Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-24
CAMOUFLACE THAT
MEANT SOMETHING
OcerUorked Word Is Really Descriptive
Of Some Wonderfully Ingenious
Performances by Both Our.
selves and he Foe

~J" fVuHCts Oy Do" O"
selves and he Foe
IF EVER a word passed into sudden
- disrepute through excess Of popularity
1t was "camoufiage." A couple of years
ago 1t not only described an imaginatively
fascinating feature of modern warfare,
but It exerted as "a metaphor of well.ngh
irresistible allurement AS "a synonym for
bluff" deception" SHAM" the word was
eagerly welcomed into the international
the tipsy man who "camouhaged' so.
briefly won roars OF laughter But in ali
incredibly short time anything in the
world which involved delusion was exult-
antly described as "camouhage" Too ex.
ultantly. indeed for the word soon became
n pest, and once the reaction had set in
it was the part Of conscious conversa-
tional cleverness and artistic self.control
to refrain from uttering it.
The case of Gelett Burgess's haunting
and overeXploited little rhyme about the
Purple Cow" was bitterly cited. "IIl
kill you If you quote it," thundered the
too facile jingler. Persons priding them
selves on taste" indorsed the sentiment,
and within the last year or so they enter
tained somewhat similar feelings regarding
the 'camoufiage' conversationaist. Taboo
smote this once handy new word
UNFORTUNATELY, however the ban
~ against soulsaddening slang has re-
suited in considerable soft pedaling OF the
whole camouhage theme. even in it's legitl-
mate aspect. 1t would be well to subdue
this antipathy, for the real story Of
camouflage is still remarkable and warrants
investigation and emphasis If the reck.
less jokesmiths are finally downed.
The wealth of existent fascination i'll the
subject was indicated by Miss Genevieve
Cowles the other day when she told the
students Of the School of Design about the
wonderful performances of the women
artists responsible for the swirling ara
besques of color upon the hulls, masts.
tunnels and deckworks OF American
steamers plowins the war-zone waters.
That all this was veritable camoufage
not the most ascetic speech purist need
be loath TO admit. But Miss Cowless talk
was confidential. The details Of what
those ingenious "camoufieuses' did are not
yet publicly divulged.
Congress. however, self-confessedly de-
lights In frankness and just before Mr..
Wilson clamped down the lid on capitol
offenses" Representative Alvan r. Fuller,
Of Massachusetts,, summed UP some Of the
fiage Corps that should stimulate lovers OF
the piquant and picturesque. Theoreti-
cally he vocally addressed his fellow legis-
lators. AS matter Of fact no tongue was
given to his words, for they appear only
in the solemn and bulky last number of
the Sixty-tifth Congress- issued to March
IS Amid much that is ponderous, pre-
tentious and dry, Mr.. Fuller's account of
his trip to Europe since the ar1nistice Is
conspicuously divertng, and particularly
his consideration Of ingenious camou-
tiaging, both Yankee and Hun.
TNHE Importance Of the role which
l. scenic trickery played in the war is
illustrated with figures that are truly
astonishing. During the summer OF 1918
alone the Camoufiage Corps used more
than four millions square yards Of burlap,
two hundred thousand gallons of paint,
ten hundred thousand seven hundred fish
nets, fifty thousand pounds Of wire and
more than two million square yards of
poultry netting.
Many Of the ruses to which resort was
made were employed to deceive the Ger
man awaiting photographers. Fish nets,
for instance, when seen by a high.altitude
camera lens cannot be distinguished from
barbed wire, and the literal webs OF
stratagem were often most efficiently
used to convince that enemy that long
stretches Of entanglements had been re-
paired. The photographs seemed to ssy
so and they thus played havoc with Hun
artillery plans. On one occasion. however
the nets were erected so much more
swiftly than any barbed wire could he
that the enemy was undeceved DESPITE
the camera he knew that the alleged oh
struction must be a fake barrier. This
QeHClcHI ocIloc VI Time values proved
costly. I'm camouflage work." writes Mr.,
Fuller, "one cant afford to be slipshod."
TINE burlap scenery, painted with all
l. the vivid art Of a Hawes Craven or a
Joseph Physioc, was a device the use of
which the general public has been for
some time aware. The false contours"
concealed gun position, ammunition dumps
and the like, the burlap being stretched
over sort OF trellis made of poultry net
ting aud given the impression of a hill
or rise Of ground. Occasionally, it said a
bewildered COW fell through one Of these
bogus pastures"
But one Of the novelties Of which the
civilian has been less cognizant We're the
sham paths, supposedly marking the way
to gun positions. These were made of the
earth-colored mating, used in peace times
as clothing by the women OF Madagascar