Evening star., 1943-09-11
Girl Finds Tear Gas
Al Bond Show Worse
Than PeeIinq Onions

Inc Treasury's Army War Bono
Show at Washington Monumen,
Grounds, to promote the sale oi
bonds during the Third War Loan
Drive, has many exhibits that are
educational and instructive, but
there is one demonstration in which
spectators are asked to participate
that is especially convincing.
This is the exposure to tear gas
which visitors, wearing masks, un-
dergo for intervals of three or four
minutes, in shack of the Chem
ical Warfare Service.
Yesterday, Miss Nell Cotton, 10,
of BIAS w street NV, who is slight
and dark-haired and works for
the Maritime Commission, ap-
preached the chamber and an
nounced that she had always want
ed to know how tear gas affects
soldiers.
Within three minutes she knew.
Worse Than Onions.
She took the advice of soldier
at the exhibit and lifted her mask
a few seconds before emerging
from the chamber. Speedily, los
ing one earring in her haste,
she stepped out into the air, both
her cheeks glistening with tears.
Believe me-" she said, her voice
grim with sincerity, that's worse
than peeling onions"
The effect of tear gas, known to
Chemical Warfare Service person.
mel as "lachrymation," is something
no human can withstand. Truck
drivers and students, laborers and
Government executives can stand
no more than a whiff of it. Then
they cry, and cry in earnest.
Hours later they are surprised
to discover tears yelling from their
ewes again. Chemical warfare ex-
perts say this is due to the gas
which lies dormant in their cloth
ing.
Masks Are Comfortable.
Despite the belief of many spec
tators that the masks have uncom-
Portable mouth and nose attach
ments, this is not so. When they
are in place it Is not possible for the
gas to reach the face. If exposure
to the gas is desired, the mask
should be lifted for only a second.
Dozens of persons at the show,
once the masks simplicity has been
demonstrated to them, wait impa-
tiently their turn to learn at first
hand what soldiers experience in
battle. Most clamorous petitioners
for admission to the show are small
boys. They are turned away in dis
appointed droves by the Chemical
Warfare Service, however, often
with expressions of great disgust,
because the Army does not want
children, apparently weeping, walk
ing about the grounds. Boys Is
years old find the experience so fas-
cinating that they overstay their
time in the chamber.
They're at the daring age" a
chemical warfare soldier said. "If
they'd lift that mask second,
they'd soon get over it,
Persons who, like Miss Cotton,
lift their masks, quickly face into
the wind on emerging from the
chamber. They know, almost in
stinctively, that good breeze is
what they want more than any
thing else in the world right then.
Bewildered by Questions.
Elsewhere in the show, Army Off
cials are bewildered at the variety
of questions men and women are
asking about the captured and do
mestic war equipment that is on
display.
Spectators want to know about
German tanks, where we got the
original models for our BoforS
40-mm. antiaircraft guns. More
important, they want to know how
good our guns are and how many
we have.
One studious-looking youth but
tonhold an Ordnance Department
officer yesterday and put him in a
quandary when he asked:
How superior to its German
counterpart is this 155-mm. gun?"
The officer couldn't answer that,
so the boy came back speedily with:
What color do we paint our
tanks when they go into the des-
ertf"
That question stumped ordnance
officials for some time. The answer
Is that the great gray-green hulks
of our tanks are not repainted.
The desert dust changes their olive
drab color to the hue of sand. The
English do however, paint their
desert equipment.
Grotesque Exhibit.
One grotesque exhibit that at
tracts considerable attention Is a