The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-09-13
GREAT SALVAGE.
DEPOT IN FRANCE.
TO SAVE u. 5. 80
MILLIONS IN YEAR
Five Thousand Persons e
Employed at Sup.
Headquarters
EVERYTHING rs
PUT IN SHAPE
Curious Things Among Eff
fects Left by the Men
in the Camps

American Supply Headquarters,
Tours. France. Sept. 1.-Correspon
dence of The Associated Press)-
Two carloads Of hair brushes aban-
doned by American soldiers IN
camps were among the wreckage or
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 care
fully gathered up and sent here for
restoration.
Five thousand persons are en-
ployed in renovating and repairing
this wreckage. The material thus
saved and restored to use or sold
amounted in value last month to
$4,000, 900.
In the big battle around Chateau
Thierry, as our fighting men went
over the top they were followed
closely by detachments of non-com-
blatant troops to grope amid the
wreckage and debris and save 1t
from complete abandonment and
loss. Each detachment comprised 20
enlisted men and an officer. They
had trucks and derricks and all the
paraphernalia for Rthering broken
down cannon, rifles. cartridge belts,
helmets, clothing, and the vast
terial left in the track Of a con-
test, 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 can
ner to. old. army shoes and caps Is
saved from total loss and turned
back to some useful end at the front.
A
! freak. There was nothing like 1t
in the civil war or the more recent
modern wars. It started on a small
scale with 200 hands.
Now Monster Industry.
But now, after a few months, 1t
is a. monster industry, with huge
buildings and towering stacks. 1t
will save the government $S5,000000
the first year. and ii may reach $780,
0o0, 900. This is no freak; it Is cold,
hard saving OF millions. of dollars.
at time when material is scarce
and shipping difficult. It Is the
aud- waste campaign brought. to its
highest development by a huge gov
eminent undertaking.
Going over the plant today there
was an opportunity to see the re-
markable details of this salvage.
The wreckage of the battlefield is
only one of the sources of this sal
wage. explained our escort, but II Is
the greatest source. AS men spring
into action, they throw aside every
thing not absolutely essential. There
Is besides the litter of the actual
fighting, broken and abandoned
goods Of every conceivable 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 a division of troops
leaves an enormous stock of aban
ders. the men pick up a few essen
tails guns, blankets. emergency ra-
tiOns-and leave the rest behind,
books. extra clothes. shoes, etc. The
men arrive from America with an
undue amount of clothing; 1t is
trimmed down at the first training
camp; again it is trimmed down as
they go to the front. and each new
trimmer of thousands of men means
another huge. stock for salvage.
& Everything Is saIvaaed.
In the main building, a quarter of
a mile long, there was the roar of
q vast and diversified industry with
over 1900 women workers and a
thousand men, with long batteries of
sewing machines, shoe machines,
rubber and harness machines such
as one sees in the great factory dis
tFicts; with the same huge installa-
ticn of engines, boilers, disinfecting
plants, laundries; and, the whirr of
big metal machines for making over
the. many branches Of ordnance.
Hundreds of women were sorting
the uniforms and underclothing just
come from the salvage processes,
There were some 200, 900 blouses, on
these towering shelves, and as many
more of all other articles of soldier
wear. They were in bundles, look
ing very fresh and clean, quite like
the stock of equipped clothing
establishment. The women were ar
ranging the garments in three class
es
Glass, sA-Garment 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 out
hut in fair state of preservation,
to be semitic prison camps for Ger
man prisoners.
CIothe German Prisoners.
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.
IT seemed to be an answer to the
cutlery that the German prisoners
yxrnrse ting he ,.saYa as. pIIT. T1AY1.&
One could follow the stages of the
huge stacks OF hob-nail army shoes
from the time they arrived, covered