| Item. | Total ordered. | Value of number ordered. | Total delivered. | Value of number delivered. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wagons. | ||||
| Ambulance | 3,339 | $1,168,650 | 3,319 | $1,161,650 |
| Escort, model A | 1,000 | 242,000 | 1,000 | 242,000 |
| Escort, J-118 | 102,078 | 20,415,600 | 37,613 | 7,522,600 |
| Combat | 15,500 | 7,750,000 | 7,099 | 3,549,500 |
| Drinking water | 2,687 | 1,262,890 | 2,687 | 1,262,890 |
| Mountain, 3-seat | 1,000 | 300,000 | 1,000 | 300,000 |
| Sprinkling | 1,056 | 496,320 | 1,056 | 496,320 |
| Bottom, dump | 436 | 71,940 | 255 | 42,075 |
| Milk | 4 | 1,400 | 4 | 1,400 |
| Buckboard | 1,859 | 232,375 | 1,155 | 144,375 |
| Total | 128,959 | 31,941,175 | 55,188 | 14,722,810 |
| Carts. | ||||
| Drinking water | 22,000 | 6,050,000 | 14,729 | 4,050,475 |
| Ration | 15,000 | 1,875,000 | 10,185 | 1,273,125 |
| Medical | 5,500 | 819,500 | 2,350 | 350,150 |
| Hand | 7,309 | 211,961 | 4,607 | 133,003 |
| Dump | 1,183 | 118,300 | 1,037 | 103,700 |
| Sanitary | 1,009 | 201,800 | 811 | 162,200 |
| Veterinary ambulance | 80 | 20,000 | 80 | 20,000 |
| Disinfecting spray | 37 | 10,175 | 37 | 10,175 |
| Total | 52,118 | 9,306,736 | 33,836 | 6,103,428 |
| Grand total | 41,247,911 | 20,826,238 |
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.
| Article. | Unit. | Number. | Items shipped. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit value. | Total value. | |||
| Ambulances | Each | 507 | $350 | $177,450 |
| Escort wagons | do. | 15,979 | 230 | 3,675,170 |
| Combat wagons | do. | 2,672 | 500 | 1,336,000 |
| Spring wagons | do. | 147 | 235 | 34,545 |
| Water carts | do. | 5,314 | 275 | 1,461,350 |
| Ration carts | do. | 3,231 | 125 | 403,875 |
| Medical carts | do. | 1,068 | 149 | 159,132 |
| Total | 7,247,522 | |||
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.