Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-10
j. S. POISON GAS
READY TO DESTROY
CENTRAL EUROPE
Terrible War Weapon, Made IN
Vast Quantities at Aberdeen,
Md, Hastcned End OF
Hostilities.
SAVED WORLD FROM HUN

Rc00ed Barry In the New York Times.
Twcnty-sx miles from Baltimore, on
the edge of the governments vast Aber-
deem ordnance proving grounds, Is a 300
acre tract, fenced off even from the COM
parntive publicity Of the conventional
big guns, guarded from prying eyes along
every rod by soldiers with drawn bay
onets. Twelve months ago it was Mary
land farm. Today it is the largest poison
gas factory on earth. It can produce
probably three or four times over, moro
mustard gas, phosgenc, chlorine and other
noxious fumes than the intensified war
output OF England, France and Ger
many combined. 1t was just completed
and ready to function for the $50, ,00O, 900
invested there, when the arnnistice WAS
signed on November IL. Now it lies
silent and idle like the great cannon along
the Lorraine border, but ready to operate
at q moments notice.
The director Of The United States
Chemical Warfare Service is Major
General William L. Sibert. The command
mg officer, Colonel William II. Walker,
and one of his assistants, Lieut.. Col.
George Chahoon, took me over the plant
and initiated me into its mysteries, ex-
planned the processes Of production, out
lined some Of the little known features OF
Gas warfare, and indicated what sn
essential element In the prospective al
lied attack next spring, this product was
TO be. Formerly Colonel Walker was pro-
fessor of chemical engineering at the Mas
sachusetts Institute Of Technology.
As we went over this enormous plant,
epgmked over the old farm, each unit
veil separated from its neighbors to
svcid concatenated explosions, Colonel
Walker, once the best lecturer at the
Boston "Tcch," expounded the theory
and the practice, the history and the pos
sible future Of the dlabolism we were sur
veyiug.
GERMANS Had WAR WON.
1T is not apparent that the Germans
started the wAr with the intention of using
poison gas" he said, 'for they did not use
II until April 1915, and then. despite their
boosted efficiency, they did not under
stand the effectiveness Of the hendish
stuff they were using. Had they done so,
history might make different reading To-
day. For instance, when they first used
gas, lit was chlorine with which they
started on April %, 1857 they waited
"a hours before following up with a bay
onet stack, evidently fearful that the gas
had not dissipHted. As matter of fact,
the gas dissipated within 35 or 40 minutes
after its release, though in that time it
annihilated 80 per cent Of the Canadians,
Turcos and French opposing it. If the
Germans had attacked within an hour,
they would have taken Calais that day.
There was nothing to stop them.
Another thing that makes me think
they did no4 intend using poison gas when
they began the wsr, is that they bad no
proper meteorological charts of Northern
France. Ii they had had these necessary
charts, they would not have wasted so
much time and so much gas as they did
waste. It is a fact that the prevailing
winds in Northern France are about IS
per cent from southerly or southeasterly
direction This left the Germans only %
per cent of the time in which they could
use gas as they did to begin with, relying
on the wind TO carry it across the line.
Later they devised guns and mortars, but
Il they had begun with these methods and
had made gas In sufficient quantity, there
can be NO doubt that the war would have
ended in their favor very early. There is no
doubt in my mind that their inability to
make gas in sufficient quantity accounts for
their halt In their last great drive last
summer. OF that later.
ALLIES UsEr AS RELUCTANTLY.
fTThe French and English, as you know,
were reluctant TO use gas, deerninr it in
Our government suffered
from the same indecision In the early
months OF our part in the war. However,
we came TO it IN time, Just as did the
French and English. But although the
English finally utilized every available
facility, they could command IN the man
ufactsre OF toxic gases, their total pro
duction at its highest point never went
above an average Of 30 tons day. The
best the French could do was much less
than this. You can get the whole story IN
one sentence when / tell you that our
American capacity for September and
October was on an average Of 200 tons q
4ay. Remember that these figures are not
m pounds, as powder figures are usually
given, but IN tons. And drop Of gas,
properly placed, kills or incapacitates.
what was the Germans productionT'
l asked.
eve do not know" replied Colonel
walker, "but from available data and