The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-04-03

H&tS, SIX ph1EB
 - of shoes and %
 RNsgm paTU of socks Q year. 'TOtal figures reach astro- nomical numbers like these: i7 million pairs of pants. 10 million shirts, ' million hats. 6 million pairs of shoes and S7 million pairs of socks.
 At first glance, 1t may seem Q little silly to order six pairs of shoes for one soldier, for one year, but army experience has proved that every draftee gets two pairs of shoes, one for parade and one for field duty. During his year of sefv- Ice, he vii lwear out these two, and three pairs more. Besides that, there must be another pair for emergency reserve in camp, or on the way to camp.
 On the theory that new men win be called out as the first draftees complete their year of training, there must really be two pairs more in sight, one in Q base depot, and another f, manufacture.
 GREAT PLACE
 FOR A COBBLER
 Calculations must be made, there- fore, on the basis of eight pairs of shoes per man. When you consider that 1t takes six weeks just to tan the leather for army shoes, and time for manufacture and distribution all the way from Alaska to Canal Zone and Newfoundland to the Philippines, the necessity for long range planning is obvious.
 Other items of apparel to stock the well-dressed soldiers ward- robe are all figured on similar bases. Regular issuances for men in service one year average 10 pairs of wool and Il pairs of cot- ton socks, four wool and four cot- ton shirts, four pairs of pants, six suits of underwear, and so on. This doesn't include replacements, re- serves or spares.
 8 The army's clothing bill runs SITS million year, averaging out at SIPS per man. You might think about that figure as you buy your new Easter suit.
 JUST LIKE
 THE DOUGHBOYS
 Speaking of Easter, the hat news from the army is that the pie tsiresque campaign hat and the stin vizored barracks hat, which have been such characteristic parts of the American soldiers uniform for 90 many years, will pass from tl.9 pie t,ire as soon as existing stocks are used up.
 Tn their places will go the over. seas caps which came into use for the A. B. F. in the last war. Every soldier will get two, one wool for winter, Q cotton one for sumer. They will be supplemented by the cotton work hat for fatigue duty and for troops operating in severe climates, a winter cap with ear- flaps. For the far north, 1t will be fur-lined.
 Extremes of weather furnish the army with some of their toughest problems. For use next winter, the army must plan on getting more wole1 underwear-the kind soldiers call spiral" underwear because of its impossible fit--than is worn in all the rest of the country.
 Summer weather means rain- coats and, for the dep south, mos- quito nets. Manufacture of these items has been limited for civilian use, and even for this summer there may not be enough mosquito nets to 90 around. Substitute raincoats, below the army standard, will be used in some units.
 Clothes for the specialized troops, the ski troops, aviatros, mechanized forces, parachute troops, chemical warfareunits, are all extra problems to pile on top of the regular army haberdashery.
 Best trick the big clothing store buyers who arc now helping the army have introduced is to let contracts for army clothes in the manufacturers off season. Savings up to IS per cent have been made on some items, and that runs into important money when clothels for 100000 soldiers backs have to be bought.
 So far, all this buying has been done without interfering to any appreciable degree with civilian re- quirements. Civilian as well as army prices have been kept down. What might throw the clothing industry out of gear would be @ sudden de- cision to increase the size of the army to two or three million men. That's not an impossibility, aithor