U-shape layouts. Later at each cantonment there was a town planner who adapted one or the other of these plans to his local camp topography.

The selection of camp sites was in the hands of boards of officers designated by the commanding officers of the six Army departments. Early in May these boards set forth on their quest. Then ensued a lively bidding on the part of American cities to secure cantonments for their own neighborhoods. The Government took the utmost advantage of such inducements as were offered. The city of Tacoma, Wash., sold its municipal bonds to the amount of $2,000,000 and with the proceeds bought 61,000 acres at American Lake and presented the land to the Army. This tract became the site of Camp Lewis, most beautiful of all the cantonments.

Start at 7 a. m.

10.30 a. m.

1 p. m.

5 p. m.

A DAY'S WORK IN BARRACK CONSTRUCTION.

CAMP GRANT AT ROCKFORD, ILL.

This photograph, taken from kites at an elevation of 1,000 feet, shows a typical cantonment, of which sixteen were built to train the National Army in 1917.

The site for Camp Upton, at Yaphank, Long Island, 15,198 acres, was provided for the Government at an annual rental of $1 per acre. San Diego, Calif., gave 8,000 acres at Linda Vista to the Government rent free for five years. This became the location of Camp Kearney for the National Guard. Camp Fremont, another National Guard training center, was pitched on 7,203 acres of ground donated rent free for one year by the city of San Francisco. Louisville gave the site of Camp Zachary Taylor for the National Army rent free for two years. And there were numerous other similar inducements.

In all the National Army cantonments occupied 167,741 acres which the Government obtained at an average annual rental of $3.93 per acre after the second year of occupancy. The National Guard camps covered 78,639 acres, at a rental of $112,042 the second year of occupancy and thereafter.

The clearing of the sites was no mean part of the cantonment job. The site of Camp Upton at Yaphank, Long Island, proved to be covered with underbrush, and when this was cleared off it was discovered that the remains of an old forest were still there, and stumps were thickly scattered over the entire site. These had to be blasted or pulled out before any building operations could proceed. The sites in character ranged from the sandy loam of Camp Devens, in Massachusetts, to the red clay of Virginia and South Carolina; from the farm lands of Michigan to the prairie on which was built Camp Travis, Tex. Some were flat; some rolling; all were different in shape and extent; and the layout of the camp and the arrangement of the buildings in each case had to be adapted to the local conditions by the constructing quartermaster on the job.

To give a picture of a typical cantonment, let us take Camp Grant, at Rockford, Ill., as an illustration. It cost approximately $11,000,000; it could accommodate 45,000 men and 12,000 horses; its buildings numbered 1,600. Water was supplied from six wells drilled 175 feet deep. There were 38 miles of water main, while the reservoir tanks could hold 550,000 gallons. Its electric lighting system entailed the use of 1,450 miles of copper wire, 1,200 poles, and 35,000 incandescent lamps.

During the construction period 50 carloads of building material were unloaded at Camp Grant every day, and an average of 500,000 board feet of lumber was put up every day over a period of weeks. In the Camp Grant schedule we find such items as 50,000,000 feet of lumber, 700 tons of nails, 4,000,000 square feet of roofing, and 3,000,000 square feet of wall board.

Only a builder of secure financial standing could handle such a construction contract. Frequently his pay roll and current bills for supplies amounted to half a million dollars in a week. Let the Government delay a few days in its payments to him and he might find himself obliged to raise a million dollars in cash on the instant to meet his immediate obligations.

To avoid such embarrassments the Construction Division adopted the policy of paying its bills the day and sometimes the hour they were incurred. At each cantonment job it stationed a disbursing officer with a checkbook. This officer reported by telegraph each night, and the next morning there was deposited to his credit in the Treasury a sum of money sufficient for his immediate needs. On numerous occasions this officer paid for materials the instant they were unloaded from the cars and checked. The Government maintained an auditing organization at each job. This organization checked and inspected all material as it was received, comparing the delivery in each case with the original order, and counted the workmen at least twice a day.

An intense rivalry sprang up in the construction of the 16 cantonments. Sixteen teams, with an average of 10,000 men on each team, began racing for the goal, which was to be 80 per cent completion by September 5, the date when the first contingents of selective soldiers were to be received by the cantonments. It was more exciting than any campaign in any professional baseball league, because the time was shorter and the stake vastly greater. The Cantonment Division kept alive this spirit of rivalry by posting each day in each cantonment the figures showing the rates of construction at all of them. The team, from the superintendents down to the humblest unskilled laborers, discussed these ratings as fans talk about the baseball averages.

The race was a close one, being won by Camp Taylor at Louisville, which was 79.4 per cent complete on the day the contest ended, lacking only six-tenths of 1 per cent of coming up to the maximum 80 per cent of completion regarded as possible in the time available. But other construction gangs were pressing that at Camp Taylor closely: Camp Travis, with 78.6 per cent of completion at the end of the contest; Camp Lee, 78.5 complete; Camp Devens, 74; Camp Lewis, 72; and Camp Sherman, 70. The Camp Lewis percentage was taken on August 31.

All construction work, including numerous additions not contemplated in the original plans, was virtually complete by November 30. These additional structures included cantonment base hospitals, on which the Government spent $10,000,000 for the National Army and $7,500,000 at the National Guard camps. With one or two exceptions these hospitals each had facilities for 1,000 patients at once, being the largest in the United States, at that time.

At several of the cantonments the water problem was simplified by the near presence of water mains of the systems of adjacent cities. At the other camps, however, it was necessary to construct independent water systems sufficient to furnish 55 gallons of water daily to each of 45,000 men. This is nearly twice as much water as was then being furnished to the average European army camp, and it meant in each case a system of centrifugal pumps and gravity tanks with a capacity of 2,250,000 gallons daily.

The local water supply was secured either from running streams or from dug wells. If the purity of the water was in doubt it was sterilized by the chlorine process and sometimes filtered in addition. The purity of the water and the care exercised in screening kitchens, mess halls, and later the dormitories themselves, from flies is seen in the hospital record for the first year of the war. Of all the soldiers who sought hospital treatment for sickness during that first year, only one patient in 5,000 was suffering from a water-borne disease.

In each cantonment there were about 1,500 wooden buildings, presenting a constant fire menace. As a protection from such disasters each cantonment organized its own fire department with modern motor equipment stationed in three or more fire houses. The men of the fire companies were usually those who had had previous training as members of city fire departments. There was not a single serious fire at the cantonments during the war period.

Besides keeping soldiers well and clean, the camp facilities provided them with opportunity for moral and healthy amusement. Various organizations combined to supply the camps with amusement facilities. There were the library buildings, the Red Cross buildings and halls, the Y. M. C. A. buildings, the Knights of Columbus buildings, the Salvation Army buildings, Y. W. C. A. buildings, and the Jewish Welfare Board buildings.

Although the American soldier bought liberally of Liberty bonds, took out War Risk insurance, and sent to his family the greater portion of his monthly pay, still he had a small amount of money to spend for little luxuries or necessities. These included small supplies such as candy and fruits, and they were on sale at the usual post exchange or company store. This was a small building, usually with a broad covered porch or shelter around three sides, so that the men in bad weather could be dry as they waited in line for their turn at the windows. The Y. M. C. A., K. of C., Red Cross, Y. W. C. A., Jewish Welfare Board, and Salvation Army buildings offered reading and writing rooms and general gathering places; yet these were insufficient for a total camp population averaging 40,000. Hence the Commission on Training Camp Activities built through the agency of the Construction Division a Liberty Theater at each camp.

The Liberty Theaters were of temporary construction, but in size compared favorably with the largest theaters in our modern cities. To provide these amusement facilities the Construction Division put up approximately 5,000,000 board feet of lumber, 9,000,000 square feet of wall board, and 40,000 square feet of roofing.

The average large city laundry was insufficient in capacity to handle the laundry work of an average of 6,000 people per day, which was the requirement to keep some 40,000 men in clean clothing. Consequently the camps and cantonments were provided with their own laundries built by the Construction Division. This put such a demand upon the manufacturers of laundry machinery that it created a shortage, and later there was a shortage of soap and powder. The 30 laundries built used up 13,000,000 board feet of lumber and 300,000 square feet of wall board.

The householder may throw his old shoes into the trash box and sell his old suit to the ragman, but the Army threw nothing away. Consequently the Construction Division was called upon to build reclamation plants at many stations. Usually one large plant was built at a center convenient to several camps, and to this center were sent the worn-out uniforms, shoes, leggins, and all other equipment.

Every camp of considerable size in the United States was provided with model bakeries. The total capacity of all the baking equipment installed by the Construction Division would turn out 1,000 tons of bread per day. This is a total of 2,000,000 loaves of 1 pound each. Each camp bakery oven would take care of 4,500 men per day in two 8-hour shifts, or it could bake 5,000 loaves in 24 hours.

There were required at all the camps and cantonments numerous storehouses for materials to be used immediately by the troops. The Construction Division built 789 of these small storehouses at the National Army cantonments alone.

The question of cold-storage facilities for the camps offered a knotty problem. Certain camps generally relied upon cold-storage space obtained near by, or else upon refrigerator cars iced in the vicinity, but in the other camps it was necessary to build special refrigeration plants. These had an ice-making capacity ranging from 6 to 35 tons daily. The ice consumption of the American soldiers in the United States proved to be 2¾ pounds per man per day.

The kitchens in the camps and hospitals would be paradise to any woman who had drudged with old-fashioned methods and equipment in cooking. As far as possible the Army's housekeeping was done by machinery. The bread slicer in common use would cut 200 slices of bread per minute and stack the slices automatically, the loaves feeding automatically into the slicer. The meat choppers would cut up 20 pounds of meat or vegetables in five minutes, and the electrically operated potato peeler would peel 40 pounds of potatoes in three minutes. The meat slicers would cut meat at the rate of 40 slices to the minute. Vegetables were cooked and meats roasted by high-pressure steam. The vegetable cooker could turn out 35 gallons of cooked product in 15 minutes. The dish-washing machines could wash, dry, and sterilize 10,000 dishes per hour. At the hospitals the food was taken from the central kitchen to the outlying wards in mobile fireless cookers, designed to keep the food hot until served.

To prepare food for 45,000 men, 350 kitchens were required by each cantonment. The National Army in training used 9,000 hotel ranges.

In most of the cantonments, particularly those in the South, the heating of quarters in winter was accomplished by means of room heaters and cannon stoves. The constructors installed 75,000 of these. The officers' quarters everywhere and four entire cantonments in the North—Devens in Massachusetts, Grant in Illinois, Custer in Michigan, and Dodge in Iowa—were heated by steam either from central heating plants or by means of ordinary boilers such as are used in residences. The total surface of the steam radiators installed would make five gigantic stoves 300 feet square and as high as the Woolworth Building in New York.

Besides the camps and cantonments used by the line troops, the Construction Division also built various special camps required by the mobilization, training, and transportation of the Army. These included the quartermaster training camp at Jacksonville, Fla., accommodating approximately 35,000 men; and the camps for the Engineering Corps, camps for heavy and light artillery training schools, and for other special units.

Camp Joseph F. Johnston at Blackpoint, the quartermaster camp near Jacksonville, is a good example of one of these special training camps. This consisted of quarters for 150 officers, 32 barracks to house 200 men each, together with barracks for wagon companies, pack companies, truck companies, and a bakery company, as well as stables for 1,200 animals and 50 riding horses, together with storeroom buildings and truck and auto garages.

