The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-05-24

U0Ty Ut VT0ST ~ 70 uS-sWONS g"
MIstakss In Handling Stores Which
Comprise Something Like $4,000 Sep.
arate Items.
10
The following. on the work IF Brit.
ish women at the front, appeared In q
recent issue Of the London Daily Teles
graph from correspondent 4at the
base in France"
Now every sisnaller was . very fine
Wac,
And a very dns Wac WAS she
Happy, happy shall We be.
There's none 50 fair as can compare
! With the w. A. A. G.
! There Is q considerable amount Of
musical talent and an Astounding sense
ofSfun among the girls who are cheer.
fully fulfilling the tasks they have
taken up. This you Judge whenever
you attend one of their parties. The
lines quoted are from some patter
verses, on the plan of old King Cole,"
In which unit administrators, area con.
troAers and captains Of army signallers
Of 1 particular corps came In, for good
humored banter by name. The whole
corps always speaks Of Its members a.
"Waacs," and unless a standard die
hdnary Of the future gravely admits
the word and its, origin to Its columns
there will be trouble for the students
yetEto be of the war. Signalers, 1t may
be said, are an important section Of
this new arm, and they are especially
proud that they are allowed to wear
the blue and white armlet that, under
the kings regulations, is distinctive Of
photographic service.
At one base, through which messages
Of supreme importance are constantly
passing, the women are pronounced to
be- doing excellent work. All have had
the full training of the. post Office and
are experts with the Wheatstone auto
matte system. But some specialized
training has been necessary, fpr GER
tain codes Dhave been adopted and alb
solute accuracy is essential when single
letters or figures are invested with
welghty significance and the smallest
error mlght1lhaReithe gravest results.
Very efficient, too, is the telephone
service, employing, as at home, q mum.
Der of highly trained young women.
Scotland, it may be said, has furnished
4 large proportion of the girls carrying
out these responsibilities.
"A New Vocabulary.
This question of codes and letters
and figures constitutes a bigger diff
Guilty than the outsider would imagine.
When staff officer escorted our party
through q great depot Of the ordnance
department it was quickly realized
that theSe women have to acquire what
Is Literally new vocabulary to them.
Now, no shop in the world contains the
variety Of items and parts and sections
that this arm of the service brings to-
gether and issues. Its very magnitude
In the earlier days, even, Of the war
led to the adoption Of code of letters
and figures to denote its division, at
least, where thousands Of acquisitions
pour in daily. Thanks to this method
1t became possible to utilize the help OF
French women long before the posi-
bility Of securing feminine assistance
from home doomed into view. The In.
telligent French girl might not possess
q rudimentary acquaintance with our
language, but she could understand
that all acquisitions bearing a certain
letter and figure were to be brought to.
gether in the rack provided, and thus
a first stage Of sorting could be ct.
(ected.
BY special favor a glimpse was 40
corded Of the stupendons labor BY
which the guns are kept at their tire
less work. II there IL. q subject Oh
which the average girl clerk is less like
" to be informed than. upon another
It is surely that which; touches the
technicalities and working parts Of
modern artillery. Yet here are women
who, II . very few weeks, have learned
enough to know in which direction to
send forward regulations concerning
o. guns, or trench mortars, or the
mightiest howitzers. 1t was not always
thus, and mistakes even now are made
that recall the favorite story here Of
the young lady who, when. q demand
caine down for armored hose, gayly re-
ferred it to- the. authorities charged
with the issue of clothing. But even
ina department. which stores some
thing like $4,000 separate items the
mistakes have now come to be few and
Ter between.
Varieties Of Work.
Eess exacting at the outset is the
work upon which they are entering at
the clothing stores, where it is esti.
mated that four women will take the
place Of every three men formerly en-
gagged there. 1t is a department Of
fabulous figures indeed, the bare men
ton in tons of the first supplies OF
winter equipment brought over is al
most staggering. Greatcoats, water,
proofs, warm underwear, boots and ac-
cessories fill stacks that would seem
inexhaustible. Even buttons and the
ribbons that belong to the more gen.
orally bestowed medals make up suf'