The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1918-06-20

"~A' AhNViNAhb WllIAu <O,OOOtpO Oh
the total funds directly available for
the department for the present fiscal
years., 1888, 2S6,045. Additional con.
tracts totaling $1,503. 7o3, 741 have beer
entered into on the authority of con
gress pending appropriation of an
amount aggregating $1,671. 466, 750.
The magnitude Of the task of the
ordnance department financially is evil
denced by the disbursement recently In
a single day of more than $25, 000,0 900
on ordinary contract vouchers. Dis
bursements for the month of April,
1918, ran to $3.50, 1884, S63, an interesting
amount as compared with the $685.
2e4 disbursed by the ordnance depart
ment In April, 1917. These disburse-
ments were made at the ordnance Of
fee 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 S1S,750.000. One re-
QUESTION made recently by this same
officer on the treasury was for $1e9,-
100000. This is the largest single reQui-
sition ever made by any United States
aisbursing officer.
Prior to two months ago, before the
ordnance department established its IL
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 800
to 5000 checks a day.
Because Of the instruction of gas Of
fcers who have been at the various
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
ment authorized by the war depart
ment. 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 di-
vision gas officers and their assistants,
the men are drilled In the use of
masks, taught how to detect the pres
sence 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.
~
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 trainA~g of instructors in gas de-
tense includes a 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, is
the rapid expansion of the various bu-
reaus of the war department. At the
outbreak of the war there were less
than 5000 employees on duty. The
number now is approximately $4,000
an increase of 800 per cent. While this
represents a tremendous expansion
the increase In the army itself has been
more than 1900 per cent.
Only four out of every 100 officers
In the service were in the army at the
time the war began.
The gas defense service 10 now manu-
featuring about 5000 horse gas mask,
per day. These are being sent tt
France, and 1t is expected that within
short time every horse connected
with the American expeditionar.
forces will be equipped with the new
masks
The gas defense service has a com
pletely equipped factory for the manu-
facture of the masks. In less thar
three weeks a building was selectet
and the factory was producing masks
The introduction of riveting machiner.
has done away with the heavy han'
sewing of the frame which support
the masks on the faces of the horses
The masks are 30 constructed that n
ssetal or chemically impregnated part
can chafe the horse.
In Bavaria the monthly meat ratio
has been cut 20 per cent-from 100
to 800 grams-according to German
newspapers. The monthly meat ratio
In Saxony has been reduced from 30
to TOO grams. Public officials are re
ported In the Prussian press as discus
sing the possibility of a further redut
ton of the bread ration In Prussia.
A Munich paper reports that fror
the beginning Of the war to March
1918, Bavarian hog stocks have d.
| creased from 2,1O6,312 to 766.391 heat
The Danish hog census shows a d.
crease from 1851, 900 hogs July 1.
1917, to 789, 900 December 8, 1917 or
decrease of one-third the number @
the beginning of the war.
The restriction on the importation G