Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 175, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1917 — CLOTHING UNCLE SAM’S NEW ARMY GIGANTIC TASK [ARTICLE]

CLOTHING UNCLE SAM’S NEW ARMY GIGANTIC TASK

Immense Supply of Materials Necessary to Equip Men for the Field. BIG PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED In Addition to the Regular Army and National Guard, Supplies Must Be on Hand for the Drafted Men. Washington.—When a nation goes to war, naturally the people back home want action. The first thought is to whip the other fellow as soon as possible, -whip him good and plenty and jet it over with. Congress votes an army. The people, and rightly so, want that army In training camps as quickly as'possible and made ready to fight. America’s national army of half a million men probably will not get into camp until September. Miracles, almost, will have to be accomplished to do that. Even most of the National Guard won’t be in camp until August 1. And war was declared early in April. ; There have been delays here in Washington getting things under way that are hard to understand. 'There have been minor blunders and mistakes that appear inexcusable. It has taken longer to do things than appears on the surface, at least, at all necessary. But practically every complaint of-this character, serious or minor, is traceable back to the fundamental of the whole situation: When this country went into war it was emphatically on a peace basis. Most of this lost time and motion has been spent in building up the tremendous organization necessary, not alone to supply the army when it takes the field in numbers with munitions, but with the plainest necessities before they are ready even to take the field for preliminary training and to keep them supplied..

Big Industries Simplify Task. If the United States were not a big Industrial nation, the biggest in the world, the task would be almost impossible. As it Is, it presents a problem the average person back home has little conception of until he goes Into actual figures of needs and requirements. When war was declared,, it naturally Was supposed the National Guard, our second line of defense to the regular army, would be put In intensive training at once. It wasn’t. The reason was that the army didn’t have the equipment to take care of the National Guard, if it should recruit to war strength at the same time the regular army was fillings up its ranks. There was no particular object in calling out the very men who had had the splendid experience on the. border. The Guard had to be doubled and nearly trebled in size and it was the new recruits who needed the intensive training. And the government couldn’t take care of the new recruits. It will have a job fully equipping the National Guard when it does take to camp. But the' army says it can <Jo the task now. Something like a half million recruits have been taken into the regular army, National Guard and navy already. And the first contingent of the national army, 625,000 men, must be equipped in September. That was the army job on supplies, apart from arming the men. The nation went to war without huge storehouses full of reserve supplies. We were operating on a small army scale because we didn’t think we would have to go to war. The Clothing Requirements. Concrete figures give a real idea of what it takes to clothe and eqtflp an army, Here are the clothing requirements for a million men and the upkeep in clothing, for nine months, for the army has to know where the next few months’ supply is to be had as well as the initial equipment:

Belts, waist 2,000,000 Breeches, cotton, foot so 1d1er......2,®,000 Breeches, cotton, mounted soldier.. 1,292,000 Breeches, woolen, foot soldierl,Bß2,ooo Breeches, woolen, mounted soldier 951,000 Coats, cottpn .’....2,100,000 Coats, woolen 1,270,000 Cords, hat 2,500,000 Drawers, summer ......5,175,000 Drawers, winter v 5,600,000 Gloves, horsehide, yellow;. 41,000 Gloves, riding 740,000 Gloves, wool 1,865,000 Hats; service . Laces, shoe, extra pair5....7,300,000 Leggins, canvas, f00t1,130,000 Leggins, canvas, mpunted.......... 560.000 Overcoats 1,675,000 Ponchos .1,117,000 Shirts, flannel 4,000,000 Shoes, russet ....3,050,000 Shoes, field ..1,500,000 Slickers 675.000 Stockings, cotton 3,767.000 Stockings, wool, 1ightweight........6,583,000 Stockings, wool, heavyweightl,ooo.ooo Tags, identification ..2,645,000 Undershirts, cotton .4,700,000 Undershirts, woolen 4,000,000