Camp Holabird, near Baltimore, used for teaching men to repair and crate motor trucks and vehicles, had accommodations for about 7,500 men. Another special camp was Camp Humphreys, for the training of men in the Corps of Engineers, located a few miles down the Potomac River from Washington. This camp could accommodate 33,000 men in 1,350 buildings located on a camp area of 2,500 acres. Every foot of this site had to be cleared of timber and underbrush during one of the severest winters of recent years. All material had to be hauled in trucks over fearful roads pending the construction of a 5-mile spur of railroad track, yet the job was completed approximately on time.

Other special camps included Camp Bragg for training Field Artillery, located at Fayetteville, N. C., with quarters for 11,000 men; Camp Knox at Stithon, Ky., for 30,000 men, having an area of nearly 60,000 acres for training troops in the use of Field Artillery; and Camp Franklin, located on part of the Camp Meade cantonment reservation, a special camp for Signal Corps instruction, with accommodations for 11,000 men.

Then there was the Coast Artillery training cantonment, Camp Eustis at Lee Hall, Va., which had accommodations for 17,000 men; Camp Meigs at Washington, D. C., a quartermaster camp, providing accommodations for 4,000 men; and Camp Benning, at Columbus, Ga., an infantry school of arms, to accommodate 5,040 men, on a camp area of 98,000 acres. At Camp Raritan, at Raritan River, N. J., the Ordnance Department established a training school for 6,250 men.

Camps and cantonments built by Construction Division.
Name.Location.Max­i­mum ca­pac­i­ty.Ap­prox­i­mate cost.Contractors.
Camp BeauregardAlexandria, La.29,121$4,300,000Stewart McGehee, Hudson Construction Co., J. W. Snyder.
Camp BowieFort Worth, Tex.41,8793,400,000J. W. Thompson, H. G. Bush.
Camp BraggFayetteville, N. C.11,83111,000,000James Stewart Co.
Camp CodyDeming, N. Mex.44,9593,800,000J. W. Thompson Co., H. G. Bush.
Camp CusterBattle Creek, Mich49,01413,000,000Porter Bros., R. G. Phelps, W.E. Wood Co.
Camp DevensAyer, Mass.36,83211,800,000Fred T. Ley Co., Coleman Bros.
Camp DixWrightstown, N. J.42,80612,300,000Irwin & Leighton Co., J. S. Rogers Co., J. W. Ferguson & Co.
Camp DodgeDes Moines, Iowa49,22910,800,000Charles Weltz Sons.
Camp DoniphanLawton, Okla.46,1832,706,000Selden-Breck Construction Co., Trope & Carney.
Camp Abraham EustisLee Hall, Va.16,75911,700,000Winston & Co.
Camp FremontPalo Alto, Calif.30,0002,556,000Lindgren Co., E. A. Hettinger.
Camp FunstonFort Riley, Kans.42,80610,500,000George A. Fuller Construction Co., Henry Bennet & Son, Gray Construction Co.
Camp GordonAtlanta, Ga.46,61211,100,000Arthur Tufts Co., Mackie Construction Co., Southern-Ferro Construction Co.
Camp MeadeOdenton, Md.52,57516,200,000Claiborne Johnson Co., Smith, Houser & McIsaacs.
Camp MeigsWashington, D. C.3,774655,000Philip F. Gormley, Frank L. Wagner.
Camp MerrittDumont, N. J.39,07914,500,000McArthur Bros. Co., W. H. Fissell & Co.
Camp MillsGarden City, L. I.25,00013,000,000Clough-Bourne Co.
Camp HillNewport News, Va.5,85216,125,000Westinghouse-Church-Kerr Co., Hampton Roads Engineering Construction Co., Boyle-Robertson Construction Co.
Camp Stuartdo.24,234
Camp Oglethorpe, Fort Greenleaf24,457$5,600,000Park-Grimes Co.
Forrest
Camp PikeLittle Rock, Ark.55,01012,700,000James Stewart & Co. (Inc.), Stewart McGehee Co.
Camp PolkRaleigh, N. C.[37]Holliday-Krouse Co.
Camp SevierGreenville, S. C.41,6936,508,000Gallivan Building Co.
Camp ShelbyHattiesburg, Miss.36,0105,400,000T. S. Moudy Co., Richard McCarthy Co.
Camp SheridanMontgomery, Ala.41,5933,500,000Algernon Blair, Paschen Bros.
Camp ShermanChillicothe, Ohio49,11212,900,000Thomas A. Bently & Sons, D. W. McGrath & Sons.
Camp TaylorLouisville, Ky.45,4248,000,000Mason & Hanger, Alfred Struck Co.
Camp TravisSan Antonio, Tex.42,8098,200,000Stone & Webster, McKenzie Construction Co.
Camp UptonYaphank, L. I.43,56713,500,000Thompson-Starrett Co., Mark C. Tredennick Co., C. H. & R. C. Peckworth (Inc.).
Camp GrantRockford, Ill.62,67514,400,000Bates & Rogers Construction Co., Ross T. Beckstrom Co., Henry Erickson Co.
Camp GreenCharlotte, N. C.48,3054,300,000Consolidated Engineering Co., J. A. Jones Co.
Camp HancockAugusta, Ga.45,0996,000,000T. O. Brown Co., William Crawford.
Camp HumphreysBelvoir, Va.32,43412,745,000Phillip F. Gormley Co.
Camp JacksonColumbia, S. C.44,00910,000,000Hardaway Construction Co., Columbia Lumber & Manufacturing Co., H. B. Hann.
Camp Jackson, No.do.[37]Hardaway Construction Co.
Camp JohnstonJacksonville, Fla.18,265T. A. Bentley & Sons., J. Y. Wilson.
Camp KearneySan Diego, Calif.32,0665,838,000W. E. Hampton Co., John Roberts Co.
Camp KnoxStithton, Ky.27,80518,733,184John W. Griffith & Sons.
Camp Las CasasSan Juan, Porto Rico13,2652,500,000Purdy & Henderson Co.
Camp LeePetersburg, Va.60,33516,500,000Rhinehart & Dennis (Inc.), Harrison Construction Co., John T. Wilson & Co. (Inc.).
Camp LewisAmerican Lake (Tacoma), Wash.46,2328,400,000Hurley Mason Co., The Construction Co.
Camp LoganHouston, Tex.44,8993,300,000American Construction Co., Horton & Horton.
Camp McArthurWaco, Tex.45,0744,000,000Fred A. Jones Construction Co., Blome & Sinek Co., Edgar H. Bruyere.
Camp McClellanAnniston, Ala.57,7469,800,000John O. Chisholm & Co., Labarre & Erwin, A. W. Stoolman.
Camp WadsworthSpartanburg, S. C.56,2494,000,000Fiske Carter Co.
Camp WheelerMacon, Ga.43,0113,200,000W. Z. Williams.

[37] Abandoned.

CHAPTER II.
MISCELLANEOUS CONSTRUCTION.

Great as was the job of building the army camps and cantonments, it was nevertheless only a part of the work which fell to the Construction Division, and much the smaller part at that.

On November 11, 1918, the Construction Division was conducting 535 building operations in 442 localities in the United States. These involved an aggregate expenditure of more than $1,000,000,000. Including the various camps and cantonments, these activities were being conducted or had been conducted in every State of the Union but one. An average of more than 200,000 workmen, principally of the building trades, had been engaged continuously for months.

In the executive administration of the work the organization required 1,487 officers and 12,355 civilian Government employees, of whom 2,555 were located at the offices of the division in Washington. Merely for the maintenance and the operation of the various completed projects a force of 16,359 enlisted men was required. In a little more than a year the organization had grown from a handful of clerks and executives to one of this size. The brigadier general who headed the Construction Division had been a Captain when war was declared.

In this period the organization had housed a population equal to that of the city of Philadelphia in 40 large camps, each in number of inhabitants comparing in size to such cities as Racine, Wis., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, or Wheeling, W. Va. It had constructed storage depots and warehouses that would cover 890 acres. It had built hospitals with beds for 128,378 patients. It had purchased and nailed up 2,647,605,426 board feet of lumber, enough to stretch around the Equator twenty times in boards 12 inches wide and 1 inch thick. Loaded on freight cars to their capacity this lumber would require a train reaching from Washington, D. C., to Kansas City. It had used enough brick to build an 18-foot road from Kansas City to Chicago. It had constructed 645 miles of railroads and made 1,081 miles of wagon roads, mostly of concrete. These are only a few of the high points in this building record.

There are few undertakings of mankind in all history which can be compared with this enterprise. The price paid for the Panama Canal and the Canal of Suez, the cost of damming the Nile and tunneling the Alps, and the money spent on building the Government railway into the heart of Alaska might be lumped together and still the aggregate would not equal the cost of providing the buildings, exclusive of those of the training camps, which the American Army had to have in the United States after it went to war.

We can gain a picture of the size of this construction by considering the building records of the United States. In this country there are about 150 cities large enough and ambitious enough to keep annual building statistics as the indices of their prosperity. In these cities, whose populations range in size from that of New York down to those of communities of 20,000 or 25,000 inhabitants, dwell nearly a quarter of all the Americans. They are metropolitans, the people who demand most of the builder for their comfort and luxury. Yet in no one year had the building construction in these 150 largest American cities combined approached in amount within $250,000,000 of the cost of our military construction undertaken during the war.

The Government became not only the greatest of customers for the building industry but almost the sole customer. This whole great industry, one of the largest in the country, which had been busy in its interminable task of providing the mansions of peace, was suddenly converted under military direction into a machine for building a titantic war plant. Before the Nation could mobilize its material resources or train its human ones for war it must have buildings—headquarters for its executives, barracks for its men, structures for its various arsenals for the manufacture of explosives and chemicals, warehouses for the storage of reserves of material, terminals for the transfer of overseas shipments, schools, laboratories, proving grounds for testing its weapons, hospitals, embarkation depots, and a vast number of structures for less conspicuous activities.

It was the work of the Construction Division to provide these facilities. Exclusive of the cantonments themselves, this work fell into projects ranging in size from small building groups costing a few thousand dollars to enormous powder plants, huge terminal docks, vast warehouses and other great undertakings costing $10,000,000, $16,000,000, $25,000,000, $40,000,000, and as high as $70,000,000 for a single project.

ORDNANCE CONSTRUCTION.

Perhaps the most striking of these undertakings were the various construction jobs called for by the ordnance program. There were more than 60 of these, and they ranged in cost from $100,000 up to $70,000,000.

One of the larger of these projects was that of the Aberdeen proving grounds on Chesapeake Bay, not far distant from Baltimore. This reservation, with its area of 35,000 acres and its magnificent testing and observation ranges, 75 miles in length, over the waters of the bay, will undoubtedly be retained permanently by the Government. As the plant exists to-day it has a capacity of testing 5,000 shell between daylight and dark.

At Aberdeen the Construction Division built barracks to house 8,000 men, quarters for 230 officers, and all the accessories of convenience and amusement which a community of that size should have.

Guns came to the proving grounds unassembled, so that it was necessary to build an assembly plant. This building is 165 feet wide and 500 feet long and cost $1,000,000. As an adjunct to the assembly plant there is a machine shop which is one of the largest in the United States.

Mention should be made of the 25 miles of standard railway trackage which the Construction Division put down at Aberdeen. This was exclusive of the spur tracks for the heavy guns mounted on railway carriages. These tracks approached the firing range on apparently outlandish curves and at every variety of angle. The guns were fired at these various angles to determine if the recoil would push the carriages from the track or would spread the rails.

