Part 13

And, finally, there was the clothing for prisoners of war and interned enemy aliens. This was not manufactured for the purpose but, instead, the uniforms discarded by our own men were dry-cleaned, repaired, and dyed a special shade of green—a glaring emerald-green—so that the wearer could be distinguished as a prisoner as far as the eye could see him. I remember watching a column of German prisoners leaving the prison stockade near Atlanta one morning on their way to work. In the front rank, his red mustache bristling fiercely, was a peculiarly haughty and insolent head steward whom I had known in those days, now long past, when self-respecting persons crossed the Atlantic on German liners. He was fatter than when I had last seen him, and in his bright-green prisoner’s uniform he looked for all the world like an animated cabbage. There is a certain appropriateness in the fact that the uniforms with which we supplied our captured Germans cost the government just thirty cents apiece.

For more than forty years the woollen shirts worn by American soldiers have been made at the great Quartermaster Depot at Jeffersonville, in southern Indiana. In order to give employment to as many of those who needed it as possible, it has always been the policy of the depot to distribute the sewing of the shirts among the women of the community, so, upon the outbreak of war, there were some 2,000 sewing operatives working for the government in or near Jeffersonville. When word was received from Washington that shirts were required in enormous quantities and with the least possible delay, appeals were made by means of posters and through the press to the women throughout that region to increase the output of shirts for our soldiers. The response was as quick as it was gratifying. Women who did not need the money gave up their duties or their pleasures and turned to sewing. Soon there was scarcely a woman along that portion of the Ohio who was not, like the industrious Sister Susie, sewing shirts for soldiers. The number of operatives jumped from 2,000 to 20,000 almost overnight; the yearly output of shirts rose from 600,000 to 8,500,000. The operatives were required to call at the depot, where unmade garments, which had already been cut, were issued to them, together with the necessary trimmings and a completed shirt to be used as a guide, the garments being sewn at home and returned to the depot for inspection. In order to care for the thousands of women who came flocking into Jeffersonville to secure shirts, first-aid stations had to be established at the depot. A Sanitary Bureau was also organized and a corps of sanitary inspectors were employed to visit the homes of all the operatives to see that the shirts were being sewn under proper sanitary conditions. As a further precaution, the shirts were fumigated upon their return to the depot, thus insuring the soldier against any risk of contagion from this source. When the Armistice, was signed the Jeffersonville Depot was the largest shirt-manufacturing establishment in the world, and “The Song of the Shirt” was heard for miles up and down the banks of the Ohio.

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In supplying the army with such articles as sheets, pillow-cases, towels, gauze, denim, duck, and webbing, the Cotton Goods Branch of Purchase and Storage procured over 800,000,000 square yards of cotton textiles—enough to have covered an area four times the size of the District of Columbia. It also purchased enormous quantities of burlap for packing, for bags, and for the use of the Camouflage Service, as well as silk for flags, hat-cords, and badges. Though it was never found necessary to resort to the use of paper fabrics, the division had in its possession samples of paper cloth and articles made from it which had been captured from the enemy. These paper textiles were carefully analyzed and studied, and had it become necessary to provide a substitute for cotton, we were prepared to produce one which would have astonished the Germans.

One of the characteristics of the equipment of the European soldier is the number of articles made of leather. He has leather belts, cross-belts, cartridge-belts, bandoliers, gun-slings, map-cases, knapsacks, sword and bayonet scabbards, chin-straps, and not infrequently his head-gear is likewise made of leather. Not only is all this leather costly, but it is stiff, heavy, cracks easily, and requires constant work to keep it clean. Owing to the extreme scarcity and the almost prohibitive cost of leather, its use was confined in the American Army to saddles, bridles, harness, leggings, and Sam Browne belts, virtually all other articles of equipment formerly made of leather, such as cartridge-belts, packs, bandoliers, scabbards, gun-slings, pistol-holsters, and the like, being made of cotton webbing. To supply the army’s enormous demand for these articles it was necessary to convert to the manufacture of this cotton webbing many plants which had theretofore been engaged in the production of hose, cotton belting, and asbestos brake linings. All the plants thus adapted to the emergency manufacture of webbing were dependent on purchased yarns which they had to secure in the open market. In the South, where most of this yarn was produced, the securing of power was a very serious problem. Many of the mills depended upon electricity generated by water-power, so when this water-power ran very low it was necessary for the government to step in and allocate the available power among the mills working on army contracts according to the most pressing needs. Then there was the inevitable question of labor. In many of the plants employees had to be given special courses of instruction before they could produce the new materials on which they were set to work. In the South, particularly, much trouble and delay was caused by the question of child labor and the working hours for women and minors, for in its later contracts the government inserted clauses insisting on the observance of certain regulations designed to benefit and protect the workers. In some instances contracts were returned to the government because of this child-labor clause, whereupon orders were issued virtually compelling the mills to produce the goods called for, whether they wanted to or not. I doubt if any government in the world, while engaged in a life-and-death struggle, would have found time to show such solicitude for the weakest and least influential of its people.

