Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-14
u. S. Now Tells
War Gas Plans
By Frederic ]. HaAtin

Washington, ID. c., January IL -
While the war waa still going on the
government did not talk about it's ga.
program. Since It has come TO an end
the men Of science have gradually thawed
out until now they are willing TO divulee
many OF the faots, while still holding
on TO those secrets which arc valuable
to America.
So it is possible to tell tho story Of
Edsowood Arsenal, hidden in tho back
water regions Of Maryland. where sixty
million dollars was put into plant that
would produce such quantities of eas as
TO make European output look ike a
sample package. And to tell the last
chapter first, it may be said that Edge
wood Arsenal was, at the time Of the
signing of tho armisticc, making as much
Ras AZ were England and France together;
that il would have doubled it's pro-
duction in another month, and that by
sprins il woud have tripled it
BY way Of getting further measure
Of American gas production, 1T may be
said that England manufactured
maximum of thirty tons of mustard in
day, and that France had produced as
much az fifteen tons day. Yet there
was little supplementary plant up the
Hudson that was ready to produce
fifty tons day, and another Of similar
capacity at Niagara Falls.
EN-. srBERr RESPONSIBLE
The Chemical Warfare Service, a.
the head of which was Major General
William l.. Sibert, builder of Gatum
Dam at Panama, and an engineer officer
of long service. was responsible for this
production The work had begun IN
the early days Of the war when, at Amerl-
can University in the suburbs OF w ash
ington, was organised corps Of two
thousand picked chemists-the best
material in the nation, and probably
the most erudite group of men OF TINS
specially ever gathered under one tent.
These chemists had mastered the secrets
of all the gases that we're being used IN
the war, and had gone aheld for dis
covery or two of their own.
The emergency called for the immediate
production of those staple gases that
we're already in use on the battlefield
r here were no established Industries
for this manufacture, so the govern
rnent decided to make its own There
were no industrial giants in poison gas
manufacture, so a college professor,
w II. Walker, Of the Massachusetts,
Institute OF Technology was made a
cDiBHel anu gwen die JpD
He built a group of factories, twenty
five miles out of Baltimore Factory
number one WAS for tho production OF
chlorine that yellow gas that Germany
released at Ypres IN 1915, thrusting
this horror into war and killing some
thousands OF Canadian and African
troops II is here that table salt, the
main constituent of poison gases, makes
its first appearance In salt, chemically,
there are two elements, chlorine and sodium
by running current of electri rity through
brine The chlorine, is carried of IN
pipes to be bottled up for use as chlorine,
or to be used in the manufacture OF
other gases more deadly
DEaDLIER THAN CHLORINE.
The Germans after using chlorine for
a while, turned TO phosgene which is
an intensifcation of chlorine gas and
much more deadly To make phosgene
chlorine il united with carbon monoxlde.
Carbon rnonoxide is the gas that passes
of when coal shoulders without flame.
II it escapes into room il is likely to
asphyyiate the occupants. The news
papers record such deaths every winter.
So a factory WAS built for the production
of carbon monoside. The gas from this
factory and from the chlorine factory were
brought together in third, where the