The development of aerial bombing and the necessity for testing our own aerial bombs required the construction at Aberdeen of hangars and quarters for an aviation squadron.

In addition to these facilities, the project involved the construction of powder magazines, shell-loading plants, and warehouses. There were built 15 miles of concrete roads and 30 miles of roads of other types. Garage accommodations were provided for 100 trucks and automobiles. The firing ranges required observation towers of various sorts. The observation dugouts had to be of special strength, because certain of the tests at Aberdeen involved the actual bursting of gun barrels, making necessary specially heavy protection for the observers.

Aberdeen is equipped with a complete waterworks system and with a hospital for 250 patients. An interesting laboratory constructed on the grounds is that in which the so-called "dud" shell, or those which fail to explode, are analyzed for their defects. The Aberdeen project was started in December, 1917, and first tests were made within a month. The entire project cost over $30,000,000.

One section of the Aberdeen reservation, about 4,000 acres of it, was set apart for the uses of the gas-warfare organization of the Army and was later known as the Edgewood Arsenal. The progress at Edgewood is indicative of the manner in which chemical warfare increased in importance during our period of belligerency. It was originally estimated that $250,000 would provide a plant at Edgewood sufficient for our chemical-warfare needs. The actual cost of the Edgewood Arsenal at the date of the armistice, so great had been the expansion of chemical warfare, was about $43,000,000. At that time there had been constructed or were in process of construction filling plants that could turn out 120,000 loaded gas shell per day. The equipment at Edgewood includes a cantonment for 10,000 men, some of it of permanent construction. There were built 10 miles of macadam road at Edgewood and 15 miles of railway, in addition to large warehouses and a dock where loaded shell could be freighted upon lighters to deep water.

Another project made necessary by the expansion of chemical warfare was the gas proving grounds at Lakehurst, N. J., the entire project costing $1,500,000. The site of 5,000 acres provided space for two target ranges, each 4 miles long. Extensive laboratories were built at Lakehurst, and the proving ground was operated by a force of 1,500 men. In addition to this there was located at Lakehurst a camp for 3,400 troops in training. All buildings for these facilities were provided by the Construction Division.

In addition to Aberdeen and Lakehurst the Construction Division built a proving ground at Clear Springs, Md., used for testing out 37-millimeter guns; another such institution at Port Clinton, Ohio, for testing 155-millimeter and 240-millimeter howitzers; and others at Scituate, Mass., and Savanna, Ill. The combined cost of these last four projects was $6,507,520.

One important undertaking of the Construction Division was that of providing warehouse depots for ordnance materials. These supplies differ from ordinary Army supplies in the important particular that they must be treated gently and handled with care. A quartermaster storehouse can be of emergency construction type, that is, more or less built of wood, but an ordnance storehouse, since it usually contains high explosives, must be strictly fireproof. In undertaking the creation in record time of a number of ordnance depots the Construction Division faced not only the problem of the type of building required but also the location of these buildings. It was necessary to locate them at deep water in order to avoid frequent handling of the high explosives, yet no depot could be situated in any thickly settled center because of the danger to the civilian population. At most deep-water points on the Atlantic coast which had railway connections the available sites were already occupied. The result was that the ordnance depots had to be built on marshes and meadows, on land which for construction purposes had always been regarded as impossible. Yet they had to be completed in as much of a rush as any buildings which the Army demanded.

There are now five of these great ordnance depots on the Atlantic coast built by the Construction Division: at Metuchen, N. J.; Curtis Bay, Md.; Pig Point, Va.; Charleston, S. C.; and Pedricktown, Del. The largest of these is the one at Metuchen, known as the Raritan Arsenal. The Raritan site contains about 2,200 acres of salt marsh. High tides used to submerge the whole area almost completely. Before any building could be started the Construction Division had to build a dike 9 miles long around the whole reservation. The entire project was perched on piles, and these piles, by the tens of thousands, were driven into the frozen ground during the severe winter of 1917-18. Labor was hard to get and hard to keep. After the laborers' quarters had been built and a few powder magazines had been erected, it became almost impossible to keep men on the job because of the danger of working in a powder arsenal.

Most of the Raritan buildings are of terra-cotta construction. There are 85 completed magazines, each 51 feet wide and 218 feet long, for the storage of shell, black powder, and miscellaneous items, this number not including 12 magazines of sheet-metal construction, each 26 by 42 feet, for the storage of high explosives. When the armistice was signed the Construction Division was building 60 similar magazines intended for the storage of smokeless powder.

At Raritan was also located a school of instruction for ordnance troops, with a cantonment to accommodate 10,000 men. A 150-bed hospital was part of the equipment, as was also an assembly shop and a motor-instruction school.

Along the river a dock was built 2,000 feet long. On the dock were constructed several huge warehouses for the storage of material. Fifty miles of railway were constructed. The project on the armistice date was probably the best equipped ordnance depot in the world. It cost about $14,000,000.

The next largest ordnance depot is that at Curtis Bay near Baltimore. It is half the size of the Raritan project and cost about $7,000,000.

The Pig Point ordnance depot is located at Hampton Roads, about 12 miles from Portsmouth, Va. In order to obtain berthing facilities for trans-Atlantic ships it was necessary to build a dock more than a mile long out to deep water. The dock is said to be the longest wharf in the United States south of Philadelphia. The Pig Point job cost about $3,500,000.

The Charleston Arsenal cost $5,000,000; while $7,000,000 was the amount provided for the arsenal at Pedricktown. The Pedricktown job, however, was started late, and not over $2,000,000 had been spent when the armistice was signed.

In addition to these five terminal depots the Construction Division provided two other ordnance warehouses for the storage of miscellaneous supplies—one at Middletown, Pa., costing $1,250,000, and the other at Augusta, Ga., costing $250,000.

The description of the powder bag-loading plants, which were built by the Construction Division, is contained in the chapter of this report relating to the production of powder and other explosives. There were three of these plants, one located at Woodbury, N. J., another at Tullytown, Pa., and the third on the historic battle ground at Seven Pines, Va. Since these plants were perforce located at isolated places it was necessary in each case to provide housing accommodations for the workers, many of whom were women. The Construction Division built the houses at Tullytown and Woodbury while those at Seven Pines were provided by the United States Industrial Housing Corporation.

These bag-loading plants cost from $4,500,000 to $6,000,000 apiece, and they were erected in a remarkably short time. Work was started on the Woodbury project on March 19, 1918, and the plant was ready for operation on May 28, although the plant did not actually start operating until June 15. The spade was first struck into the ground at Tullytown on March 6, 1918, and on July 17 the 250 buildings of the project were ready. The work at Seven Pines began April 24, and the plant was ready for operation on August 24, 1918.

AVIATION SCHOOLS AND TESTING FIELDS.

The Signal Corps, needing a special type of construction, undertook the work itself at the start of war, but by October, 1917, the Construction Division had proved itself so efficient that all Army building work in the United States, including that of the Signal Corps, was turned over to it. The work for the Signal Corps entailed the construction of the necessary buildings for flying fields, testing fields, aerial photography, and gunnery schools, balloon observation schools, repair and testing shops, and tremendous storage depots that had to be of special fireproof construction because of the inflammable nature of the oil and other materials used by the Signal Corps.

At the aviation fields a special type of portable hangar built of steel, 65 by 140 feet, was adopted. For the big bombing planes larger hangars were required but of the same-type of construction. At each aviation field were barracks for a large number of men, together with water and sanitary conveniences. There were 31 of these fields located principally in the West or Southwest.

In addition to these there were four testing fields for the aircraft service, located in the eastern half of the United States where the flying machines and the engines were being produced. One of these was at Dayton, another at Buffalo, a third at Detroit, and a fourth at Elizabeth, N. J. The aerial gunnery school at Miami, Fla., was one of the largest of the aviation-construction projects. This plant included buildings, target ranges, steel hangars, photographic laboratories and other equipment—all built at a cost of $1,500,000.

The balloon school at Lee Hall, Va., cost $1,000,000, and that at Arcadia, Calif., $500,000. At each of these schools there were barracks for the men, quarters for the laborers, and experimental buildings, not to speak of the huge sheds, 200 or more feet in length, in which the balloons were housed.

QUARTERMASTER BASES AND WAREHOUSES.

Construction for the Quartermaster Department involved the building of warehouses on a scale hitherto unknown in the United States. The warehouse plan was carefully worked out as part of the strategy of conducting the war, the Council of National Defense making the first investigations of the proper locations of supply depots, and these early findings being later amended by the General Staff. Several important considerations determined the locations of these depots and warehouses. In the first place we would require great storage and shipping facilities at tidewater; yet, if these were all to be located in one spot or in one general region, there was a possibility that a submarine blockade off the Atlantic coast could stop the shipment of supplies to the American Expeditionary Forces. Thus the first project was to locate the great supply bases at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Norfolk. But it was evident that a relatively small number of enemy submarines operating in a comparatively restricted area could block shipment from these four ports. Therefore Charleston, S. C., and New Orleans were added to the supply-base project.

There was another thing to be taken into consideration, namely, the providing of sufficient warehouse space, so that, if there should be any blockade of ocean transportation, the manufacture of supplies could continue at its war rate and still find places to which to ship its important products. Yet if the storage were all provided at the tidewater bases, there would be danger of railroad congestion at the ports. Consequently, as auxiliary to the terminal warehouses, there was provided a system of enormous warehouses built in the interior of the United States.

The system eventually worked out to give seven expeditionary supply bases located, six of them, at the cities just named, in addition to one that had been built at Port Newark, N. J., during the winter of 1917, and nine interior depots located respectively at Baltimore, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Jeffersonville, Ind., New Cumberland, Pa., Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Schenectady, N. Y., and St. Louis. These latter were central in various producing districts.

The terminal projects alone involved construction on a scale that was without precedent. The interior depots and the huge terminal bases provided 690 acres of storage space, all inclosed in reinforced concrete of the most modern type. They were all built in a little over 12 months. Into them went construction enough to build a concrete building 70 feet wide from New York to Philadelphia and a wharf nearly 8 miles long, with berthing accommodations for 65 ships at once. The facilities included 650 miles of railroad and 1,000 miles of concrete roadway.

NEW ORLEANS ARMY SUPPLY BASE.

BROOKLYN ARMY SUPPLY BASE.

BROOKLYN ARMY SUPPLY BASE.

BOSTON ARMY SUPPLY BASE.

The Army supply bases at Brooklyn and at Boston are examples of the immensity of the expeditionary depots built along the Atlantic seacoast. The base at Brooklyn has approximately 4,000,000 square feet of storage space in its two huge 8-story reinforced concrete warehouses. One of these warehouses is 980 feet long by 200 feet wide and the other is 980 feet long by 300 feet wide. In addition to these, the installation at the base consists of three double-deck piers, each 150 feet wide and 1,300 feet long, and one open pier 60 feet wide and 1,300 feet long. In its railroad yards there is storage space for 1,300 cars at one time. The capacity of the base is 700,000 tons of supplies, or the equivalent of about 100 shiploads. Twelve ships of 8,000 tons, dead weight each, can be loaded at one time, and the loading of these vessels can be completed within 24 hours, so vast and complete are the facilities at this project.

Construction started at the site on May 15, 1918. More than 7,000 workmen were engaged on this job at one time, and the entire project was to be completed before July 1, 1919, while it was to be in partial operation by January 1. When the armistice was signed, 4,387,360 square feet of floor space had been completed and 187,173 cubic yards of concrete had been poured.

