Evening star., 1928-05-22
|GAS STILL MENACE
TO GERMAN CITIES
Many of 200 in Hospitals Ex-
pected to Die-Storage
Prohibition Urged.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
HAMBURG, Germany, May 22.-The
cloud Of phosgene, one Of the deadliesS
Of the war gases. which hung over
Hamburg and claimed II lives. had
been dissipated. but its menace still lin
gered today.
More than 200 persons we're in hos
pitals. Authorities believed many Of
these might die, since the gas some
times does not have fatal effects until
week after 1t is inhaled. A content
Of only half gram to a cubic meter
Of air is sufficient TO cause death.
Many of the victims now in hospitals
suffering from gas poisoning cannot be
saved, physicians fear, and even those
discharged as cured may be afiicted
with lung trouble for years.
An Milk Requisftioned.
All available milk in the city was
requisitioned TO serve as antidotes.
There were 80 persons In Hamburg hos
pitals, about 100 others at wilhelms-
burg and 30 at Harburg Phosgene poi
soning causes Inflammation Of the lungs,
and in cases where consciousness is re-
tanned death comes after horrible SUI
fering
Cattle lay dead in the fields. chickens
and ducks In the farmyards and dogs
and cats in the city streets-mute evi-
dence Of the terrible death which erept
through the sleeping city. Trees. grass
and growing crops shriveled as the 81
lent menace spread
Three hundred and fifty families
driven from their homes in terror BY
deaths silent approach were permitted
to return when the. authorities were
convinced that the gas had been dis
sfpated by wind and rain. They re-
as they reflected upon their close escape
from death and upon the Sufferings
which might be inflicted upon . de-
fenSeless people by gas bombs dropped
from airplanes In time Of war.
Want Storage Prohibited.
As they watched experts from Berlin
remove other phcsgene containers from
the neighborhood of the city,, the peo-
pie advocated that the storage Of deadly
gases near urban communities be pro-
hibited. They demanded the providing
Of an adequate supply Of gas masks, ae-
cessible for public use at any time.
Mai. Gen. Amos A. Fries, chief Of
WhkLdAC 0CAyACS VI e&4C
American War Department, said here
that none of the gas was to have been
shipped TO the United States for use
Of the American Army. The Var De-
partment. he said. had long ag0 found
that 1t could produce its own gas fnore
cheaply than it could import Il.
Gen. Fries added. however. that for
some time Germany has been shipping
gases to America in commercial form.
PhoSgene IS used In dye manufacture
after 1t has been altered to eliminate
its poisonous qualities.
League Circles Stirred.
Disclosure that the deadly gas Ras
stored in Germany set League q Ma
tons circles abuZZ. Germany under
the treaty Of Versailles 10 forhaddens 70
either use, manufacture, import or
store asphyxiating poison gases.
There was some talk Of an inveStiga-
ton by the League, since inter-
allied control Of German axnnaTnents
became the duty Of the League In 1927.
Such investigation would have 70 be
called for by member Of the League.
Then the League would decide whether
the protest was juSttdable and M it
found Il was appoint an investigating
committee.
Those prominent In League circles
said that the tragedy indicated that
the time had arrived when strict con-
troll by all nations and the League Of
the manufacture Of poison gases was
necessary.
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