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Next to wool, leather was the most essential of the raw materials required for the equipment of our soldiers, the Quartermaster Corps purchasing 33,000,000 pairs of shoes, 6,500,000 pairs of gloves, and nearly 3,000,000 leather jerkins, in addition to enormous quantities of harness, saddlery, and other equipment. It was early recognized, therefore, that it was as vitally necessary to save every foot of leather as it was to conserve every pound of wool, so, in pursuance of this policy, the Hide and Leather Control Board was formed. This board not only put a check on the use of leather for non-military purposes by restricting the variety of styles in civilian shoes and by similar measures, but it guaranteed an adequate supply of leather to those manufacturers engaged on army contracts. It also maintained a small army of inspectors to examine the leather at the tanneries as well as the finished products of the shoe, clothing, and harness factories, thereby guaranteeing the quality of the material and frequently improving it. Generally speaking, no action was taken which affected the hide or leather business without calling into consultation the members of the particular trade concerned and coming to an agreement with them as to the quality and price. This procedure, which was followed throughout the war, did much to eliminate all friction and misunderstandings, and enormously speeded up production.

Hanging always over the heads of the board was the menace of a leather shortage, and its members lay awake nights devising plans by which such a calamity could be averted. To illustrate the seriousness of the situation, it was estimated in July, 1918, that in another twelvemonth something like 13,000,000 hides would be required for the use of the army alone. As this is the entire output of hides in the United States, it was realized that were the war to continue through the winter, there would be no leather left in the United States by spring. Faced by this critical situation, the board called to its aid the foremost tanners, shoe and harness manufacturers in the country, and it was due to their services in checking up the figures submitted by the trade, in keeping down the manufacture of non-essential articles, in unearthing thitherto unsuspected sources of leather supply, and in introducing more economical methods of cutting, that during the latter months of the war the army rarely lacked for leather equipment. I have already told how great economies in the consumption of leather were effected by the substitution of cotton webbing in the manufacture of certain articles. During the second spring of the war the women of America suddenly found that they were no longer able to obtain the extremely high-topped boots which were then the fashion, while men had to content themselves with plain instead of “wing” tipped shoes. The leather thus saved was used in the manufacture of footwear, gloves, and jerkins for the men who were offering their lives in the trenches in order that the people at home who wore the high-topped boots and the wing-tipped shoes might continue to live in safety. Many persons have wondered why officers serving in the United States were not authorized to wear the Sam Browne belt. I can give them one of the reasons. It was because the necessary leather could not be spared for a purpose which was, after all, purely ornamental. As a result of this admirable system of supervision and control the Quartermaster Corps was not only able to fill with reasonable promptness the requirements of our troops overseas, but when the Armistice was signed, it had enough leather equipment, either manufactured or in process of manufacture, to supply an army of 5,000,000 men.

In none of its innumerable forms of endeavor did the Quartermaster Corps more strikingly demonstrate its genius as a manufacturer than in the design and production of the army shoe. Before the war our soldiers wore a machine-sewed shoe of russet calf lined with duck, very similar to civilian footwear of the better grade. Shortly after the beginning of hostilities, however, the War Department adopted a new and much stouter shoe. This new model had a much heavier upper than the old one, with the flesh or rough side out and the grain side in, and with no lining, while, instead of a single sole, as in the old shoe, two heavy soles were used, the bottoms of which were thickly studded with hobnails. But even these, formidable in appearance as they were, did not prove stout enough to stand up under the incredible wear of trench warfare, so there was finally developed the so-called “Pershing shoe.” These really should have been classified as tanks instead of shoes, for they could go anywhere, they could withstand any amount of use or abuse, and they were, literally speaking, armored. The “Pershing shoe” has three outer soles which are fastened to an inner sole of outer-sole quality and thickness, first by nailing, then by screws, and finally by stitching with heavy linen thread; the toe is reinforced with a moulded steel plate; both sole and heel bristle with hobnails, and, as a final touch, the heel has a heavy steel horseshoe around its edge. It was by long odds the best shoe worn by any army. In fact, no such footwear was ever produced before. The pity was that it did not reach our troops sooner.