The base at Boston is 8 stories high, built of concrete, and gives 2,750,000 feet of storage room. Its wharves are 4,000 feet long. The work on it was started May 14, 1918, and ended October 3. In that time 200,000 cubic yards of concrete had been poured, 22,000 tons of reinforcing and structural steel put into position, 3,000,000 brick laid, 30,000 piles driven, 1,500,000 cubic yards dredged, and 30 miles of track laid. In all, 7,000 carloads of material were handled in this building.

The Norfolk base is located at Bush Bluff, 4 miles from the city. The chief feature of this project is a group of eight 1-story concrete buildings providing 2,000,000 square feet of storage space. The pier sheds are built of concrete blown by compressed air upon steel lath. The docks total a mile in length. The base can handle 600 cars of supplies in a day. In addition to the storage and shipping buildings themselves, the Construction Division provided quarters for a regiment of stevedores and a battalion of guards. A 120-bed hospital was erected at the project. The wharfage front was made of concrete piles weighing 12 tons apiece, and 217 acres of land were made by dredging outside of the piles and filling in behind them. The work was started in May and was nearly finished when the armistice was signed.

The Norfolk and Hampton Roads district has the distinction of being the center of more war construction than was conducted at any other point in the United States. There were located here the Navy arsenal, the Navy yard, the Navy training station, and the great Norfolk naval base. The largest construction project of all at Norfolk was the quartermaster terminal which the Construction Division built there. But in addition to these there was the Pig Point ordnance depot, described above, Camp Stuart and Camp Hill, both embarkation camps, the Artillery school at Fortress Monroe, Camp Eustis, and the Langley aviation field of the Army.

With so many construction undertakings going on at once, the labor problem proved to be an early embarrassment at the Norfolk quartermaster terminal job. However, good quarters and good food for the construction gangs at the terminal largely solved this problem. At one time in the development on the shores of this part of Chesapeake Bay, the street car and electric lighting system of Norfolk broke down under the strain. The Government thereupon took the power house and operated it thereafter for the duration of the emergency.

The interior storage depots of the Quartermaster Department provide 12,000,000 square feet of storage. They are all of permanent construction. They range in size from the one at Pittsburgh, with 184,000 square feet, to that at Schenectady with 2,500,000 square feet.

The depot at Chicago was built by the Central Manufacturing District as contractor on a site sold by its trustees to the Government. This structure, costing $3,000,000 and giving 29 acres of storage, was built completely in the period between March 4 and September 15, 1918.

MOTOR TRANSPORT CONSTRUCTION.

There was extensive construction for the Motor Transport Corps. Few civilians perhaps realize the size attained by this branch of the Army, with its more than 3,000 officers and 100,000 men in the United States and abroad. The Construction Division designed a standardized repair shop to be used in this country or to be transported overseas as desired. There were three centers of repair, shipment, and the training of men for the Motor Transport Service, the largest being Camp Holabird at Baltimore and the others, Camp Jesup at Atlanta, and Camp Normoyle at San Antonio, Tex.

When the armistice was signed the Army had in this country thousands of motor trucks, motorcycles, and ambulances. Perhaps 80 per cent of these were located in the districts subsidiary to Camp Holabird. Consequently, there were constructed at Holabird an enormous repair shop and a shop for the taking down and shipping of motor vehicles. The machine shops at these camps were of permanent construction. Large storage facilities were also furnished.

The experiences of the Army in Mexico taught that to be effective motor transport must have adequate facilities for repair. The standardized army repair shop is of glass, steel, and concrete construction. It is operated by 55 officers and 1,400 men.

QUARTERMASTER STORAGE DEPOT BUILT BY CONSTRUCTION DIVISION AT ST. LOUIS.

CHICAGO PERMANENT QUARTERMASTER DEPOT WAREHOUSES.

One of the most interesting buildings provided for the Motor Transport Corps was the crating shop at Camp Holabird. The first motor trucks sent overseas were shipped completely assembled. In addition to taking up unnecessarily much-needed cargo space on the transports, they frequently arrived in poor condition, due to the effects of the salt air upon their metal parts.

Consequently, it was decided to ship trucks disassembled in crates. One of these huge vehicles could be taken apart and, except for its truck body, wrapped up in a parcel 20 feet long, 40 inches wide and 40 inches deep. The truck body could be packed in a crate 12 feet long and 6 feet wide and 1 foot thick. These crates were moisture proof.

The crating of trucks saved 75 per cent of the ship space formerly required. The crating crews became so facile that they could take down and pack in a single day from a mile and a half to two miles of trucks. This unique shop cost $500,000.

The construction at Camp Holabird started February 4, 1918. The camp now occupies 144 acres and has a cantonment for 7,000 men. The 22 buildings of an abandoned distillery on the ground were remodeled to serve as permanent storehouses for the millions of dollars' worth of tools and motor-vehicle parts which the Government acquired in the war.

ARMY HOSPITALS.

For the Surgeon General's Department the Construction Division constructed hospitals in this country providing accommodations for a total of 121,000 patients, 12,000 nurses, 4,000 doctors, and 34,000 hospital operation and maintenance troops. There were 294 of these hospitals in all, built at a total cost of $127,725,000 and divided into three types: base hospitals located at the various training camps, departmental hospitals located at various other Army posts, and general hospitals for the reception of sick and wounded men returning from France. The construction of general hospitals did not cease with the signing of the armistice, and at a recent date it had provided 97,000 beds for patients.

The builders adopted a standardized type of hospital construction. The unit in this type was a single-story ward building of frame construction lined in the interior with gypsum board or some similar material. An open porch along the entire length of one side of the ward building provided opportunity for convalescents to be wheeled outdoors. Each ward had room for 34 beds and also had a diet kitchen, a nurses' room, a doctors' room, lavatories, and an inclosed solarium at the end. These buildings were connected with each other by inclosed corridors running through the clear. At the Fox Hills Hospital, Staten Island, N. Y., there was a mile and a quarter of this corridor construction. The corridors in each case fed in toward the central administration group of buildings in which were located the operating rooms and the various laboratories.

As crews developed their teamwork some marvelous instances of speed were shown in putting up the buildings. One crew of 566 men at Fox Hills erected a complete hospital wing in one working day. At 7 o'clock in the morning the ground of the site was untouched. That night at 6 o'clock a 40-bed ward was standing finished on the site—painted, equipped with heating and ventilating apparatus, all plumbing installed, the last electric bulb screwed in, and in every respect ready for occupancy. It was like magic; yet soon thereafter the Construction Division had set the period of 10 hours as the standard time for building one of these wings.

General Hospital No. 3 located at Otisville, N. Y., has a capacity of 579 beds and is a complete military hospital plant designed for the treatment of tubercular cases. A short summary of the work done upon it will give an idea of the general nature of the construction problems incident to the building of the military hospitals during the winter and spring of 1918.

On February 2, 1918, the Constructing Quartermaster with a few officers and clerks arrived at the site of the hospital, about 37 acres of land, near the village of Otisville, Orange County, N. Y., on the southern slope of Shawangunk Mountain. The contractor and his organization came on the same day. They found the site covered with snow and with no accommodations even for the office force of the Constructing Quartermaster or the contractor, except an old creamery building, which was promptly rented and into which the two organizations moved the next day.

Actual work was started February 5 and continued through every severity of weather until the project was completed in the early part of July. The work was interrupted, hindered, and hampered by snow and mud, by transportation congestion preventing the delivery of materials on time, by the absence of local labor and the necessity for importing labor from near-by markets wherever it could be procured, and by the consequent necessity for running special trains to transport laborers to and from the job. No local facilities existed for housing any of the workmen, and temporary accommodations had to be built to accommodate 200 Italian laborers both in the matter of shelter and food.

The average height above sea level of the site of this hospital is a little over 1,000 feet. It was found after construction began that the site was full of springs, which caused further trouble and difficulty in developing the building operations.

The cost of the project was $1,681,000. About 300 carloads of material were used, including approximately 3,000,000 feet of lumber. The largest number of laborers employed at any one time was 1,795, with a working day, as a rule, of nine hours, union and nonunion labor being employed without discrimination. Water supply, sewer construction, roads, 330 feet of railway siding, sewage disposal plant, electrical installation, and boiler houses, all had to be built. The work was all completed early in July, 1918. In addition to the bed capacity of the hospital, accommodations were provided for a hospital personnel of 224.

One of the largest hospitals involving entirely new construction is General Hospital No. 21, Denver, Colo. This is also a hospital for the treatment of tuberculosis cases. The construction is permanent, hollow tile and stucco, and the hospital facilities are sufficient to accommodate 2,000 beds for recuperative and curative work. The plant consists of hospital wards, tuberculosis wards, officers' quarters, nurses' quarters, mess halls, storehouses, laundry, schoolhouse, power house, water and sewer installation, and all of the necessary utilities for the adequate operation of a completely self-contained unit.

The original authorization covered only 1,000 beds. Subsequently there was authorized an addition equally as large, and the entire project was completed on March 1, 1919. The actual capacity of the hospital is in excess of the capacity estimated when the work was begun, and it is estimated that 2,486 patients can be cared for, the cost per bed running less than $1,350. In view of the nature and character of the permanent construction involved, and the fact that this is a military hospital with the usual numerous construction details not found in civilian hospitals, the construction at this figure is regarded as exceptional.

INCIDENTS OF THE WORK.

When the Government undertook the whole enormous military construction program, it was found that there were few builders in the United States who had equipment enough to handle the bigger jobs. Consequently the Construction Division adopted the policy of acquiring equipment of various sorts, usually paying rent for it. Such equipment included locomotive cranes, concrete mixers, locomotives for trench machines, road machinery, and other heavy apparatus. This equipment was rented under an agreement that whenever the rent paid had aggregated the cost of the article rented, the latter should become the property of the Government. In this way the Government has acquired property of this sort worth about $3,000,000.

The Construction Division at all times procured raw materials for the contractors engaged upon the projects. During the summer of 1918 the division was procuring material at an average rate of nearly $1,000,000 per day.

There were many interesting incidents in connection with this activity. In the summer of 1917, when the cantonments were going up, it became necessary to provide some 60,000 stoves and heaters, yet there were not that many stoves for sale in the country including all existing stocks, nor was the capacity of the various stove works sufficient to make up the number in the three months' period before the soldiers would be going to the camps. Accordingly, officers of the division were sent out to make addresses to the workmen at the stove factories, and as a result of such efforts the companies speeded up their output until they were able to supply all of the camps with heating facilities by October 1, 1917. In this effort the Government went into the market and procured the pig iron, coke, and other supplies for the stove foundries.

The Construction Division was also able to obtain 15,000 Army kitchen ranges in three months, although that number is a normal year's output of the entire manufacturing facilities of the country.

When the project for the expeditionary supply base at Port Newark was taken up—in the late fall of 1917—the Construction Division set about it to get 63,377 piles for the foundations of this construction. There were 64 pile drivers on the job, driving in a total of 1,566 piles in a day; and to supply these the woodsmen of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and New Jersey were called upon for their best efforts. Due to the unforeseen severity of the winter, the rivers were frozen and the railroads choked with freight. Near by was the Hog Island shipbuilding project at Philadelphia, needing more piles than the railroads could deliver. The trees in the woods were frozen and often broke to pieces when they fell. In the southern logging districts the negro woodsmen refused to stay on the job because of the cold. The Construction Division then took hold, sent soldiers into the woods, felled the trees, and then put guards on the cars of piling, to see that they were not lost in transit. As a result, the piles for the Port Newark job were delivered on time.

