Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1917 — Modern Armies Can No More Carry on War Without Wood Than They Can Without Food [ARTICLE]

Modern Armies Can No More Carry on War Without Wood Than They Can Without Food

“We might as well be without food as without wood.” This from the German socialist organ tells the story of how valuable from all its points of developmentthe, free is so the army of a nation at war. One of the mysteries of the present war is the source from which Germany obtains the nitrocellulose necessary in the manufacture of smokeless powder and ordinarily made Jrom A well defined belief exists in England that at least part of the nitrocellulose needed by German powder factories is being made from wood, the Manufacturers’ Record states. Ordinary black powders contain about 15 parts charcoal, with special prbpertTes,“ah : d are made largely from dogwood, willow and alder. In spite of the advent of smokeless powder, enormous quantities of black powder are still used. It is employed In shrapnel, also to fill the rings of the time fuses with which shells are equipped, for which purpose no satisfactory.-sub-stitute lias yet been found. Furthermore, It is used in most armor piercIng shells, which, nliould attain great "penetration hefore'they go off, and for which the majority of high explosives would be unsuitable because of their explosiveness on contact. Another product of the forest, rosin, is employed for filling the spaces between bujlets in shrapnel, so that on explosion the missiles will be evenly distributed in all directions. Millions of gunstocks are qyide from American walnut. A new rifle is, required monthly for every man at (he front. Thedevelopmentof trench warfare, when vast armies of men dig themselves in on fronts hundreds of -nrties tofig, tails xor an amount of timber for trench walls, floors and braces that it is difficult to estimate. Germany, fully prepared for England’s embargo, makes a soft, absorbent surgical cotton from wood cellulose. Two factories in Sweden also are making this substitute. Methyl alcohol, the other product besides acetic acid obtained from the destructive distillation of hard a ihultitude of uses. It is essential in the manufacture of many medical preparations.’ It is employed in the making of aniline dyes. It is also the ground of formaldehyde, for the manufacture of which large quantities of wood alcohol are exported to Europe.