Before we had been at war a month a most troublesome fact came to light in connection with the question of shoes. It was found that the old schedule of sizes was entirely wrong and did not begin to meet the new conditions. In the old army the individual men were carefully selected according to a certain standard of measurement, and it was, therefore, a simple matter to fit them with shoes from a comparatively restricted range of sizes. But the millions of men who were called to the colors by the draft represented all types except the physically defective. In the ranks of the recruits a 250-pound policeman who had spent the better part of his life on his feet would be found shoulder to shoulder with an anæmic-looking little clerk who had spent most of his life perched on an office-stool. A man whose feet had always been incased in the flexible pumps of a professional dancer might find himself rubbing elbows with a cow-puncher who wore high-heeled Mexican boots and who had always lived in the saddle. As the raw levies began to round into shape at the training-camps, it was found that clerks, professional men, and others who had not been accustomed to working in the open air developed in size with amazing rapidity. This was particularly true of the men’s feet, for after a few long hikes with a full pack, a recruit could not squeeze his feet into shoes of a size which he had theretofore worn with perfect comfort. This meant that an entire new series of models and lasts had to be made, running up to unheard-of sizes, as, for example, 17-EEE! The standard sizes of the army shoe at present range in length from 5 to 15 and in width from A to EE, thus making it necessary to carry each style of shoe in _one hundred and twenty sizes_.

Now, no article of clothing can cause such acute discomfort and so quickly affect a man’s disposition, and consequently his morale, as an ill-fitting shoe. The Germans were the first to appreciate the importance to an army of caring for the men’s feet, and with their customary thoroughness took steps to prevent foot-trouble from the very beginning of the war. I remember remarking, when I was with the Ninth German Army during the first weeks of the invasion in 1914, that following each regiment of infantry was a huge motor-truck carrying a complete pedicure establishment—a sort of chiropodist’s office on wheels. Whenever a soldier developed a bunion or a corn or an ingrown nail, whenever his boots pinched his toes or chafed his heel, he fell out of the ranks and waited for the pedicure wagon—I don’t remember the German name for it—to come along, climbed up, sat in a chair, and the attending chiropodist tended his feet and, if necessary, issued him another pair of boots. “The feet of the soldiers?” said a German general to whom I mentioned the matter. “They no longer belong to them after the Empire goes to war—they belong to the Emperor. A soldier is no more permitted to abuse his feet than he is to abuse his rifle. They must always be in condition for marching and for fighting the Emperor’s battles.”

Profiting by the example of our enemy, we exercised the utmost care in fitting our men with footwear. As the result of examinations conducted at a number of training-camps, it was found that out of nearly 60,000 men examined, slightly more than 71 per cent were wearing shoes which were too long and nearly 10 per cent shoes which were too short, only one man in five having shoes of the proper size. These figures were sufficient to demonstrate to the War Department the necessity for extraordinary care in the fitting of soldiers’ shoes, and led to the establishment at Camp Meigs, D. C., and Jefferson Barracks, Mo., of schools for foot-measuring and shoe-fitting. Two officers from every camp and cantonment in the United States were detailed to take this course of instruction, which lasted five days and consisted of lectures, demonstrations of the various appliances, and practical training, the latter being acquired by each officer actually measuring and fitting a thousand men with army shoes under the direction of competent instructors.

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The coal which was required for heating and cooking in the various camps and cantonments both in the United States and France, the coke which was used at our arsenals in the production of ordnance, the gasoline which drove our trucks, tractors, tanks, and airplanes, and the oils which lubricated them, were all procured through the Fuel Branch of the Fuel and Forage Division of the Office of the Quartermaster-General, which in October, 1918, was converted into the Raw Materials Division of the Office of the Director of Purchase and Storage, without, however, in any way affecting its functions. From its creation by the President in August, 1917, until the close of the war, the United States Fuel Administration worked in closest harmony with the Fuel Branch of the Quartermaster Department in supplying the enormous fuel requirements of our fighting forces. The procedure was roughly as follows: The Fuel Branch first ascertained the probable requirements of every camp, post, and station for each month of the fiscal year, and upon receipt of these estimates it would request the Fuel Administration to allocate to the respective camps the tonnages required. Pursuant to these requests, the Fuel Administration would instruct its District Representatives to place the necessary orders with the various coal-shippers, the regulation of shipments and similar matters thenceforth being handled by the District Representatives directly with the Camp Quartermasters. With the abolition of the Fuel Administration at the end of the war, the task of supplying the army with coal and coke devolved upon the officers in charge of the various General Supply Zones into which the United States is now divided.