In addition to procuring materials for its own contractors, the Construction Division also procured building materials for the Shipping Board and for the Bureau of Industrial Housing. The peak load of labor on the Army construction jobs came in the summer of 1918, when 230,000 men were on the pay roll, drawing $7,626,800 a week in pay, and still the jobs were short 150,000 unskilled men. In general, the union scale of wages and hours of labor were adopted, but the open shop was maintained. Labor troubles were infrequent and not serious. To prevent strikes the Government formed the Cantonment Adjustment Commission, consisting of three members, the Army representative being Col. J. H. Alexander, of the Construction Division. Of all the strikes that hampered our war activities, less than 1 per cent were strikes of the building trades.

When the labor shortage of 1918 was most acute the Construction Division turned to Porto Rico and the Bahamas for unskilled labor, importing 2,600 Bahamans and 13,000 Porto Ricans. This imported labor was exclusively used on southern building projects and was sent back home when the armistice was signed.

The Construction Division had charge of the operation and maintenance of the utilities of the various training camps, a work requiring a force of 452 officers and 16,559 men. In all there were 54,808 buildings at these camps to be kept in repair. This was done at the cost of $8.10 a year for each man housed. The Government supplied electricity to the camps at an average cost of $0.02½ per kilowatt hour. In a single year of operation, the 32 camps burned about 2,000,000 tons of coal for heating. This was at a cost of approximately $10 per man.

The utilities of the camps were under the management of men who could qualify to be city managers. They had the operation of water systems, fire departments, and other common conveniences of cities. Water was supplied at the rate of 55 gallons daily per man. The purity of the water and the adequacy of the sanitation may be gauged from the fact that in July and August, 1918, the annual death rate at the camps was 2.8 per thousand. In our Mexican War the annual death rate of American troops from disease was 110 per thousand; in the Civil War it was 65 per thousand; in the Spanish War 26 per thousand; and among Japanese troops in the Russo-Japanese War it was 25 per thousand. The death rate in civil life for men of the draft age is 6.7 per thousand.

Each camp and cantonment was adequately protected by fire companies equipped with the most modern apparatus, nearly all of it motorized. Each camp fire company had 60 men. A low annual fire loss in civil life is $2 per capita. In 1917, 20 American cities of about 31,000 population each showed an annual fire loss of $2.15 per capita. The average for the United States is $2.42 per capita. At the training camps, in spite of their inflammable construction, the average annual loss from fire per capita was only 46 cents.

Table 1.—Army supply bases and interior depots built by Construction Division betweenApril, 1917, and January, 1919.
Project.Square feet of floor area.Ap­prox­i­mate cost.General contractor.
Port Newark terminal1,662,400$10,260,000Mason & Hanger-McArthur Bros.
[38]357,000
Norfolk Army supply base 2,015,000 25,975,770Porter Bros.
[39]884,500
Philadelphia Army supply base345,57015,510,112Snare & Triest Co.
Charleston quartermaster terminal 1,152,000 12,675,000Mason & Hanger.
[38]379,200
[39]269,000
Boston Army supply base1,651,104 28,040,000W. F. Kearns Co.
882,000
Brooklyn Army supply base3,936,000 32,500,000Turner Construction Co.
[39]1,143,000
New Orleans Army supply base1,792,000 11,660,875George W. Fuller Co.
280,000
Interior storage depots
Baltimore Interior depot663,8002,143,676Sanford & Brooks.
Boston temporary warehouses327,6001,265,079W. F. Kearns Co.
Chicago interior depot580,400809,300Central Manufacturing District.
Chicago permanent warehouse1,230,4003,691,800Do.
Columbus interior storage depot2,657,600 6,128,022Hunkin-Conkey Co.
[38]246,400
Jeffersonville quartermaster interior depot320,0001,282,563Caldwell & Marshall Co.
Hoboken quartermaster expeditionary depot162,540201,000Barney-Hooks-Ahlers.
New Cumberland interior storage depot1,568,000 4,700,270Bates-Rogers Construction Co.
[38]400,000
Philadelphia interior storage917,8003,470,940William Steele & Sons.
Philadelphia quartermaster expeditionary depot208,900 1,091,050Do.
[38]51,400
Pittsburgh interior storage depot178,600630,900The Austin Co.
Schenectady interior storage depot2,080,800 6,051,550Feeney & Sheehan.
[38]537,600
St. Louis interior depot384,3001,368,540Westly Construction Co.

[38] Sheds.

[39] Pier sheds.

Table 2.—Hospitals built by Construction Division between June, 1917, and January,1919.
Name.Location.Capacity (in beds).Ap­prox­i­mate cost.Contractor.
Azalea T. B.Azalea, N. C.1,500$2,715,000Gude & Co.
Boston City, west departmentWest Roxbury, Mass.[40]47,000Chas. Logue Building Co. Co.
Cape May General Hospital No. 11Cape May, N. J.70046,150Cauldwell-Wingate Co.
Carlisle General Hospital No. 31Carlisle, Pa.120180,000Warren Moore & Co.
Colonia General Hospital No. 3Colonia, N. J.1,6502,367,884Cauldwell-Wingate Co.
Cooper-Monitah No. 32Chicago, Ill.500-625158,368Chas. Logue Building Co. Co.
Denver General Hospital No. 21Denver, Colo.2,2653,100,133C. S. Lambie Co.
Eastfield General Hospital No 38Westchester, N. Y.1,550237,000Frank H. Goble.
Elks and Robt. Bringham General Hospital No. 10Boston, Mass.7008,000Chas. Logue Building Co.
Ford Hospital, General Hospital No. 36Detroit, Mich.2,000107,750Albert A. Albreacht.
Fort Bayard General HospitalFort Bayard, N. Mex.1,046650,000V. E. Vare.
Fort Des Moines HospitalDes Moines, Iowa1,266244,148Chas. Welts Sons.
Fort Douglas HospitalFort Douglas, Utah227690,000Lynch-Cannon Eng. Co.
Fort McHenry General Hospital No. 2Baltimore, Md.2,8002,327,975J. Henry Miller Co.
Fort McPherson HospitalFort McPherson, Ga.2,000680,000Gude-Krebs & Co.
Fort Oglethorpe General Hospital No. 14Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.1,300967,377Park-Grimes Co.
Fort Ontario Hospital No. 5Fort Ontario, N. Y.660557,000J. J. Turner & Sons.
Fort Root General Hospital No. 33Little Rock, Ark.50016,455
Fort Sheridan General Hospital No. 28Fort Sheridan, Ill.5,0002,515,786Summer-Sollitt Co.
Fort Snelling HospitalFort Snelling, Minn.1,780$489,600H. N. Leighton Co.
Fox Hills Debarkation Hospital No. 2Fox Hills, Staten Island1,8082,929,556Thompson-Starrett Co.
General Hospital No. 16New Haven, Conn.700360,670Sperry Engineering Co.
Grand Central Palace Debarkation Hospital No. 5New York City3,500215,000Day labor.
Greenhut Building Debarkation Hospital No. 3New York City3,130420,000Do.
InfirmarySt. Louis, Mo.1,00065,000March Construction Co.
Lakewood General Hospital No. 9Lakewood, N. J.1,020282,735Geo. D. Morrow.
Letterman General HospitalPresidio, Calif.1,250112,716
Madison Barracks HospitalMadison, Wis.273125,535J. J. Turner & Sons.
Markelton General Hospital No. 17Markelton, Pa.50093,580Dawson Construction Co.
Nassau General Hospital No. 39Long Beach, Long Island, N. Y.1,50025,000Day labor.
Norfolk State General No. 34Norfolk, Mass.700120,000Chas. Logue Building Co.
Otisville General Hospital No. 8Otisville, N. Y.1,0201,685,766R. H. Howes Construction Co.
Park View General Hospital No. 24Pittsburgh, Pa.1,200208,940Day labor.
Plattsburg General HospitalPlattsburg, N. Y.2,000231,948D. Callahan.
Richmond College Debarkation Hospital No. 51Richmond, Va.96051,750John T. Wilson Co.
Roland Park General Hospital No. 7Baltimore, Md.500329,617J. Henry Miller Co.
General Hospital No. 35West Baden, Ind.1,500125,000Chas. W. Gindle Co.
United States Army General Hospital No. 12Biltmore, N. C.55137,050Gude & Co.
United States Army General Hospital No. 18Waynesville, N. C.40073,700Gude-Krebs & Co.
United States Army General Hospital No. 23Hot Springs, N. C.750103,200Do.
Walter Reed General HospitalTakoma Park, Washington, D. C.2,0931,675,151Skinker & Garrett.
Whipple Barracks General Hospital No. 20Prescott, Ariz.1,0001,629,683James E. Morgan.

[40] Part of General Hospital No. 10, Boston, Mass.

Item.Quantity.Cost.Remarks.
Brick325,783,400$2,631,799Would build a road 18 feet wide approximately 380 miles long, or equal to the distance from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh; loaded in cars having a capacity of 15,000 brick, would require 21,720 cars to load.
Lumber[41]2,647,605,42669,773,825If considered 1-inch pieces 12 inches wide and placed end to end, would reach 500,000 miles, or 20 times the circumference of the earth. It would take 175,000 cars to haul this material, figuring 15,000 feet board measure material to each car. Figuring each car 35 feet long, would make a train 1,160 miles long, or the distance from Washington, D. C., to Kansas City. Total weight, 5,000,000 tons.
Wood stave pipe[41]2,900,0802,325,000If placed in one single line, would extend 550 miles. This is approximately the same miles of pipe as all of the water and gas lines in the city of New Orleans, La., which supplies a population between 400,000 and 500,000 people.
Structural steel[42] 64,0006,311,092This would require 1,000 cars having a capacity of 80,000 pounds each. It would require structural-steel shops employing 100 men fabricating 2,000 tons per month three years to complete the fabrication. This is sufficient material to erect twenty 20-story buildings 75 feet square.
Roofing[43]1,400,000$3,650,000Sufficient to roof 5 square miles, or would roof 100,000 ordinary houses of 14 squares to each house.
Cable[44]1,103,560257,233Approximately 210 miles.
Copper wire[44]33,283,0001,409,6006,303 miles.
Cement[45]6,181,19413,723,15336,148 car loads, approximately, of 171 barrels to car load. Loaded on cars 35 feet total length, would make one train 239 miles long, or greater than the distance from Boston to New York.

[41] Feet.

[42] Tons.

[43] Squares of 100 square feet.

[44] Feet.

[45] Barrels.

Procurement branch during period of 18 months, June 15, 1917, to December 15, 1918, purchased and allocated materials to the amount of $245,115,443.

BOOK VII.
THE SIGNAL CORPS.

CHAPTER I.
SIGNAL CORPS MATERIAL.

The spent runner who hurled himself through the gate of ancient Athens and with his dying breath gasped out the news of the brilliant success of the Athenian troops against the Persian at Marathon in the year 490 B. C. was the first famous soldier of a signal corps; but since then the exploits of the bearers of military tidings have filled the pages of legend and story. Just as other branches of military science have been brought to a high perfection in modern times, so in equal degree has the art of military signaling progressed in efficiency.

Where the ancient athlete once exhausted his strength in bearing military messages long distances in the field, the modern Mercury uses the wireless phone. In Civil War days the pony express rider brought from some desperate stand the story of the lack of ammunition; to-day the ammunition-supply organization is in constant touch with the front by means of telegraph or the long-distance telephone. In the Indian campaigns in our own West messages from beleaguered parties were sometimes conveyed by signal smokes; the "lost battalion" in the Argonne sent news of its plight by carrier pigeon.

