Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1919 — GAS MEN PLAY A BIG PART IN WINNING WAR [ARTICLE]

GAS MEN PLAY A BIG PART IN WINNING WAR

Ten Thousand Soldiers Toil at Turning Out Shells to Rout Germans. MANY ARE INJURED AT WORK —— - f-j-Edge wood Arsenal Iff MArylandWon Place of Leadership Oyer AlliesJn Scientific Progress and Deadliness of Output—Gas Factory City In Itself. Baltimore, Md. —While the men who have been working in shipyards and munition plants have received just 'praise for their fulfillment of patriotic duty, there is an army of men 10,000 strong who have worked faithfully, carefully screened from public notice, performing some of the most Important work of the war, work which was largely responsible for the early signing of the armistice, who have received no recognition at all. Day after day they have secretly worked in the manufacture of the poisonous gases which routed the Huns and impressed upon the Germans the Ingenuity and resourcefulness of the American brain. These men of the Edgewood arsenal stayed on American soil, never had the excitement of an ocean voyage or adventure in a foreign country or the hero-worship of those who have been overseas, and yet while staying right In this country they ran greater risks than many of the men on the firing line.

300 at One Time in Hospital. The hospital at Edgewood is now occupied by 300 men who have been gassed or burned while about their country’s work. There have been as great heroes at Edgewood as on the battlefield. There* is in the hospital a blue-eyed boy in early manhood, smiling bravely through scars which are today as vivid as the first day, months ago, when they brought him, a writhing bit of humanity, to the hospital. Nor is he the only one. There are others, some of wh6m have been gassed twice and thrice and are today Invalided in Colorado, having developed tuberculosis. Hundreds of others are maimed and will always bear the marks of their sacrifice for Uncle Sam, which they gave so gladly without any of the glory, stripes, promotion or encouragement given to the men in the camps and trenches. The signing of the armistice has made it possible for the public to have the first insight into the vast work which has been accomplished at the Edgewood arsenal, where has been manufactured pnd shipped safely "over there” more gas than ba& been made by England andFrancecombined, Far removed from prying eyes, these thousands of men have produced gases which will go down in history as among the greatest achievements of the war. Gas Factory a City In Itself. Where on October 24, 1917, stood a bare waste of forest, now stands what Is a small manufacturing town and a ■city in its activities. Great chemical plants have risen with lightning rapidity. There are the chlorine, phosgen«, chloralin and mustard gas plants, and then down near the water the large filling plant where the big shells were fiTled'withdeadly'poisons and sent on their errand of freeing humanity. Edgewood arsenal -coverk a tract of 800 acres, adjoining its companion unit, the great Aberdeen proving grounds, where the biggest of the big guns were tried out that were designed to smash the strongest of German fortifications. At the arsenal these results, it was confidently predicted, would be more effectively secured, and certainly at smaller human cost, by the gas products which

it was confidently declared would smother the Metz forts. * ■■ r lL,— Upon these 300 acres have been constructed a large number of immense chemical plants with the, necessary adjuncts, all on an extensive scale, connected by 35 miles of railway, operated by United States army crews, working three shifts a day. At first it was attempted to run the arsenal with civilian -labor, but the hazardous character of the employment made this class of employee' so utieeriain, iiF" though fancy wages were offered, that it became necessary to use enlisted men exclusively throughout the plant. The result has been that work of a highly specialized nature and extra hazardous has been done by men receiving from S3O a month up, and under rigorous military discipline. The research laboratory work of the arsenal has been highly fruitful and the gases of the Germans are said to be mild in comparison with the more terrible products of Edgewood, of which the Germans had only got a foretaste when the armistice was signed. “Came to Teach, Remain to Learn?’ Two experts, Colonel Auld and Captain Hankar, one sent from England and the other from France, to aid in tire establishment of toxic gas plants, said on leaving: "We came to teach, but we remain to learn.” The Central Construction corporation received a contract in October, 1917, for the construction of a gas shell filling plant at Edgewood, under the immediate supervision of Capt. (now Lieut. Col.) Edwin M. Chanee, then connected with the ordnance department.j.i: It soon became quite evident that more than one gas shell filling unit would be required. It was also apparent that experimental work necessarily had to be -carried on in connection with construction on a somewhat elaborate scale in the first unit, both of which circumstances caused the pressure on the entire situation to be rapidly increased, hence the contractor’s organization, as well as the military personnel, began to increase rapidly early in the present year, until at the height of its operation the construction corporation had approximately 6,000 men in its employ; new campbuildings and mess halls were constructed at top speed. When we saved salt last winter we helped swell the amount needed for the making of chlorine, of which it Is the foundation. This plant produced 100 tons of chlorine and 112 tons of fused caustic soda a day, making one of the largest single plants of its kind in the country. For the first time vis-

itors —a party of business men —were "allbwed through the plant last Wdek“ and they saw one of the commonest of table supplies, salt, being made into one of the most fatal poisons. This chloric gas passes from 3,552 electrolytic cells, is dried by sulphuric acid and pumped to the chemical plants. Dry chloric gas V 5 bubbled into the common sulphur in tanks and becomes a basic raw material in the production of mustard gas, which was one of the deadliest weapons used to win the war. Then there is the phosgene plant. Here coke is received by rail and burned by a common steam boiler. Pure oxygen, obtained fst>m liquid air and carbon dioxide, are passed together through red-hot coke producing carbon monoxide. Dry chkrine gas and carbon monoxide are suitably mixed, and by passing over a catalyzer, converted to form gaseous phosgene. The liquid phosgene is filled into one-ton containers for overseas shipment and was the gas most largely , used <n the war. Chlorpgorin, one of the commonest war gases is another product of Edgewood and was produced at the rate of 30 tons a day. Filing plants are another important feature of the arsenal. Here shells are received by rail and inspected. Phosgene, chlorpgorin and mustard gas are received from the chemical plant. Other war gases are obtained from outside plants by rail. The capacity of these plants is more than 125,000 containers a day. The ventilation is such that men in direct contact with the liquid gas are not required to wear masks. The filled shells are returned from filling machines and are classified by weight and stored one day as a test for leakage. They are then painted gray and striped, the numbers and colors of the stripes indicating the nature of the gas within the shell. Here the drums, whose range is approximately 1,760 yards, are filled -with the fatal gases. The grenades are filled by hand with stannic chloride and are used especially in clearing dugouts. Others are filled with white phosphorus and are used in the production of smoke screens in connection with the concealment of troops.