East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1919-07-05

American troops, worn out by them
and rocondltioned by the salvage SER
vice. A large number of these shoes
sold recently for $3.50 a pair. Since
the average cost to repair the shoes
was Si,05. the Government realized u
net profit of-ss,i5 on each pair.
$4,000 Pigeons Served.
The Signal Corps bought and trained
more than $4,000 pigeons for service
In France. In actual service In the
field, the pigeons delivered more than
] 95 per cent OF the messages entrusted
to them, FLYING safely through the
heaviest shell and gas barrages.
! Tetween April 6, 1917. and Nov. IL.
l191S. America produced as many ma
\ chine guns and automatic rifles as
Great Britain did in the same period
and 81 per cent of the number produc-
cd by France, while at the end of the
effort America was building machine
guns and machine rifles three times as
rapidly as Great Britain and more
than twice as fast as France.
| The book recalls the complaint by
Germany in the summer OF 19lS that
our men We're using shotguns against
German troops in the trenches. The
allegation was true. though the state
ment that :he use OF such weapons was
forbidden by the Geneva Convention
was according to the State Depart
ment. not true. Manufactured pri-
marily for the purpose of arming
guards placed over German prisoners,
lshotguns "were undoubtedly i'm some
instances carried into the actual fight
ing" The Ordnance Department pro-
cured from the regular commercial
g, D A
coo shotguns of the short-b barrel type.
The shells for these guns each contain
ed nine heavy buckshot-''a combina-
tion," says the report. ''hkely to have
murderous effect in close fighting"
Gi3,755 Pistols
At the outbreak of the war the army
owned $4,000 .45-caliber pistols. At
the signing of the armistice there had
been produced and accepted since
April 8. 1917. total of 643.755 pistols
and revolvers.
The common conception of tracer
bullets inserted at intervals in the belts
of cartridges for machine guns is that
they leave a trace of smoke in their
flight. In truth. the American and
British tracers are practically smoke
less. The American tracer bullet con-
'tains a mixture of barium provide and
magnesium and in flight burns with
the intensity of calcium light. 1t is
this bright light and not smoke,
which enables the gunner to observe
the trajectory of the bullet and. IL need
be, correct his aim. The light is plain
" visible in the brightest sunlight and
is sufficient to trace the flight of the
bullet for 500 yards or more from the
muzzle of the gun.
Under the stimulus of war needs.
American electrical science produced
a wireless telephone system permitting
the transmission OF human speech TO
and from moving airplanes. ut is
doubtful if any other branch of science
enlisted for war work produced any
instrument or mechanism so far in ad-
vance of what was known before the
war as the airplane wireless phone
was in its class" There were produc-
ed for the army airplanes about 5000. |
combined transmitting and receiving
sets of the radio telephone and about
$500 receiving sets alone.
America shipped to the forces in
France 1903 locomotives. of which 90s
had been put into service by Now ii.
The first locomotives were sent Grated
in . packages each, but later, for the
first time in history. locomotives were
shipped across the Atlantic stacked in
ships on their own wheels. The nuns
ber of freight cars sent overseas was |
1913 nearly all of them being of the |
CO. 900 pound size.
The total amount returned to the |
in money value by the |
savings of the salvage service of the |
army for the calendar year 1918. $IOf- |
$40, 100000 more than was |
appropriated to fight the Spanish |
American War up TO July 1, 1898.
He who hopes for the best seldom |