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.