Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-10-29


1t is reassuring to know that in th'
battles now raging, our boys are equip
ped with gas-masks twenty times a:
efficient as the German ones. Say:
an authorized statement given out by
the war department and published in
the daily press Of October 6:
German forces opposed TO the
steady advance Of the American line
on the Lorraine front have brought
into play every method Of defense con
sidercd effective in modern warfare
They are making u particularly heavy
use Of poison gas. Pershing's mer
have been increasingly bombarded with
mustard shells, and every effort has
been made to drench the American ad-
vanced positions with deadly fumes. II
is Il remarkable tribute to the chemi-
cal warfare work in the United States
that these efforts TO block the progress
OF the offensive have been utterly fu-
tile.
The American attacking forces are
protected against gas by masks which
actual ficld tests prove give twenty
times the protection afforded by Ger
man gas masks. There Is not, as u
matter of fact. a single case on record
of AN American falling victim to gas
attack when protected by the mask
that is now being manufactured In the
United States on a vast quantity basis
Fortunately. every American soldier
who goes TO France is a gas mask ex-
pert. He has been trained to adjust
his land preservers' with almost in
credible speed. The mask is put on
with just five motions of the arms and
hands. The man who fails to accom-
plish the feat within u time limit OF
six seconds is left behind when his unit
goes to the front.
Recently, in a practice drill. one
company of American fighting men set
Il record of four seconds from the time
the order was given to the final ad-
justment by the s,owest man.
1T is an interesting fact that Amer
lean gas masks stand up under tests
that German masks can not meet.
German masks will not give protection
against a high concentration Of gas.
This was demonstrated recently when
the British assembled sufficiently
large battery of projectors to put sew
enty tons of phosgene gas into the air
at once. with consequences quite well
known to the German general stan.
There is no concentration OF gas that
American masks will not defy. This
has been proved, not only on the bat
tlefeld. but in the experimental stat
ton in this country. where determined
attempts to break down the resistance
of United States army masks by heavy
gas concentrations were absolutely un-
successful.
THE American gas mask was derel-
oped by actual manufacture. The
proper authorities obtained complete
information about the French and
British masks and full data as to the
efficiency they demonstrated under the
German gas attacks: Armed with this
knowledge, an order for the making OF
several thousand masks was placed in
this country. Members Of the force OF
800 officers and 1000 enlisted men
who are responsible for the production
of this modern weapon of defense
showed the courage of their convic-
tions by volunteering for experiments
They donned the masks and exposed
themselves to actual gas attacks. From
time to time American ingenuity and
inventive genius suggested improve
ments in the original methods. AS
result, the officers Of our Allies are
frank in the admission that the Amer
lean mask Is the best on the western
front"