Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-09-11
LARGE AMOUNT
OF WRECKACE
IS USED OVER
Two Carloads Hair Brush
es Saved from Wreckage
and Renovated.

Tours, France. Aug. 28.-(Corre-
s%pondence Of The Associated Pressl-
Two carloads Of hair brushes
abandoned by American soldiers in
battle brought today to the great sal
wage 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 careful
ly gathered up and sent here, for
restoration. 49, w.
Five thousand persons are employ.
ed in r%enovating and repairing this
wreckage. The material thus saved
and restored to use Or sold amounted
in value last month to $500, 900. =
In the big battle around Chateau
Thierry, as u fighting men went
~ by detachments of non-combatant
troops to grope amid the wreckage
and debris and save it 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,
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 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 a freak. There
was nothing like it in the Civil war or
the more recent modern wars. It
started on a small scale with 200
hands.
But now, after a few months, it is
a monster industry, with huge build,
ings and towering stacks. 1t will
first year., and it may reach $50, 0O0,-
600. This is no freak; it is cold, hard
saving of millions Of dollars. at a time
when material Is scarce and shipping
difficult. It is the anti-waste CAM
paign brought to it's highest Develop
ment by a huge government under
taking. -,
Going over the plant today there
was an opportunity to see the re-
Wreckage Of the battlefield is only one
of the sources Of this salvage. explain
ed our escort, but it is the greatest
source. AS men spring into action.
they throw aside everything not alb
solutely essential. There is. besides
the litter Of the actual fighting, brok-
en- and abandoned goods of every con-
elvable nature.
1t is not only what Is left by our
" 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
abandoned. goods. Moved on short
orders, the men pick up a few fight
ing essentials-guns. blankets, emer-
gency rations-and leave the rest be-
The men arrive from America with
an undue amount Of clothing; 1t is
trimmed down al the first training |
camp: again It is trimmed down as
they go to the front, and each new
trimming Of thousands of men means
another huge stock for salvage.
In the main building. a quarter of
a mile long. there was the roar Of a
vast and diversified industry, with
thousand men, with long batteries of
sewing machines. shoe machines, rub
Der and harness machines such as one
sees in the great factory Districts:
with the same huge installation of en-
glnes. boilers, disinfecting' plants.
laundries; n the whirr of big metal
machines for making over the many
branches of ordnance. y
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 the other articles of SOL
der wear. They were in bundles,
looking very fresh and clean, quite
like the stock Of a well-equipped
clothing establishment. The women
were arranging the garmentsrin 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.
Class 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 but
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 u own MEN, but worn
goods in a fair state of preservation.
1t, seemed to be an answer to the
cutlery 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
trenches and the battlefield. through
process after process Of d%isfnfection.
cleaning. repairing, grading, until
they finally emerged in stocks Of SUBJ
stantial footwear. Like the garments,
these were classed to go back to the
fighting troops, or to the ~stevedores,
or to the German prisoners.