The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-12-24
SHoDDY.
Salvage Operations Of the U. S. Army
Saves 100000 900.


AS soon as hostilities ceased the
problem Of salving the vast stores of
| material in the hands of the govern
ment came to the fore, but the extent
of government salvage operations while
the war was actually III progress was
very little known, and only during the
| Last week have the officials released the
exact information. The figures show
that between April /, 1917, and Feb. l,
1919, total of S53 1898 94742 was
| saved to the people of the United
States by the recovery of the clippings
| remai9ing after uniforms were cut
| from the whole cloth and the CONVEX
sion of these clippings into shoddy. If
the base sorting plant at. which the.
work was done had not been established
/ this material would have been entire
| " lost, and not only would the value
not have been recovered but an ar
tuat shortage in cloth might have re-
! suited.
The total saving direct and indirect
was even greater because the clippings
after being sorted and baled at the base
sorting plant were sold back TO the
contractors for q figure which left .
profit of $6,250,00o.
] The shoddy thus manufactured was
sold again TO the cloth manufacturers
and mixed with the virgin wool to
make new cloth. And here it is neces
sary to remove a misconeeption a. 10
the meaning of the term . shoddy.
Shoddv is reclaimed wool fibre or wool
en- cloth mechanically reeonverted in.
10 the raw product from which il IL
made. The leading manufacturers of
highgrade clothing now employ and
! have always employed cloth contain
ing shoddy.
/ Obviously the government could not
:, very we'll deprive itself of the econom-
ic advantages derived by the use OF
shoddy. well known to the clothing
manufacturers, aud generally employed
I by the governments of Great Britain
: France Italy, Russia, Germany, and
Austria Indeed, in the early stages
Of the war, foreign governments had
specified the use Of shoddy not merely
because OF the money saving. but be
cause there was not enough OF the raw
lproduct. In practically all specifea
| ions for the manufacture of Enitat
) States government cloth. cotton bad Il
/. he eliminated because when empiove,
! in conjunction with wool Il retains
4 moisture 10 Sifcf' an 'txteItt that th'
: uniforms and blankets of soldiers, one
I | wottcd, became 4 menace 10 the hcaltl
|. | of the soldiers. And Is thorough dry
. ing WAS practically IN impossibility
: he usc OF shoddy was therefore incvi
table
These facts were brought 70 the at
. tentiou OF the qnartermaster 5 depart
, Ecnt by Samuel NJ Kaplan Of the firm
i of Il. D. kapan & Co. New York, on
I # the largest dealers in new wool elm
II pings and old rags in the country II
| yas called into conference by the CON
I nittce on supplies of the council o
r iational defense. .As result, the Bar
9 Sorting plant was established NJ Men
.er street in that city under privat
ontrol. and on Jan. IS, 1918, was tai
Il over by the government II wa
alter moved To sos Pearl street, an
!, hortly after placed IN charge OF Car
ain J. c. Benson, who close
p its affairs. SO that operation
? cascd on April =. When operation
I ,aehed their crest. the personnel cor
j stcd OF one captain, three lieutenant
} We enlisted men Especially trained
lelr linel, two clothing inspectors,
4 lerks. l25 lahorera, 90 women sorter
| well rs the personnel required +,
he he upkeep Of the building, such as q
he gincers, fircmcn. watchmen, and Il
IN like
to The total amount of clips receive
I'd 'orted and baled during the period
operation was approximately o0,n0O.n(
I'd pounds. The cost OF handling tn
ed product WAS one and three fourtl
IN 'ents per pound, or $350.009. As il
a alps were sold for an average of ;
rs .ents per pound. they brought n
K money value OF $6.250.0O0. The tot
Is value OF the cloth delivered to the go
y 'rnmcnt for conversion into uniform
tt was $50 ,590,I4 but the actual co
II this material 10 the government WI
s53 ,933,9I7 less than this because
sle foresight which resulted in the c
on Adjustment of the Base Sorting plan
New York Times.
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