Modern warfare has indeed retained the old, but it has also developed the new, in transmitting military tidings. So important is this branch of fighting that it is put in the hands of a specialized organization, which in the American Army is known as the Signal Corps. The Signal Corps not only had charge of the operation of the various communicating devices in 1917 and 1918 in the field of operations (except latterly in the air), but it also had charge of the manufacture of the equipment for this work.

The production of signaling equipment was far greater than the uninformed person would imagine. As an instance, there was one special type of telephone wire, a form unknown to commercial use before the war, which, before November 11, 1918, was being produced at the rate of 20,000 miles a month, at a cost of $5,650,000 per month, requiring the complete capacity of the day and night operation of all fine wire machinery in the United States, except that which was working on Navy contracts. Many other production activities of the Signal Corps were carried through on a similar scale.

Until after the Civil War, the operation of large units of troops was greatly handicapped by the limitations of military signaling as then known. A force could not be effective in combat that could not be readily reached in all quarters by runners or riders or by visual signals. The development of the telegraph and telephone and the invention of radio changed all this, so that in the great war armies stretched out on fronts 100 miles or more in length with every part of them in immediate touch with every other part through the exact and complete systems of signaling on the field.

Military signals to-day include the telephone, the telegraph, radio telegraphy and telephony, the buzzer, the buzzerphone, panels, pyrotechnics, flags, smoke signals, pigeons, dogs, mounted orderlies, and runners. Each of these means of signaling is an adjunct to the others; when one fails, another is employed to get the message through. Some have special uses for branches of the service with peculiar requirements. The radiophone is especially suited for communicating from airplanes. Artillery fire is directed by wire and wireless communication. Trained pigeons are sometimes able to get messages through when all other means of communication have failed.

The Army did not have a great quantity of signaling equipment when it went to war with Germany, but what it did have was good. The American punitive expedition in Mexico, where long lines of communication over rugged country were required, had given opportunity for testing modern signal apparatus in the field. Many of the signaling devices used by the American Expeditionary Forces were, at least in type, in common use by the civilian population; yet the procurement of this equipment offered heavy difficulties. This was because the Army was much more exacting than was commercial demand as to the quality of material used. For instance, a telephone instrument for use in the field hardly can be compared with the telephone in a business man's private office. The field set demands stronger connections, better insulation against the dampness of outdoor work, and more rugged construction to withstand rough usage by an army on the march.

One of the larger tasks of the Signal Corps in France was that of providing facilities for communication for the service of supply. The first Signal Corps officers sent to France soon realized that the forthcoming American Army could not depend upon the French telegraph and telephone systems in the various zones of operation, because those systems were already overburdened by the uses of the French government. Consequently, it became necessary to set up our own telegraph and telephone systems, extending them from the ports of debarkation through the various bases and zones up to the battle regions. The magnitude of the system which finally was constructed is shown in the fact that on November 11, the date of the armistice, there were in France 96,000 miles of American telegraph and long-distance telephone circuits. This wire was all used by the service of supply and by the various Army bases behind the front.

Yet in the field of fighting the requirements for wire were even greater. At one time during the height of the operations it was evident that the time was not far distant when the Signal Corps would need 68,000 miles a month of what was known as outpost wire, for use simply in connecting up the telephone and telegraph systems carried along by the troops in their advances.

Outpost wire was entirely a development of the war against Germany. The original telephone system used at the front had been the single telephone wire grounded to complete the circuit. But all the armies in France perfected their listening instruments to such a degree that they could hear conversations conducted on the grounded telephone circuits, the sounds being detected in the earth itself. Consequently, it became necessary to carry forward with troops two-wire telephone circuits, thus doing away with ground connections. Even then care had to be taken that the insulation of this double wire was perfected, lest the impulses enter the ground through gaps in the insulation. Wireless for outpost communication was equally impracticable, since the enemy could easily listen in and hear radio phone messages.

Outpost wire insured secret communication at the front. Outpost wire was a twist of two wires, each single wire being made up of seven fine wires, four of them of bronze, and three of them of hard carbon steel. These were stranded together, coated, first with rubber and then with cotton yarn, and finally paraffined. The wire was produced in six colors—red, yellow, green, brown, black, and gray—for easy identification in the field, each unit employing its own color.

The wastage of outpost wire was enormous. In an advancing movement it was folly to undertake to pick up the wire. The abandoned miles of it had to be left in the field to be salvaged later by the clean-up parties.

The proposition of producing 68,000 miles of outpost wire every month staggered the wire manufacturers of the country. There were not enough braiding machines to complete such an order, and new ones had to be built before such a quantity of outpost wire could be attained.

In addition to the various means of communication, the Signal Corps was also called upon to supply in large quantities such other articles as wire reel carts, flag staffs, field glasses, photographic equipment, chests, tools, meteorological apparatus, and wrist watches.

In the production of its supplies, the Signal Corps was confronted with the same obstacles of inadequate industrial capacity, dearth of raw materials, and congestion of railroad transportation, that embarrassed almost every line of military production. To meet these difficulties the Signal Corps organized an elaborate inspection force which not only checked the work at the various factories for quality and rate of production, but was also constantly on hand to help the harassed manufacturer out of his difficulties as they arose. The Signal Corps never slept. At night and on holidays there was at least one officer on the job in Washington to receive telegrams or long-distance telephone messages and to be ready to act quickly in any emergency.

From the production standpoint, signal equipment was divided into several general classifications: (1) telephone and telegraph apparatus; (2) radio apparatus; (3) line-construction materials; (4) batteries; (5) wire and cables; (6) field glasses; (7) wire carts; (8) photographic supplies, pigeons, and pigeon supplies; and (9) chests, kits, and tools, mechanical signals, electric signals, meteorological apparatus, and wrist watches.

TELEPHONES AND TELEGRAPHS.

In the early days of the conflict the construction of signal materials in the United States was devoted to such basic supplies as wire, cable, tools, and the standard types of telephone equipment, such as telephone sets and switchboards. The first great task in France was to install the lines of communication for the service of supply, a system that required American equipment because it was planned to operate it with American-trained telegraph and telephone operators.

Now, there were numerous styles of commercial telephone equipment manufactured in the United States. The plan, therefore, was adopted of allowing the various manufacturing concerns to bid on a tentative production schedule, giving an exclusive contract to the lowest bidder in each type of apparatus. This exceptional policy was adopted in order to avoid multiplicity of types of equipment to be used abroad. If many makes were adopted in each type they would necessitate the procurement of many types of spare parts and replacement materials.

The concerns which produced the telephone equipment for the American Expeditionary Forces were the Western Electric Co., of Kansas City; the Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Co., of Chicago; the Stromberg-Carlson Telephone Manufacturing Co., of Rochester; the Frank Black Co., of Chicago; and the Reliable Electric Co., of Chicago.

At the signing of the armistice there were 282 American telephone exchanges in France, with 14,956 telephone lines reaching 8,959 stations. The 282 exchanges ranged from the small four-line monocord unit, such as may be seen in any business office, to the standard American multiple board of the city telephone exchange. Of these latter there were over 30 in use by the American Expeditionary Forces when the armistice was signed.

MULTIPLEX PRINTING TELEGRAPH. SCHOOL OF RADIO AND MULTIPLEX TELEGRAPHY.

SIGNAL CORPS SCHOOL FOR TELEPHONE ELECTRICIANS, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, INSTRUMENT AND SWITCHBOARD REPAIR CLASS.

FIELD WORK WITH UNDAMPED WAVE TRANSMITTER AND TRENCH ANTENNA.

SIGNAL CORPS EQUIPMENT INSTALLED IN A DUGOUT.

Left to right—S. C. field telephone, type "EE-4;" field service buzzer; signal lamp (projector), type "EE-6"; S. C. radio set, SCR-76 and S. C. radio set, SCR-54A.

The special telephones adopted for use in the field were different from any in commercial use in America. The Signal Corps had developed certain special instruments combining both telephone and telegraphic principles. The field telephone, model 1917, for instance, was a telephone which included a telegraph buzzer on its telephone circuit. This instrument was used when great secrecy in communication was required. The messages were sent in telegraphic code, the buzzers being heard by the receiver. Another instrument was known simply as the buzzer. This was an instrument which utilized the telephone receiver for telegraphic messages. It was a supreme development for use over defective lines. An instrument closely related to the buzzer, but which gave even greater secrecy, was known as the buzzerphone. The buzzerphone was put into production just before the close of hostilities.

The mobile switchboard in most general use by our troops at the front was developed originally by the French and was known as the monotype. It was designed in units and could be extended to accommodate up to 12 trunk lines leading away from the board. This apparatus was the "central" of the front-line dugouts. It could be put into operation in a few minutes and was easily carried by a soldier.

The switchboard of the dugouts was the only telephone equipment not of American design used by the American Expeditionary Forces. It was put into production in the autumn of 1917 in three American plants, under the general policy of the Signal Corps to contract with more than one factory for the production of any important device.

Another type of field switchboard when packed for transit resembled a salesman's trunk. It was used in the camps and provided for 40 lines. This board was being constantly redesigned as field needs developed. A new type of camp switchboard was coming into heavy production at the end of hostilities.

Still a third type of portable switchboard was built in units resembling the units of a sectional bookcase and was set up in the same way.

The telegraph apparatus of the lines of communication in the S. O. S. was designed along purely commercial lines. It included the latest type of printing telegraph equipment, the apparatus first adopted being the multiplex printing telegraph as used by the Western Union Telegraph Co. Later, the Morkrum printing telegraph was also adopted.

At the close of hostilities 133 complete telegraph stations with full equipment were in operation in the service of supply. The peak load of this service, just prior to the armistice, was 47,555 telegrams, averaging 60 words each, sent from these stations in a single day. The daily average in the final weeks of the fighting was 43,845 telegrams.

RADIO.

At the outbreak of the war, the field radio equipment in active use by the Army was limited to two sets, both of comparatively high power. On the other hand the allied forces had developed a complicated and extensive use of radio sets of small power, many of them operated from airplanes, and the Signal Corps found itself confronted with the task of developing an entire new line of complicated electrical apparatus, and putting it into large quantity production in the shortest possible time. The progress made is indicated by the fact that at the signing of the armistice the number of types of complete sets on which development work had been carried out was 75. Of these approximately 25 were in quantity production. When it is remembered that each of these sets consisted of hundreds of parts, many of which required careful study and experimentation as well as design, the magnitude of the problem is appreciated.

The initial step in the reorganization of this branch of the Signal Corps' work consisted in the establishment of a radio section in Washington and a corresponding section in France. The former was charged with the design of apparatus and the preparation of manufacturing drawings and specifications, while the latter served as the first hand observer of actual service requirements and approved all equipment before it was used in the field. An important auxiliary of the development organization in Washington was the radio laboratories established at Camp Alfred Vail, where all necessary technical facilities, such as model shops, drafting rooms, research laboratories, a completely equipped flying field, etc., were maintained. With this engineering organization and the production organization which handled all Signal Corps equipment, the work here detailed was carried out.

Shortly after the declaration of war, the French government sent to this country a distinguished commission which included the foremost radio experts, who were thoroughly familiar with the latest military developments. Technical information and samples of radio apparatus were also obtained from British sources. With this beginning, the engineering work naturally divided itself into two general problems—first, to duplicate the approved foreign designs, and then to create designs for new types of apparatus which would be superior to any in service. Work on these two groups of problems was prosecuted simultaneously with the result that there were soon in production American equivalents of a number of French and British sets, together with improved original types of American radio apparatus.

