The Ordway new era., 1919-05-02
Maj. Newton Tells
Interesting Things

MlClCSulS lnulSS
Major Paul p. Newton, of Olney
Springs, has written an interesting
letter to his mother in which he tells
of things interesting and instructive.
The letter appeared in a recent issue
of the Clearmont (Mo.) News. The
letter which gives a good account of
the work assigned to him and of the
affairs in general, is as follows:
Bordeaux, France, March Is, 1919.
My Dear Mother:
have been promising you ever
since 1 was assigned here that /
would write you fully of my detail
and the embarkation work here in
general. l am in charge of the mill"
as executive officer" The mill is
where every man before going aboard
transport for the States has his cloth
ing. equipment and records inspected,
has all his clothing and cloth or web
equipment "deloused" by being put
into large ovens on racks run on
small railroad tracks and subjected
for about 80 minutes to heat of about
1S0 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. All
Is salvaged, that is sent to the salv-
age department for cleaning and re-
pairing to be reissued. After a man
has undressed and put his clothes in
the oven he takes a bath in a large
bath room. is carefully examined by
the medical officers, who look care
fully that no man gets thru with any
infectious or contagious disease.
Every man is given the option of
aking the inoculation for pneumonia
or flu.
Humans Pass Thru
MY old brigade. the 10th, just went
thru and every man in both regiments
has been inoculated. The man is
then given, in the supply room, any
equipment he has had salvaged or is
short, and when his clothing comes
out of the oven he dresses and is
again inspected regarding his cloth
ing and equipment He now goes
thru the barber shop. His hair is
inspected and II found to he in need
of a hair cut this Is done. He is
then sent to the barracks. It takes
man about two hours to get thru.
A man is certainly clean and equip
ped when he gets thru.
The mill works about so officers,
including about 3S medical officers
and 300 permanent enlisted men and
100 casual men detailed each day,
25 to 30 BARRIERS work in the barber
shop. The mill has floor space of
45,S00 square feet. This includes
an aeroplans hanger of steel just he
ing erected which Ia 66x200 feet. We
saw men carving souvenirs varying
from rabbit feet to German skulls.
/ 7 y~,,A f,, = 1, L..
the salvage plants in the Bordeaux
area. These plants are small affairs
compared to the one at Tours.
Anything to Re Found
When ! say we can get anything
we want at these plants. ! mean just
what I say. Everything yop can
think of goes thru these mills from s
typewriter to an aeroplane. Right
now these outfits going home send
anything they don't need anv longer
to these plants and any outfit that
has an article of any kind that is in
| need of repairs and repairs can't be
had Is sent there. There thev are
cleaned and repaired and issued to
somebody that has use' for them.
really can't think OF ANYTHING
lust now that I am sure I couldn't
find at one Of these plants that
soldier would have any use for. The
motto of the salvage service is to
find use for everything They may
tear an article. to pieces and make
something else out of 1t, but 1t must
he used. The amount of money the
service has saved the government is
no doubt beyond belief. 1t isn't so
much that sin repairing one pair of
shnes or tearing uD one pair of worn
hoe nd M fpI In
government saves that many dollars
and cents. but they are also saving
the hides from many cows and the
wool from many sheep, and the
worlds market is short of leather and
wool. Likewise the world Is short
of fats. the salvage service saves the
homes from the kitchens of the A. r..
r. ] saw them crushing them. boil
ing the marrow from them from
which this small plant here is max
ing about $500 pounds OF soap a
dav. both laundry and an excellent
bath soap for the use of the army.
The homes are then ground up and
sold for chicken feed.
Nothing Is Wasted
Anything that is of no use. such
as burlap. rags, flour sacks. old iron,
etc are sold. The sales OF the Bor-
deaux plants are running about $780,
0Oo month now, and remember this
Is only stuff that Is no value to the
army There is one large room used
exclusively for repairing typewriters.
a typewriter that is worn out or brok-
en- is salvaged, the salvage depart
ment has several typewriter mechan-
les. who overhaul these machines.
They may have to tear up one ma
chine to repair two more but they
are put in shape and reissued.
Many times a freighter with -four
gets water in the hold and gets lot
of -four wet, the salvage department
puts this flour in large churn ar
n avpauf onh rrpobaa fhn Inn, nj