The evening leader. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) 191?-19??, 1918-02-18
WASTAGE TELLS
TRAGEDY OF WAR
Daily Eight Trains Bring Soldiers
Ruined Equipment to lie
Mans From Front.
5000 MAKE OVER GARMENTS
French Redeem 10000 Pairs Of
Trench Boots and $4,000 Pieces OF
Outer Clothing MonthIy--Ger-
man Mar Prisoners Work.

man Mar Prisoners Work.
LIE Mans, Department of the Sarthe, |
an average eight trains
4 day are bringing to LIE Mans the
wastage at the battle front, consisting
Of thousaA5s of tons of damaged war
and soldiers ruined equip
ment. There have been as many as
II trains day heavily loaded with
this material picked up on battletelds
and around camps. LIE Mans would be
the paradise of ragmen and dealers in
goods were it not for
the fact that the French army is lind
ing it's own use for such of the mate
rial as it is able to recuperate or re-
pair.
ESTABLISHMENTS located here by the
uuartermaster's department recuper-
ates monthly $4,000 outer garments,
125,OOO undergarments, $500 pairs OF
shoes, 10000 pairs of trench boots, 20
600 steel helmets, 100000 sheepskin
capes and 10000 pieces of equipment.
These articles are made ready for
use again by disinfection, renovation
and repairs. There are in addition'
made each month from pieces OF cloth
ing that are not repaired, 100000
pairs of slippers, 100000 cases for SOL
diers' canteens, 10000 forage caps
$4,000 shoe laces, 10000 cloth cases
for. bread leaves. and 10000 wash
rags.
5000 in Repair Shops.
The regeneration and repair of worn
and damaged articles began In the
spring of 1916 in vast warehouses ano
repair shops in which 5000 persons
including 1000 refugees, mostly WON
en-, are employed
! Here and at Les Murlins, northwes'
| of Orleons, among the quays IRON
/ which the modified men OF the hfti
! military region went off to war II
! August. 1914, German prisoners OF
war now line up in front of incoming
| freight trains and unload quantitie
of great sacks that look like the proc
uct of gigantic ragman's shop.
/ Tire indescribabfe mass invokes tn
confusion as well as the tragedy Q
/ the battlefield. There are pierced an
denied helmets, worn and staine
coats, IegsRgs, army Shoes ft5 &c and nc tr reno
boots, some of them pierced by bullet
some torn by shrapnel and other
shredded by violent contact wit
barbed wire.
All of them are covered with layer
of mud of varying thicknesses an
not infrequently garment present
stain of an indeinable color, alway
easily resngnized but got rid of wit
difficulty. These garments receiy
special treatment. They are frs
thrown into a receptacle which the
! go through a long and thorough clean,
ing before being treated as other ga
mentS.
Leather, Metal and Cloth.
The first operation on the arrival q
a train is the sorting of the load int
three piles, leather, metal and clotl
The cloth and canvas go at once int
immense diSinfecting tanks that ar
In operation night and day, and frol
there to the laundry. Then they go t
another warehouse, where they ar
separated into repairable and unr,
parable; here there is a great deal {
ripping to separate trimmings frol
garments and to divide the garment
themselves into pieces of as nearly uli
form size as possible to facilitate thei
transformation into comfortable sill,
pers.
The sheep skins are purified by
sulphur application in the abandone
vault of an old cemetery near b,
where 5000 of them are treated eac
day, after which they are made plis
BILE and ready for wear again by bea
ing machine. Some of them are abl
to take another turn at the front, br
the most of them, along with pieces {
uniform, are distributed among the a.
sembling stations at the rear for til
equipment of auxiliaries and anon
the hospitals for the clothing of col
valescentS.
Rags are sold here at the rate {
a hundred bales per day, weighing i
the aggregate about II tons. This rel
resents the wear and wastage of clotl
ing received at LIE Mans alone; a
equal quantity is received at Les Mul
! Inns.
Kettles, braziers, lanterns, drums
musical instruments and all kinds Q
tools also pass through here on thei
way to Rennes to be dealt with by spt
cial establishments where the pei
centage Of recuperation is said to
very slight.
Patriotism Personified!