RADIO RECEIVING SET, SCR-54, USING CRYSTAL DETECTOR.

REAR PANEL VIEW, RADIO TELEPHONE GROUND SET. TYPE SCR-67.

RADIO TELEGRAPH TRANSMITTING SET IN CASE.

RADIO TELEGRAPH TRANSMITTING SET WITH CASE REMOVED.

Probably the most noteworthy technical development during the war, in so far as radio communication is concerned, was the extensive use made of vacuum tubes. These "bottles," which make practical use of the electrons of the new physics and which are sometimes called audions or pliotrons, are literally marvels in the realms of engineering, and their applications are as yet hardly realized. One form was used for the reception of signals prior to the war; but the military developments, particularly in France, had so progressed that when this country entered the war they were used both for receiving and transmitting signals, and most of the more important sets depended on them. To meet this demand the services of the three foremost vacuum-tube engineering organizations of the country were enlisted, and under the direction of the Signal Corps radio engineers the progress toward satisfactory design and construction of the required types was rapid. Within less than six months standardized tubes were turned out by the quantity production method at rates sufficient to insure the requisite supply. Work was continued, however, on the development of still better types of tubes. The improvements that have been made from time to time have been incorporated in the tubes being produced on a large scale, so that tubes of recent manufacture are a great improvement over those made a year ago.

As indicative of the extent and variety of the radio development work which was carried on, there is given below a partial list of the types of sets which were completely developed and placed in production during the war period:

LAND RADIO EQUIPMENT.

AIRPLANE RADIO EQUIPMENT.

The magnitude of the production of special items involved may be gathered from such figures of expenditures as the following:

For vacuum tubes$1,650,600
For storage batteries5,315,350
For dry batteries602,470
For battery charging sets1,524,400

These are, of course, only some of the items. The total production authorized was valued at approximately $45,000,000.

The remarkable development and improvement of military radio equipment which has taken place under the direction of the Signal Corps during the last 18 months will undoubtedly materially change the system of Army communications and even the tactical use of military equipment and personnel. A typical example of this development is the airplane radio telephone, described elsewhere, the use of which has made possible the "voice-commanded air squadron." The military value of an air squadron has been enormously increased by virtue of this device, which enables the squadron commander to direct the movements of the individual airplanes in any manner which circumstances may require.

Certain other radio devices recently perfected, the nature of which can not be revealed, will undoubtedly affect the tactical use of troops to such an extent as to make certain kinds of radio equipment as indispensable to the operations of military units as the rifle or the machine gun.

LINE EQUIPMENT.

The first requisition for line equipment for France called for the construction of 500 miles of telephone and telegraph main pole lines, carrying 10 copper telephone and telegraph wires. It was found that ship space could not be spared for poles in such quantity. Consequently a forestry unit was sent to France to get these poles from the French woodlands. All of the other materials for the 500 miles of line, together with materials for approximately 600 miles of extensions, were procured in the United States and shipped to France within six months after the requisition was received. This material was secured in such short time only by the cooperation of the large commercial companies in the United States, who literally stripped their warehouses bare of their supplies.

In the late summer of 1918 the American Government began anticipating the advance of the allied forces into Germany, and the Signal Corps put into production a reserve equipment for long distance line approximating 500 miles. Soon there was received from France a cablegram asking for the shipment of this material, and it was all floated before the armistice. However, as it turned out, this equipment was never required, since the terms of the armistice gave the American forces the German telephone and telegraph lines in the occupied territory.

This line equipment was all of a type standard in the United States. For the fighting zone special line equipment was required. Before the war with Germany American signal troops had set up their emergency telephone and telegraph lines on the standard "lance poles." These poles served admirably in open warfare, but proved to be impracticable for the static conditions of fighting in France. After a considerable supply of lance poles had been shipped abroad their production was curtailed. Thereafter the trench telephone and telegraph lines were supported on short stakes with special cross arms, in appearance the conventional telegraph poles in miniature. The enormous mileage of trench lines called for a great quantity of insulators and cross arms. The wastage of these fittings, due to their being exposed to artillery fire, became increasingly greater in the closing months of the war.

In wire itself, the American production was enormous. This production included the commercial type of copper line wire and the drop wire for connecting up individual telephones to the pole lines. Much commercial cable for connecting congested centers with branch switchboards was also required. Yet all of this wire used in the system within the Service of Supply was but a small quantity compared with the requirements in the fighting zone.

The production of double-conductor wire, or the so-called outpost wire of No Man's Land, which had relegated to the scrap heap the standard field wire of open warfare, necessitated an extraordinary effort. The wire had to be light enough for easy transportation and laying, strong enough to withstand the abrasions from traffic crossing it as it lay on the ground, and exceedingly well insulated. The first estimate was that an American Army in the field might use 1,000 miles per month of outpost wire. When the first American force actually went into action, in the spring of 1918, a reserve supply of 20,000 miles of outpost wire was in the American warehouses in France, with a vast quantity of cable in reserve. Cable, at first used in large quantities at the front, was invariably buried several feet underground and abandoned at every change of headquarters.

As the fighting grew more intense and covered a wider and wider area, the wastage of outpost wire became enormous. The demand of our forces for cable dropped to a negligible quantity, but wire requirements rose. Outpost wire became the main dependence of ourselves and the allies for all communication in the active sectors. A higher quality of wire was specified. So great was the destruction of wire that by July, 1918, the original estimate of 1,000 miles per month to be supplied by American factories had jumped to 20,000 miles.

As a substitute for outpost wire to fill the immediate needs the familiar twisted drop wire, with which the ordinary telephone is connected with the main circuit, was adopted. Our field officers liked drop wire, its only objectionable feature being its relative bulk. All available drop wire in the United States was shipped across, and its manufacture was pushed until the new type of outpost wire could be produced.

The Signal Corps supplied the mounting needs of the American Expeditionary Forces through August and September, 1918, with the available drop wire plus the growing production of the new outpost wire. In early August all the wire makers in America were summoned to a conference, in which the Signal Corps made known the necessity of pushing production. The result was an expansion which reached a total production of 40,000 miles of outpost wire in November.

Just before the armistice was signed, the American Expeditionary Forces indicated that they would require 50,000 miles of outpost wire every month, beginning in January, 1919. This requirement had already been fully anticipated, since the American manufacturers had set for themselves a maximum production of 68,000 miles per month by August, 1919.

To secure this production every wire mill in the United States worked 24 hours per day. When the production was at its height, inquiries came from the allied governments, indicating that they would call on American wire makers for a quantity of wire equal to what the latter were already producing for the American Expeditionary Forces. In other words, this proposition called for the doubling of a production which had already attained great size. Yet, had the fighting continued, there is every reason to believe that the industry would have risen to the demand.

The production of outpost wire was an intricate operation. To fill the demand for 50,000 miles of outpost wire a month called for 300,000 miles of steel strand and 400,000 miles of bronze strand every month. The steel strand had to be given repeated heat treatments before it had acquired the necessary tensile strength.

ELECTRIC BATTERIES.

The American Expeditionary Forces consumed great quantities of electric batteries, the familiar dry battery of commerce being most used. Toward the end of the fighting arrangements were being made to establish in France a plant at which dry batteries would be assembled by French labor, utilizing parts made in America. The necessary apparatus and materials for the first operation had reached France prior to the armistice, but the plant was not in production at that time.

Storage-battery requirements of the American Expeditionary Forces were heavy and exacting. The storage battery was the only practicable source of electrical energy for the operation of small portable radio outfits. Field conditions required a storage battery that would not spill its contents, with a jar not easily broken, the whole equipment being as light as possible. A rubber composition jar was finally adopted.

The chief reliance of the American Expeditionary Forces was in storage batteries of European manufacture, which were to be used until American production got underway. When by the summer of 1918 America had perfected her own designs of radio equipment, the Signal Corps took up the matter of storage batteries for radio and decided upon types. This was in July, 1918. A conference of battery manufacturers was called and the orders were allocated among practically all the storage-battery plants in the United States that were in a position to undertake quantity production. The end of hostilities stopped this production on the eve of heavy deliveries.

FIELD GLASSES.

When the war began, the Signal Corps had the duty of providing field glasses for all branches of the Army, issuing them to noncommissioned officers and selling them at cost to commissioned officers engaged in combat. The first estimates showed that these glasses would be needed by the tens of thousands, whereas the manufacturing facilities in the United States had turned them out merely by the hundreds.

The optical-glass industry had never been developed in America, our field glasses being supplied with lenses of European glass, and principally German glass. In 1914 the imports of optical glass were $641,000 in value. The following year they were almost nothing. The advance of the German army toward Paris encompassed the glass plants of Belgium and many of those of France. England needed the entire output of her own glass factories.

In the autumn of 1914 the American optical-instrument makers began to develop an optical-glass industry, largely stimulated by the possibility of obtaining heavy orders at high prices from the British, French, and Russian governments. The most important work was done by the Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., of Rochester, N. Y.; the Spencer Lens Co., of Buffalo, and the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., of Pittsburgh. They were aided by the United States Bureau of Standards and by the geophysical laboratory of the Carnegie Institution. The Bureau of Standards established a laboratory at Pittsburgh where experiments were conducted with 30-pound pots of glass.

Optical glass differs greatly from ordinary glass. It must be clear, without striae, and there must be no strains in it, resulting from the final stirring and cooling. It must give a high transmission of light.

About the time of America's declaration of war the American experiments had produced glass suitable for optical instruments. This glass, however, was being turned out in quantities quite insufficient to meet the demand during the first few months.

In addition to the difficulties surrounding the glass supply, there was only a limited number of establishments capable of manufacturing field glasses after the glass was procured. These concerns were located principally in Rochester, N. Y., where they had been manufacturing a wide variety of optical instruments, including opera glasses, camera lenses, scientific and educational apparatus, battery commanders' telescopes, marine glasses, microscopes, and gun sights. In order to meet the war requirements of America for field glasses, these factories had to install large quantities of new equipment and to run day and night. The equipment consisted of lens-grinding apparatus, lathes, dies, and automatic screw machinery.

In addition to the Rochester factories there was a concern in Denver, Colo., the Weiss Electrical Instruments Co., which in a smaller way had been manufacturing surveyors' levels and other engineering apparatus. The Talbot Reel & Manufacturing Co., of Kansas City, had been making fishing reels in a small plant about 30 feet square. This factory was purchased in 1917 by Mr. L. Harris, who, after finishing a contract for gun sights for the Ordnance Department, built a factory especially for the production of Army field glasses and reached the quantity manufacture of these instruments before the armistice came. The chief center of supply, however, continued to be Rochester, where the plants of Bausch & Lomb, the Gundlach-Manhattan Optical Co., and the Crown Optical Co. are located. These factories expanded many times, and the output of field glasses went beyond what the executives at the outset of the enterprise imagined could be possible.

The Bausch & Lomb Co. was started in Rochester about 50 years ago by J. J. Bausch, who was born in Germany. The plant developed gradually, making a full line of spectacle lenses and optical instruments. The Carl Zeiss Works, of Jena, Germany, had a financial interest in the plant, and Bausch & Lomb had a financial interest in the Zeiss plant. This connection, however, was dissolved in 1915, when Bausch & Lomb took on contracts for the manufacture of field glasses for the British, French, and Russian governments.

