El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-03-02
UNCLE SAM IS
USING ALL JUNK
Army Equipment Worn
Made to Do Double Duty
by Capt. Felix's Force.
n FORBEs PARkHIII-

rags, any bones, any bottles today
He'd hardly seem in place stirring
around the ash piles and dump heaps
Of the city.
One couldn't exactly imagine him
specializing upon the value of a pair
Of shoes that had expired Of old age.
Yet there is no other man in the
southwest who deals in junk to such
an extent-who is such a connossieur
of crinkled canvas; such a specialist in
spoiled spurs: such judge OF jun
bIed junk
He wears olive drab and two silver
bars on his collar and a serious look,
and his name is Capt. Fred Felix-Un-
Gle Sans FL Paso junk man-other-
wise known as head of the salvage
and reclamation department OF the FL
Paso general quartermaster's depot.
Abhors Army Waste.
Capt. Felix, who's a picker
and proud of II. has the pleasant little
JOB Of seeing that nothing that's be-
ing used by some $4,000 soldiers. more
or less, in this military district. goes
to waste. once upon time all worn
out clothing or other equipment Of
be sold Tor junk was consigned to the
moderator and burned But since IN
Gle Sam has rolled up his sleeves and
started in this war business in earn
est, he's determined that not an ounce
Of wool or leather or iron or brass or
canvas that may be reclaimed from
the junk pile shall be wasted-and
he's sent Capt Felix to sort O. tend to
his growing junk business in e Paso.
Heads Big Organization.
Uncle Sans junk man heads an or
ganizauon OF so enlisted men. civil
ians and women. Three warehouses,
part OF the machine shop at Fort Bliss.
and a storage yard are devoted to the
work Of salvaging what formerly was
thought to be unsalvageable, and re-
claiming what once was believed IN
reclaimable-
Much Of the salvage work is done
at the main building Of the FL Paso
general quartermaster's department,
at Mills and Campbell streets Here.
for instance. one may see corps OF
men making canvas clothing bags
from torn cot covers These cot COW
ers formerly were discarded alto
gether, once they were past mending.
RecIaimS Old Uniforms.
Out at Texas and Laurel streets
most OF the salvage work is carried
on Here is the beginning of a tailor
ing establishment which. within
few weeks, will provide employment
for 80 men and women, and which will
Today an average OF 40 garments
daily are mended and reclaimed from
the junk pile. Half a dozen woman
employees are engaged in mending and
patching, under the supervision OF an
expert tailor. The salvage department
Of the army is about to purchase
modern cleaning and tailoring estab-
lishment complete, in which IL will
handle uniforms from all parts Of the
FL Paso military district
Uncle sam Boss Tailor.
Previous to July II. 1917. when IN
Gle sam decided 10 make every penny
Of his peoples money count. enlisted
men were given clothing allowance.
and were required to keep their cloth
ing in condition themselves Now the
government provides all the clothing
for its men in o. D.
When an article OF clothing is worn
or torn by an enlisted man now. IL is
turned over to the salvage departm ent,
where II is repaired and returned 10
him When finally Il IS beyond re-
pair, IL is stripped OF its buttons, its
laces, and even its hooks and eyes
and is baled with other clothing and
sent east. where it is ground up and
used again. The buttons. laces, hooks
and eyes are used in repairing gar
ments which subsequently come to
the repair shops.
Shoes Are Made wearable.
So II is with shoes When they are
worn they are repaired. II possible.
II they are beyond repair. they are
ripped apart. and portions of the up
per ere used in repairing other shoes
The remaining scraps OF leather are
saved and are sold eventually 10 be
used in the manufacture Of compost
ton leather and betting. Not an ounce
cal shoe repair contracts were let a
few months ago.
Rebuild Meat Grinders.
Recently an assortment of Is bro I
ken and worn out meat grinders was
received by the salvage department I
Formerly they would have been sold /
to the junk man as old metal In /
stead they were inspected, and taken /
apart, and every part that was not
broken or worn was saved From this
assortment Of parts /
three new meat grinders were assem-
bled and parts were left 70 repair I
number OF others which some day /
may come in as unfit for use. Now
only the broken or worn parts viii be
sold for old metal
Tent Materials Saved.
Canvas is utilized in the same man
ner. Tents, ripped and torn by the
wind. come in for salvage IL posi-
bic, they are mended and patched with
pieces Of other worn tents II they
cannot be reclaimed. the brass eye
used to cover the walls of frame
buildings, to keep out the wind and
cold.
VIII Operate Every Department.
Wagons and automobiles are re-
paired and reclaimed in the sasSe man
1er. While a small part of the recla-
nation work is being done by con-
tract, Capt. Felix announces that IL
viii not be many weeks until the
government itself is operating every
department of its reclamation work.
Then Uncle Sam himself will reblock
all his soldiers hats. mend and patch
their uniforms. half sole their shoes,
reclaim their tents and wagons, and
In general see that not button or an
eyelet is wasted.
No Liberty Money Wasted.
Capt Felix is assisted in his job OF
Uncle Sans junk man by Lieut.. Ar
thur Holt.
Capt Felix's work has been de-
scribed as one OF the best possible
Liberty loan advertisements now
the people know that every cent OF
the money they loan to Uncle Sam will
be utilized to the best possible ad-
and nanny will