The Seward gateway and the Alaska evening post., 1917-09-06

FRANCE, August 15, Correspond ence of The Associated Press) ).-In war the question of wastage of mate rial is second only to that of men. Armaments become rapidly unservice- able through old age and casualties, the big guns most of all. For gun casualties a regular system of hospi- tals exists.
 The frst-aid station is in the bat tery itself, where, much as a medical orderly keeps a supply of medicine and bandages. a trained artifcer keeps a supply of tools and spare parts. He can deal with any trifing accident that may occur, or replace any small part that may be broken. The mod ern gun or howitzer is a complicated piece of mechanism, requiring con- stant skilled attention if the best re- suits are to be obtained. This atten- tion the artifcer supplies.
 But, should the gun develop com plaint beyond the powers of his tools to rectify, or should an unlucky spIin- ter of shell wound it in some vulner- able part, it's removal to hospital be- comes necessary. Gun hospitals are workshops, wonderfully organized to deal with the work that falls to their lot, and stalred by skilled men of the Ordnance Corps. These workshops are graded according to mobility, and are all capable of more or less rapid trans fer from one point to another They are styled light, medium. or heavy according to their powers of move ment and their capacity for dealing with work requiring light or heavy tools.
 A Light Ordnance Mobile Work shop" to give it it's full title, is self contained upon two or three motor trucks, ingeniousIy arranged. The floor of the lorries carries light lathes and drilling machines, driven by eIec. tric transmission from the engine of the automobile, light being furnish ed from the same source. The trucks look like ordinary closed motor ears when travelling, but on duty the sides of the vans drop down to form plat forms around the machinery and the interior are transformed into buzz ing hives of activity. Their capacity is limited to the work that can be handled on the comparatively light tools that they carry.
 The next stage is the "Medium Mo- bile Workshop" This is no longer self-contained on motor trucks, ready to timber up and be off at a moment It carries machinery that must be un- loaded and installed in some conVen. tent shed. The whole is transported on motor trucks, but the work Is not carried on in the trucks, There is 8 compact oil engine and dynamo, to b, bo!tcd down to a hastily constructed foundation. There are lathes, milling machines, every sort of machine too that is to be found in a general en- cheering shop. The whole concern requires about two days to set up anc put in running order. Nearly every, thing except certain intricate repairs can be performed here, and it is very rarely necessary for a wounded gar to proceed any further.
 But, for the accommodation of real ly bad cases, there are a few "Heavy Mobile Workshops" where anything that is susceptible of repair may b' dealt with. These are equipped no' only with heavier machinery than the Medium Workshops, but with elabo rate additional machinery for specla work. In addition to the big machine shop, there are pattern-making shops