Before 1914 this concern had never manufactured more than 1,800 pairs of field glasses in a year. The output was speeded up until in November, 1918, a total of 3,500 pairs was being produced each week, while the development was aiming toward an output of 5,500 pairs of glasses per week beginning in January, 1919. At the date of the armistice the Bausch & Lomb factory had a floor space of 32 acres and employed 6,000 men and women.

The Gundlach-Manhattan Co., which had made camera lenses chiefly, was eventually able to produce 600 pairs of field glasses a week. The Crown Optical Co. was not so rapid in its expansion; and in late 1917 the Navy Department commandeered it and thereafter operated it in charge of Lieut. Commander L. C. Scheibla. Under naval management the output of this factory increased so that the Signal Corps was able to obtain from it about 1,200 pairs of high quality field glasses each week, the plant continuing also to supply the needs of the Navy.

Out of a situation that seemed impossible at the outset the Signal Corps built up an industry within a comparatively few months which provided all the field glasses that were necessary in the operations of the American Expeditionary Forces. Often to keep the optical factories equipped with sufficient workmen the Signal Corps obtained the furlough of drafted men with experience in this line so that they might go to work making field glasses.

All Army organizations except Artillery were supplied with a six-power glass having an angular field that took in a view 150 yards wide at a distance of 1,000 yards. The glasses were of the prismatic type with individual focus for each eye. Each glass was provided with a leather carrying case and shoulder strap. On the top of the case a compass was mounted.

The Artillery organizations were supplied with eight-power field glasses, all of which were purchased in France.

The total requirements of the American Expeditionary Forces for field glasses of the six-power type during the period of hostilities were approximately 100,000 pairs. The total shipments from America were approximately 106,000 pairs.

MISCELLANEOUS SUPPLIES.

The Signal Corps took up with three concerns—the Hampden Watch Co., the Illinois Watch Co., and the Elgin Watch Co.—the matter of providing wrist watches for the Army. A 7-jewel movement was adopted as standard for issue to troops and a 15-jewel movement for sale to officers. A waterproof case was adopted, bearing the serial number of the movement on the outside, the case being so constructed as to require a special tool to gain access to the movement.

The production of wire carts for the Signal Corps did not exceed 25 per year prior to 1917. The demand for these carts, which were hard to build, increased at such a rate that during the autumn of 1918 the matter of procuring them was one of the most serious production problems faced by the Signal Corps.

The Holmes Automobile Co., of Canton, Ohio, abandoned the production of automobiles and in September, 1918, turned over its entire plant to the production of wire carts. Other manufacturers were the George B. Marx Co., of Brooklyn; the J. G. Brill Co., of Philadelphia; the American Instrument & Tool Co., of New York; and the Wesel Manufacturing Co., of Brooklyn. In all, 721 wire carts were manufactured and 327 shipped overseas.

A total of 2,402 tool chests for the Signal Corps was produced during the war period. The plan eventually adopted was to split up the orders for tools among the various manufacturers and to give the manufacture of the empty chests to prison labor at Fort Leavenworth, where the tools were to be shipped and packed in the chests. This plan, however, required the construction of a special building at Fort Leavenworth, and in the meantime the assembling of tool chests was conducted at the Signal Corps supply depot at Philadelphia and at the port of embarkation. The armistice stopped the construction of the assembling factory at Fort Leavenworth.

The Signal Corps produced a suitable number of gas alarm signals known as strombos horns. This equipment consisted of an alarm horn operated by air pressure acting against a diaphragm and thereby producing a loud and distinct chatter. Compressed air was supplied in small steel cylinders connected to each horn by hose. The air tanks were charged behind the lines from a portable air compressor which could pump into several cylinders at once. The horns were manufactured by the Klaxon Co., of Newark, N. J., the cylinders by the Harrisburg Pipe & Pipe Bending Co., Harrisburg, Pa., and the air compressors by the Ingersoll-Rand Co., of New York.

Flag kits were not used to any great extent by the American Expeditionary Forces, although large quantities of these were produced in this country.

The Signal Corps originally had jurisdiction over all war photography, either of land or air, except for a small amount conducted by the engineers in connection with their own operations; but later aerial photography became a branch of the Military Aeronautics and Aircraft Bureaus. After that the Signal Corps was charged with taking all photographs of historical nature or other interest.

In connection with this work two types of cameras were necessary—still cameras and motion-picture cameras. Later in the war there was being developed a new motion-picture camera which was expected to be the ideal type for use in the field.

It was with great difficulty that a sufficient number of photographic lenses was obtained for the use of military cameras, since the large lens factories of America were tied up with other war orders. A campaign was conducted by the leading newspapers and magazines of the country which resulted in the Government's securing from amateur photographers a large number of high-grade lenses, mostly of foreign manufacture.

The Signal Corps scattered its camera operators broadcast over the country, photographing cantonments and other war activities to the most minute details. These photographs and films were then made public in newspapers, periodicals, and motion-picture theaters throughout the United States, with the result that the people saw with their own eyes how their soldiers were preparing themselves for the defense of the Nation.

An interesting development of war photography was the production of motion pictures showing the training of soldiers. Many pictures were taken to show graphically on the screen the different chapters of the Army drill regulations. These pictures will have a future use to the Government in training soldiers efficiently in the shortest possible time.

The Signal Corps photographers also developed a new kind of history of the war, a history written entirely in pictures for future generations to scan.

PIGEONS.

Although nearly every European army for 40 years has trained the carrier pigeon to be a field messenger, the American Army never adopted the bird until 1917. In a single year the Signal Corps established hundreds of pigeon lofts in this country and overseas and bought and trained more than 15,000 pigeons for service in France. In actual use on the field the pigeons delivered more than 95 per cent of the messages intrusted to them, flying safely through the heaviest shell and gas barrages.

The standard pigeon loft adopted by the Signal Corps had a unique trap arrangement which permitted the entry but not the exit of returning pigeons, and an electrical alarm which automatically notified the attendants of an arrival. Such lofts, however, were of the stationary type and not practicable for use in France. For the American Expeditionary Forces the Signal Corps purchased mobile lofts. It was found that pigeons would come home as well to mobile lofts, which were constantly changing position, as they would to stationary lofts. The first mobile lofts built in the United States were top-heavy, but this defect was overcome by increasing their width and adding heavier wheels. They were all built by the Trailmobile Co., of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Civilian pigeon fanciers were appealed to and urged to breed young birds to stock the Government lofts. The Signal Corps distributed small aluminum bands to be put on the legs of squeakers, as the newly-hatched pigeons are called, which were intended for sale to the Government. The uniform price of $2 per bird was paid, and over 10,000 youngsters were bought for stocking purposes.

Tons of pigeon feed were purchased and shipped to Europe. Some of this grain, such as millet, Argentine corn, pop corn, hemp seed, and Canada peas, was hard to obtain; but nevertheless the supply was well maintained. It was shipped in hermetically sealed containers to prevent it from becoming mildewed.

The American Army copied the French and English models of willow and reed baskets to hold the birds. One type of basket was carried on the back of the soldier and contained small corselets in which the pigeons were securely fastened. Corselets were suspended from the sides of the basket by elastic contrivances permitting considerable joggling without injury to the birds. All of these baskets were made by the A. L. Randell Co., of Chicago.

Message books were manufactured in accordance with a French model. After the message had been written, it was placed in an aluminum capsule which was fitted in a holder of aluminum. This holder was attached to the pigeon's leg by means of aluminum bands. These bands were found to break easily, and pure copper bands were later substituted. The message holders were manufactured by Thomas A. Gey, of Norristown, Pa.

Thousands of items of supply were included in the supply schedules of the Signal Corps. In the following lists some of the more important items are shown, the production indicated in each case being that between April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918.

Telephone equipment.
Produced.Floated overseas.
Batteries, dry970,171396,427
Bells:
Extension865470
Vibrating13,75612,934
Blocks, connecting6,5006,500
Cabinets, wire chief, testing225225
Coils:
Induction25550
Repeating801801
Condensers10,2056,788
Cords:
For telephones5,0005,000
For switchboards23,53911,890
Fuses, for monocord switchboard670,000341,000
Receiver diaphragms2,7002,050
Receivers, telephone12,9509,354
Repeaters, telephone362362
Staples, insulated912,300809,800
Switchboards:
Camp, 40-line11168
Commercial types304304
Switchboard, telephone, monotype14,46213,264
Telephones:
Artillery type (W. E. 1375)66,54446,123
Camp38,45632,668
Commercial types2,6691,514
Telephone offices, truck11
Telegraph equipment.
Produced.Floated overseas.
Buzzers, service3,9833,478
Connectors, stud8,0278,027
Disks, cipher6,1576,157
Keys1,8301,830
Relays1,6721,147
Sounders1,9981,998
Switchboard, telegraph1,321550
Telegraph office, truck11
Typewriters920880
Vibroplex, transmitter470420
Radio equipment.
Total produced.
Airplane interphone set4,263
Airplane radio telegraph receiving set7,029
Airplane radio telegraph transmitting set3,971
Airplane radio telephone set3,186
Amplifiers1,250
Battery charging sets455
Ground radio telegraph receiving set8,052
Ground radio telegraph transmitting set2,637
Ground radio telephone set527
Storage batteries227,139
T. P. S. receiving sets2,510
T. P. S. transmitting sets1,995
T. P. S. two-way set2,010
Vacuum tubes446,818
Wavemeters8,042
Photographic equipment.
Production.Shipped overseas.
Chemicalspounds50,72341,881
Cameras:
4 by 5 speed graphic541283
4 by 5 RB graflex310237
6½ by 8½ cycle graphic280249
Miscellaneous still4040
Motion-picture470145
Paper, photo, all sizes gross21,36416,364
Do. rolls5,1863,686
Lenses2,797696
Tripods, M.P.558147
Plates dozen68,87348,873
Holders, plate28,29818,298
Film, M.P. feet7,500,0004,000,000
Film, still rolls48,81428,814
Line construction material.
Production.Shipped overseas.
Anchors, guy17,36017,120
Belts, lineman's6,7335,332
Bolts, lag screws, etc.1,139,6481,137,928
Braces, cross-arm123,16298,440
Brackets:
Oak287,000287,000
Pole, galvanized13,92913,929
Transposition26,90526,280
Cable:
Telephone, circular loom feet662,978396,250
Telephone, lead covered miles80,2021,696
Cable compound pounds6,1603,760
Carts, reel737227
Clamps, guy39,25026,000
Climbers, with straps pairs11,82810,619
Cross arms38,50038,500
Gloves, lineman's pairs849748
Hangers, cable51,00051,000
Insulators, for lance poles291,12426,700
Insulators, glass1,158,8361,158,836
Insulators, porcelain2,411,6701,798,220
Knives, electrician's.264,754141,920
Knobs, wooden953,540400,000
Marlin pounds4,5271,427
Muslin, cable-splicers yards1,2511,251
Nails, for insulators pounds36,00036,000
Pikes, wire1,9921,728
Pins, cross-arm807,653477,400
Pliers, lineman's193,53384,642
Poles, lance209,00023,685
Reels, breast6,1096,108
Sleeves, copper, splicing146,93451,934
Solder pounds21,80814,606
Tape:
Friction do.106,04290,318
Rubber do.20,52316,713
Terminals, cable1,2901,290
Wire:
Stranded, messenger feet2,470,5772,470,357
Telephone—
Copper, bare miles126,66478,880
G.I. bare do.14,4117,970
Single, insulated do.23,95014,011
Twisted pair, Insulated do.75,02245,457
Wire carts721327