THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



IJANUAK. 



functions of this association. The Rubber Association on May 

 10, 1918, called all rubber manufacturers to a meeting in New 

 Vork. At this time they were notified that the plan of allocat- 

 ing crude rubber under a limited tonnage arrangement for the 

 months of May, June and July would only give each manufac- 

 turer one-fourth of the seven-sixteenths of the amount of crude 

 rubber which each company had received throughout the year 

 1917. The allocation of crude rubber on July 31 was reduced 

 to three-eighths instead of seven-sixteenths, based on the aver- 

 age 1917 consumption of each factory. 



As showing the cooperation that existed between the manu- 

 facturers of products and the Government, the manner in which 

 prices were fixed for rubber footwear may be cited. A letter, 

 first of all, was addressed to the various manufacturers specify- 

 ing prices and asking their concurrence. On further considera- 

 tion, these prices proving incorrect, it was decided to make a 

 more extended examination of the cost of manufacture before 

 fixing the prices. Accordingly, a meeting of the manufacturers 

 was held in ^^'ashington. A committee was then appointed 

 consisting of representatives of the important rubber manu- 

 factories of the country and representatives of the Clothing 

 and F.f|uipagc Division, with the understanding that the com- 

 mittee would meet in New York and consider in detail the cost 

 sheets of the various manufacturers. The price fixed in accord- 

 ance with recommendation of this committee was $5.25 a pair 

 for hip pressure boots, with variations in price for other boots 

 and for additional features. 

 SALVAGE SERVICE OF THE QUARTERMASTER CORPS ABROAD. 



The third reason that the Government was able to have its 

 demands for rubber articles supplied was due to the Salvage 

 Service of the Quartermaster Corps, both here and abroad. 

 Early the attention of the Army was called to the fact that 

 rubber was not only expensive and limited in quantity, but that 

 owing to the peculiar properties of rubber the greatest amount 

 of care had to be taken in salvaging rubber properly. 



The rubber salvaged in the A. E. F. for the year 1918 totaled 

 1,591,565 pounds. 



The general plan of salvaging a front line sector which met 

 with the best results consisted in outlining the main boundaries, 

 then dividing the immediate districts into definite sectors and 

 assigning a suitable personnel with an adequate amount of 

 transportation to clean up the area. The salvage that was 

 collected from this area was collected in huge piles known as 

 advance dumps. These dumps were for convenience placed on 

 lines of auto truck, and, if possible, rail travel. Serviceable 

 material was held for reissue, while the other property, after 

 being sorted, was sent to the interior depots. During an offen- 

 sive operation the primary object of salvage was to collect 

 those particular articles of salvage which were in constant de- 

 mand at such a time and to return such serviceable articles with 

 the least possible delay to the troops. Serviceable material 

 suitable for immediate reissue was turned over to quartermaster 

 or ordnance personnel at the collection dumps, if there was need 

 of this material. If not, it followed the same course as any 

 other salvage and went on to the rear. At all times, preference 

 in salvage operations was given to perishable material, such as 

 clothing and articles made of rubber, while articles that would 

 not suffer from exposure were left for salvaging after the 

 perishable things had been gathered. 



Pioneer infantry and labor battalions assisted in the collec- 

 tion of salvage in the St. Mihiel offensive. Following heavy 

 offensive large nuinbers of line troops were also employed in 

 the collection work. It was estimated that at least 400 men for 

 each division in the line should start salvaging when the line 

 had stabilized after an offensive. So rapid and well organized 

 was the work of salvage to avoid deterioration of equipment, 

 that out of $3,100,000 worth of salvaged materials, 87 per cent 

 of the ordnance and 47 per cent of the quartermaster property 



recovered was available for immediate reissue, thus largely re- 

 ducing the amount shipped to the shops and depots for renova- 

 tion and repair. 



THE VALUE OF POSTER ADVERTISING. 



Tlie idea of salvage was a novelty and it would not he expected 

 at first that men would save instinctively. Education along this 

 line was needed and a definite form of propaganda was put for- 

 ward to educate the men into the idea of cutting down waste. 



(Signal Corps. A. E. F., V 



Recl.mming Slickers and Siikltkr IJ.\lves .\t the S.\lvage 

 Depot, St. Pierre-des-Corps, France. 



Posters and placards were printed and posted in conspicuous 

 places calling attention to the proximity of a salvage dump or 

 urging them to take better care of government property. One 

 poster read: "Yank Motto— DO NOT LET Government Prop- 

 erty Lie Around, It Spoils— TURN IT IN TO SALVAGE." 

 Another in heavy black-faced type said : ".Americans, Did You 

 Do Anything to Help the Salvage Service To-day? Pick it up, 

 Send it to Salvage." Still another warned the men to, "SHOOT 

 STRAIGHT — Serve Your Country Honestly — Start To-day to 

 Salvage." For designing salvage dumps, posters read : "SAL- 

 VAGE — American Salvage Dump is Located at 



Save It — Send It to Salvage." 



So effectively was this advertising campaign carried on that 

 it was nothing unusual to see men returning from the lines 

 with odds and ends of material that they had picked up on the 

 field. In some cases the articles were in good repair and imme- 

 diately serviceable. Others could be repaired and reissued. In 

 still other cases it was a remnant of old harness or a piece of 

 tattered clothing, articles perhaps of little intrinsic value in 

 themselves, but the total numbers mounted into millions. The 

 piece of leather, for example, which might have appeared to be 

 an utterly worthless scrap, when collected with other scrap 

 leather could be sold to mills and foundries for use in inanu- 

 facture of carbon and case hardened steels. 



Waste sales alone in 1918 totaled $39,680. while in the month 

 of April, 1919, the sum bad reached $248,675.55. 



DEPOTS FOR SALVAGED MATERIALS. 



Plants where unserviceable material was repaired were known 

 in general as "Depots" or "Shops." Shops served local troops 

 and were conveniently located at certain base ports and troop 

 centers, while depots were situated at distribution points in the 

 interior. Shops were in operation at Angers, Paris, Bazeilles, 

 Savenay, Gievres, Chaumont, St. Aignan, Brest, Rochefort, 

 Vittel, Le Mans, Tours, Nancy, and Marseilles, as well as in 

 Winchester, England, and Coblentz, Germany. One hundred 

 and eight buildings, with a ground space of 2,574,080 square feet, 

 were occupied in February, 1919, by the Salvage Service, A. E. F. 

 The combined floor space of depots, shops, and laundries was 

 989.860 square feet, of which 177,425 square feet was built and 