The prime importance to the army of gasoline and lubricants was made clear by General Pershing when he placed them, with food and forage, in the first division of the automatic supply cable which governed and controlled the movement of all supplies that had to go forward daily to the combat troops on the line. To procure and maintain an adequate supply of petroleum products, and to devise and standardize these products, there was created the Oil Branch of the Fuel and Forage Division of the Quartermaster Corps. Many interesting problems were successfully solved by the Oil Branch, which received assistance of the greatest value from the producers and refiners. Though the oil producing and refining concerns of the United States have repeatedly been characterized by politicians and by the press as “soulless corporations,” their patriotism throughout the great emergency was shown by the fact that their interest and efforts did not end with providing what the government asked for, but every one connected with them, from their presidents down, regarded the matter of supplying the army as a personal responsibility, suggesting many valuable changes, improvements, and economies based on their technical knowledge and experience.

For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the oil industry, I ought to explain that there are many grades of gasoline, differing in character or in method of production. Commercial gasoline, for automobile use, included grades known as “straight-run,” “casing-head,” “blended,” “pressure still,” and “cracked.” In order to standardize gasoline for army use the Fuel and Forage Division worked out, with the co-operation of the refiners, certain specifications, with the result that a gasoline called “Quartermaster Specification” was adopted as a standard fuel. It is known as “428° gasoline,” and is used for motor cars, trucks, tanks, and cycles. For aviation purposes three other grades were produced; two of which, 257° “Fighting Naphtha” and 302° “Export Aviation,” were furnished only to the American Expeditionary Forces. “Fighting Naphtha” is the highest refinement of gasoline ever produced in quantity, being produced by “rerunning” Export Aviation and taking off the “cream” of that extremely high-grade fuel. To distinguish it as the finest motor-fuel in existence and to prevent its indiscriminate use, a small amount of aniline dye was added to color it red. Its use was confined to scout and battle planes, thus giving our flying-fighters an immense superiority over those of our allies or of the enemy, and thereby lending them the confidence which is required for daring deeds. Indeed, many a Hun flier was brought to earth, many a D. S. C. was won, as much by the qualities of the scarlet fuel as by the courage of the aviator. Who says that there is no romance in gasoline?

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Though this is the greatest horse-breeding nation in the world, and though Americans fondly think of themselves as a nation of horsemen, no one of the warring countries found itself so utterly unprepared in respect to remounts as the United States. The importance with which the War Department had regarded the question is best illustrated by the fact that at the outbreak of the war remount matters were in charge of one officer, with two civilian clerks, as a subsection of the Transportation Branch of the Quartermaster-General’s Office. For a number of years prior to the war repeated efforts had been made by enthusiastic horsemen, both in the army and out of it, to induce the government to undertake the breeding of cavalry and artillery mounts on a large scale, or at least to encourage their breeding by farmers, as has been done for centuries by certain of the European nations. But the parsimony of Congress, combined with the lack of vision of officers high in the military councils of the nation, blocked all these plans, and though one or two government studs were established with animals presented by public-spirited breeders, so little of real value was accomplished that of the 458,000 animals purchased during the war by the Remount Service, only about 5,000 were horses bred specially for military purposes.

Upon the outbreak of the war it became necessary, therefore, to scour the country for suitable animals, which had, perforce, to be purchased in the open market, which had already been gone over with a fine-tooth comb by British, French, Italians, and Russians, all of whom had maintained remount commissions in this country from the very beginning of the conflict. Fortunately for us, under the circumstances, the requirements of the Expeditionary Forces were confined to officers’ mounts, artillery horses and mules, only one regiment of cavalry, in addition to the headquarters troops of the various divisions, being sent overseas. There were, however, demands for large numbers of horses for the use of the two cavalry divisions which were in process of organization in this country, and for the cavalry regiments which were kept on patrol duty along the Mexican border.