Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1918-06-13


tracts, since this country entered thu
war, involving within 175.O00000 o1
the total funds directly available for
the department for the present fiscal
years., 3S3 ,2S6, ,O45. Additional con.
tracts totaling $1,503, ,7O3, ,741 have been
entered into on the authority Of con-
gress pending appropriation Of an
amount aggregating $1,671, ,488,75O.
The magnitude of the task Of the
ordnance department financially 10 ovi.
denced by the disbursement recently In
single day of more than $25, 600, 600
on ordinary contract vouchers. Dis
bursements for the month of April,
1918, ran to 1856, ,Ss4, 1853, an interesting
amount as compared with the $685.
264 disbursed by the ordnance depart
ment in April, 1917. These disburse-
|, ments We're made at the ordnance Of
flee in Washington. Amounts dis
bursed at government arsenals are not
included.
One check recently drawn by the ord
nance disbursing officer for ordnance
material was for 1S.75O,OOO. One re-
QUESTION made recently by this same
, officer on the treasury was for $780,
100000. This is the largest single reQui-
sition ever made by any United States
/, disbursing officer.
Prior to two months ago, before the
ordnance department established its II
district offices which zoned the country
to expedite payments to contractors
and relieve the strain upon the main
office in Washington, the disbursing
officer at Washington signed from 500
to 5000 checks day.
Because of the instruction Of gas of-
ficers who have been at the variouA
camps for the last six months, the
troops which are going forward to
France are well posted on methods Of
combating gas attacks, says state
rent authorized by the war depart
ment. A group of British gas officers
has been in this country since last
summer. One of these men has been
at each of the training camps, advising
and assisting the division gas officer.
All the men going overseas are sup
piled with gas helmets. Under the d.
vision gas officers and their assistants,
the men are drilled in the use of
masks. taught how to detect the pres
ence of gas, and given actual expert
ence with different sorts of gases.
Mimic gas shells and cloud attacks,
used often at night in connection with
high explosives, help to make the train
ing realistic.
The United States has been able to
build on the experience of the British
and French, to whom gas attacks were
unknown when they entered the war.
| No American troops have been sent to
| the front without practical experience
in defending themselves against gas.
The training of instructors in gas de-
| fense includes course of about one
| month. Most of the gas officers are
commissioned first lieutenants.
One of the interesting developments
of the war, according to a statement
authorized by the war department, ~
the rapid expansion of the various bu-
reaus of the war department. At the
than 5000 employees on duty. The
number now is approximately 25,OO0,
an increase Of 800 per cent. While this
| represents a tremendous expansioni
| the increase in the army itself has bee1
more than 1,5O0 per cent.
Only four out of every 100 officers
| in the service were In the army at th1
time the war began. :,
| The gas defense service Is now manur
featuring about 5000 horse gas masks
per day. These are being sent 70
France, and it is expected that within
short time every horse connected
with the American expeditionasy
forces will be equipped with the new
masks.
The gas defense service has com
pletely equipped factory for the manu-
| facture of the masks. In less than
three weeks a building was selected
and the factory was producing masks.
The introduction of riveting machinery
has done away with the heavy hand
| sewing of the frame which supports
i luc uldSkS Oh ule IdCeS OF the QOrS9Us
The masks are SO constructed that 70
/, metal or chemically impregnated partz
| can chafe the horse.
In Bavaria the monthly meat ration
has been cut 20 per cent-from 1000
| to 800 grams-according to Germn
newspapers. The monthly meat ratios
in Saxony has been reduced from go
/, to 700 grams Public officials are re-
| ported in the Prussian press as discus
sing the possibility of further rednA.
| ton of the bread ration in Prussia.
/ A Munich paper reports that from
| the beginning Of the war to March !,
! 1918, Bavarian hog stocks have de-
creased from 2,10e,31 to 7ee, ,391 head.
| The Danish hog census shows q d.
crease from 1851 600 hogs July Il,
1917, to 7s9, 900 December s, 1917, Of 4
| decrease of one-third the number q
the beginning Of the war.