The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-09-16
AMERICAN SUPPLY HEADQUAR-

AM ENlCAN OOEIL1 HHfAD~xOf1Ae
TIERS, Tours, France. Sept. 1.-two
carloads of hair brushes abandoned
by American soldiers in camps were
among the wreckage of battle brought
today to the great salvage depot of
the American army here. This was
only one little item In the grist OF
debris and litter from the fighting zone
which has been carefully gathered up
and sent here for restoration.
Five thousand persons are employed
in renovating and repairing this
wreckage The material thus saved
and restored to use or sold amounted
in value last month to $2,5eo,0oo.
In the big battle around Chateau
Fhierry, as cur Hghting men went
over the top they were followed close
ly by detachments of non-combatant
troops to grope amid the wreckage
and debris and save 1t from complete
abandonment and loss. Each detach-
ment comprised 20 enlisted men and
an officer They had trucks and der
ricks and all the paraphernalia for
gathering broken-down cannon rifles.
cartridge belts, helmets, clothing, and
the vast stores Of abandoned arms
and material left in the track of
contest, and to send it back to the
salvage depot here.
Strange things have come out of
this war, but none stranger than this
gigantic salvage plant where every
thing from crippled guns and cannon
to old army shoes and caps is saved
from total loss and turned back to
some useful end at the front. At first
people looked at it as freak. There
was nothing like it in the civil war or
the more recent modern wars. 1t
started on small scale with 200
hands.
is Monster Industry.
But now, after few months, it is
monster industry, with high build
ings and towering stacks. 1t will save
the government $35,000.000 the first
year, and it may reach $50,00O,000.
This is no freak, it is cold, hard saw
| ing of millions of dollars, at a time
when material is scarce and shipping
| difficult. 1t is the anttwaste cam
paign brought to it's highest develop
ment by huge government under
| taking.
Going over the plant today there
| was an opportunity to see the remark
able details of this salvage. The
| wreckage of the battlefield is only
one of the sources Of this salvage, ex-
planned our escort, but it is the great
est source. AS men spring into action,
they throw aside everything not abso-
! lutely essential There is besides the
litter of the actual fighting, broken
and abandoned goods of every con-
ceibable nature.
1t is not only what is left by our
own troops, but what is left by the
| enemy, often great stocks of arms,
ammunition, bayonets and every kind
of fighting material.
Even when there is no battle, the
mere shift of division of troops
leaves an enormous stock Of aban-
doned goods. Moved on short orders,
the men pick up few fighting essen
tials-guns, blankets, emergency ra-
tions-and leave the rest behind,
books extra cloths, shoes etc. The
men arrive from America with an un-
due amount of clothing; it is trimmed
down at the first training camp, again
| it is trimmed down as they go to the
| front, and each new trimming of thous-
ands of men means another huge stock
| for salvage.
In the main building, a quarter of a
mile long, there was the feal of a
vast and diversified industry, with
| over 1000 women workers and thou
sand men, with long batteries of sew
| ing machines, shoe machines, rubber
| and harness machines such as one
sees in the great factory districts;
with the same huge installation of en-
gines. boilers, disinfecting plants and
| laundries; and the whirr of big metal
| machines for making over the many
! branches of ordnance.
Women Sort Clothing.
Hundreds of women were sorting
| the uniforms and Undertaking just
| come from the salvage processes
There were some 100000 blouses on
| these towering shelves. and as many
more of all the other articles of soldier
| wear. They were in bundles looking
/ fresh and clean. quite like the stock
of well-equipped clothing establish
| ment. The women were arranging the
garments in three classes:
Glass A.-Garments in good order
practically the same as new, to be
sent back to the front as part of the
supply for fighting troops.
Glass B. Garments partly worn out
but fully repaired. to be sent to the
base ports on the coast, for labor
troops and stevedores.
Glass C.-Garments much worn blu,
in a fair state of preservation, to be
sent to prison camps for German pris-
oners. This was significant of what
the German prisoners were getting
not the best, to be sure, and not the
| same goods as our own men, but worn
| goods in fair state of preservation.
1t seemed to be an answer to the out
| cry that the German prisoners were
| getting the same as our men
One could follow the stages OF the
huge stacks of hob-nail army shoes
from the time they arrived. covered
with the mud and CRIME of the trench
es and the battlefield, through process
after process OF distinction. cleaning,
repairing, grading. until they finally
emerged in stocks Of substantial foot