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.