This Is the clothing requirement alone. Before the* year is out the figures will have to be doubled. The United States Is ftoing to get these supplies. It Is getting them now in dally Increasing amounts. The war department In conjunction with a department of the national council of defense of which Julius Rosenwald «f the Sears-Roebuck company Is the, head, has built up a tremendous organization. Mills are rtnhlng at full

capacity turning out the army needs. Contracts are let almost dally In figures that before the war would have been a real news Item, but which now occasion no comment. It is all a part of the day’s wort. Tents and Khaki Scarce. Two Items presented the most dlf-, flcult problem—ducking for tents and khaki cloth. The country bad 6den pretty well drained of both by the demands of our allies before we entered the war. In fact, one war speculator had practically cornered the market on khaki. But “scouts," representing the Rosenwald committee, and representatives of the quartermaster’s department have scoured the country, peering into every place or mill or supply house where either material could be had In quantities. The supply available for government use has increased by leaps and bounds since the mobilization of resources began. But clothing is only one side of equipping an army. Tents upon tents are needed. This Is a particularly big problem right now, as the National' Guard is to be boused in tents. And tents have to be replaced every three to six months, on an average. The following table presents the needs of one million men with nine months’ upkeep: Axes 130,500 Ax helves 102,000 Baas, surplus kit 183,000 Bags, water sterilising 21,550 Bars, mosquito 1,950,000 Bedsacks 1,800,000 Blankets 3,-450,000 Brooms, corn 360,000 Brushes, scrubbing Bugles 23,000 Bugle slings 20,600 Cots 1,900,000 Containers, neatsfoot oil 70 Covers, canvas, folded war tents.. 2,020 Desks, field, large 2,070 Desks, field, small 23,200 Headnets, mosquito 202,000 OH, neatsfoot, pints '.. 160,000 Pickaxes • 130,000 Pickax helves ..... 127,000 Pins (tent)— Large .10.630,000 Small 10,375,000 Shelter .... 12,560,000 Poles (tent). Canvas Latrine Screen— UprlghL-7-foot 172,200 Horizontal. 7-foot •••• 24,000 Horizontal, 9-foot 49,200 Shelter 2,040,000 Hospital, TropicalRidge Upright 1.410 Wall *.280 Hospital WardUpright 6.500 Wall 6,600 Pyramidal 280,000 Storage Ridge Upright .?.?• W. 422 Wall BT ’ MO Wall (large)Upright .k............... 16,400 Ridge Wall (small)- . Ridge 82,900 Upright Poncheo, music *3.000 Slings, color 5.320 Shovels, short handle 97,500 Spades 82,400 Stands, music U.ooo Sticks, shoe size U>sw Shields, tent, g. 1 J»-0w Stoves, tent »• Stovepipe, elbows W.WO Stovepipe, joints tDW.OOO Spark arrestors ....... ZZl.ow Stretchers, shoe 11. wt Tape, foot measure... li.uw -Tents— Hospital, tropical Hospital, ward Pyramidal Shelter halves 2,14»>000 Storage •' 3.480 Wall, large Wall, small 64,400 Tent Flies— Hospital, tropical - W Storage Wall, large Wall, small 3 Screens, canvas, latrine Whistles and Chains— Acme Siren K ’ ooo Materials— Boblnette, 36-inch, yards 30,600,000 Buttons, shirt, o. d.. gross... 218.800 Buttons, overcoat, bronze, gross.. 152.000 Buttons; coat, bronze, small, gross «2.350 Buttons, coat, bronze, large, gross 219,925 Cloth, cotton, o. d.. yards 39,000,000 Drilling, unbleached, yards.,. v ... .15,476.w0 Duck, shelter, tent, yard5.■••..•••12,900,000 Duck, khaki. Nd. 4. 42-Inch, yards OMTTOO Duck, khaki, 12.4-oz.. yards 37,375.000 Duck, khaki. 8-oz., yard 9,562.500 Flannel shirting, o. d., yards 8,250,000 Jeans, oorset yards Meltons, o. d., 16-oz., yards 9,903,750 Meltons, o. d.. 90-oz., yard5..7.262,990 Bedding, canvas, yards 2,327,500 Serge, luster wool, lightweight, vards 2,975.000 Silesia, o. d„ yards Tent slips. No. 2 9,712,500 Tent slips. No. Tent plates and chain......... 325,4 Tent squares azo.wj

Now this table represents merely equipage. And there are dozens of odds and ends that have to be added to It. The arming of the forces Is entirely another problem—the rifles, gas rnnßks, trench fire guns and the like, come under a different department and present a still more difficult task than clothing and camp equipage. ' But from this an Idea may be gaihed of the giant task war making is.