The Alaska daily empire., 1917-05-11
(6y Henry Watterson in Louisville
 Courier-JournaD

days ago the story that the Ger man dead are stripped, bound in bundles of four, with iron wire. haul ed to waiting railroad trains and ship ped to a reducing plant, where the fats and oils are recovered for chem cal uses, including the making of explosives. The bones are ground for fertilizer and pig feed To many persons the tale was incredible. a mere column of horror to entertain the idle reader or vent British spleen against the Germans.
 The Times now comes forward with a more detailed story of the intensive treatment of the German soldier, to the end that the Empire may profit by using him after he is killed as we'll as while he is alive in standardization German papers are luoted, and the story as it now ap- pears seems as well authenticated IS any chronicle of alleged facts could be. If it still is incredible it s only because the minds of many persons cannot adjust themselves to he reception of the story that a civ liZed people would treat the cropse of gallant soldiers as a mere commod- .ty to be employed as a measure of national economy
 American consuls formerly in Ger many are quoted by the Times as saying that the Germans have been ,or some time making nitroglycerine, md obtaining the essentials of other explosives, from the corpses of sol Hers killed in battle. The German censors now are permitting their press to report the rendering of the corpses, as an example of the high efficiency of Germany, the Times says. Belgian newspapers have be- fore printed the news that the trains laden with bundles of corpses are dispatched to Gerolstein, each car la oeled ID. A. V. G. meaning "Deut- schem Abfalls Verwerttungsgesell laft," which translated, is "The Ger man Offal Utilization Company Linn ted The factory is situated 1000 yards from a railroad which con 1ects St. With, near the Belgian iron tier, with Gerolstein. The site of the plant is in a forest in the little ire 1uented district of Eifel, southwest )f Coblentz. A spur leads to the 'actory, which is surrounded by ,harged wires and operated by work ers that are not permitted to leave the place.
 The following account of the re ception and treatment of bodies is given:
 "The factory deals especially with the dead from the western front If the results are as good as the company hopes, another will be es abolished on the eastern front.
 "The trains arrive full of bodies which are unloaded by workers who live at the works. The men wear ,ilskin oyeralls and masks with eye pieces and are equipped with long, hooked poles. They push the bun Hes of bodies to an endless chain 'nto long narrow compartment, where they pass through a bath which disinfects them. They go on through a drying chamber and are automatically carried to a great caul- Iron into which they are dropped from the chain.
 They remain from six to eight hours in the cauldron, where they are treated by steam, which breaks hem up while they are slowly stirr- ed by machinery The fats are broken into stearine, form of tai low and oils, which require to be re distilled before they can be used Oistillation is carried out by boiling
 he oil with carbonate of soda and some part of the by-products result ng is used by the soap-makers. The refined oil is sent out in small casks like those used for petroleum and is yellowish brown.
 "The fumes are exhausted from the buildings by electric fans and are sucked through great pipe to the northeastern corner, where they are condensed and the refuse resulting is discharged into sewer. There is no high chimney, as the boiler furnaces are supplied with air by electric fans
 There is laboratory, and in charge of the works is chief chem. ist with two assistants and seventy eight men, All the employees are soldiers attached to the Eighth Army Corps. There is a sanatorium near the works. and under no pretext is any man permitted to leave. They are guarded as prisoners at this ap palling work.
 Photographed facsimiles of news article in the Lokal Anzeiger of Der lin are presented by the Times tC convince the incredulous reader The Lokal Anzeiger refers to the corpse exploitation establishment" using the German term "kadaververwertunbsa nstall," and says:
 "The fats here are turned into lu bricating oils and everything else l is ground down in the mill. the bones into powder which is used for mix ing with pigs food and as manure Nothing can be permitted to go tt waste"
 It is conceivable that barbarians xx-hr nf