Perth Amboy evening news., 1918-09-11

AMERICAN SUPPLY HEAD
QUARTERS. TOURS, France. Aug. 20
Two carloads Of hair brushes aban-
doned 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 restor-
alton.
Five thousand persons are employ
ed in renovating and repairing the
wreckage. The material thus saved
and returned 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 were followed closely
by detachments of non-combatant
troops to grope amid the wreckage
and debris and save it from COM
plete abandonment n loss. Each
detachment comprised 20 enlisted men
and an officer. They had trucks and
derricks and all the paraphernalia
for gathering broken-down cannon,
rifles, cartridge belts, helmets. cloth
ing, and the vast stores of abandoned
arms and material left in the track Of
a contest. and to send it back to the
salvage depot here.
Strange things have come out OF
this war, but more stranger than this
gigantic salvage plant where every
thing from crippled guns n cannon
| to old army shoes and cap is saved
from total loss and turned back to
Some useful end at the front. At
first people looked at it as a freak.
There was nothing like it in the civil
war or the more recent modern wars.
1t started on a small scale with 200
hands.
But now, after a few months, it is
q monster industry with huge build
ings and towering stacks. 1t will save
the government $50, 900, 900 the first
year. and it may reach $50, 900, 900.
! This Is no freak: 1t is cold, hard saw
ing of millions of dollars at a time
when material is scarce and shipping
/ difficult. 1t is the anti-waste cam
paign brought to its highest develop
ment by a huge government under
taking.
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 salvage, explain
ed our escort, but 1t is the greatest
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-
ceivable nature.
It is not only what is left by our
own troops. but what is left by the
enemy, often great stocks of arms.
ammunition, bayonets n every kind
/ of fighting material.
Even when there is no battle, the
mere shift of a division of troops
leaves an enormous stock Of abandon
/ ed goods. Moved on short orders. the
men pick up a few fighting essentials
guns, blankets. emergency rations
and leave the rest behind. books,
extra cloths, shoes, etc. The men
arrive from America with an undue
amount OF clothing; IL is trimmed
down at the first training camp;
again IL is trimmed down as they go
TO the front, and each new trim
ming of thousands Of men means
another huge stock for salvage.
In the main building, a quarter OF
a mile long. there was the o of a
vast and diversified industry, with
over 1000 women workers and a
thousand men. with long batteries of
sewing machines, shoe machines. rub
Der and harness machines such as one
secs in the great factory districts:
with the same huge installation Of en-
gfnes, boilers. disinfecting plants,
laundries; and the whirr of big metal