November 1, 1918.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



69 



LETTERS 



FROM TOE rRONTl 



SERGEANT DUMONT SHELLS THE HUNS. 



Somewhere in Fr.\nce. 



DEAR : 

 \\ ell, old top, I am still alive and uinvoiinded, but just my 

 good luck saved me so far, as we certainly have been shot up 



some. I have had the old 



shells strike within a few feet of 

 me and I would fall to the ground 

 when I heard them coming. You 

 know you can hear them coming 

 and then everyone falls to the 

 ground or gets into his dug-out. 

 Our battery has had pretty bad 

 luck — 35 casualties out of 210 men 

 and we have been on an active 

 front for only three weeks. Four 

 have been killed and the balance 

 wounded and gassed. We had 

 two men put out of commission 

 the second day we were here. 



On August 22 I was sitting 

 eating my meal on a table that the 

 boches had left in their retreat and 

 had just got up to get second on 

 the feed when along came a shell 

 and knocked the table clean out 

 of sight. I was congratulating 

 myself on my escape with a number of the fellows, and was 

 looking at the hole it made, when the Hun started bombarding 

 us. It lasted about an hour and killed our battery commander 

 and one other man. It also gassed about twenty others and 

 killed twelve horses. Lieutenant Ried, who was killed, was in 

 a dug-out, and he got hit by a direct shot wliich very few dug- 

 outs can stand. These dug-outs are built in the ground by the 

 men about four to five feet deep and covered with bags and dirt. 

 You have to get into them like a rabbit. The hole is just large 

 enough to get into and as I am by no means as large as I used 

 to be, the hole does not have to be very big. After you are 

 in, you have a few rats for company. This is what happened 

 to me. I had left my cap inside of the dug-out one evening, 

 as most of the time we wear steel helmets, and we w-ere ordered 

 to move the next afternoon. I started to pick up my cap when 

 a rat ran out but did not seem very anxious to leave. I looked 

 inside of my cap and I saw that it had eaten a hole in it and 

 inside had made a home for itself and had left six young ones. 



The next day after our battery commander was killed, another 

 of our men was killed watering his horse along the road and 

 I was ordered to take a detail of men and bury him. While I 

 was burying him, we were under more or less of shell fire. 

 We finished our job and had started back when a shell hit near 

 us and two of my men were wounded. You ought to have 

 heard me curse those Germans, as we had to carry the fellows 

 about two miles to the Aid Station. The wounds did not amount 

 to much as the men were hit in the leg. Our regiment has 

 been hit pretty hard with casualties but expects to go to a 

 rest camp soon and reorganize. 



I am on duty now with the guns for twenty-four hours and 

 it is some hard job as you have very little chance to sleep. Last 



night I had to fire a shot every fifteen minutes. On each shell 

 I fired I wrote a name in chalk. I wrote yours. Pell's, Stiles', 

 Ellis,' Obalski's, Sweeney's, Maurer's, Baird's, Miss Breaker's, 

 Miss Rose's, Miss Lucey's and several others. We have twenty- 

 four hours on and twenty-four hours off. 



You should see the air fights. We have them every day and 

 it certainly is a wonderful sight but with all the sights and 

 excitement, would give an arm to be back on Broadway and 

 back in business harness again. I have just this minute been 

 told that one of our corporals has been killed ; he was hit by a 

 shell and the largest piece of him left was about two feet long. 

 They say he is a terrible sight. This war is terrible. You never 

 know from one second to another when you are going "West," 

 and this corporal was just walking from the guns to the main 

 camp. I sometimes wonder if any of us will get back. Sergeant 

 Becker has gone to the Officers' Training School and Sergeant 

 Welsh has been made a first sergeant. I can give you very 

 little news about the way the war is going as you get more 

 news in the States than we do. On our sector we have Fritzie 

 worried. He is making a stand but before long we will soon 

 send him on his way again. 



Please remember me to all the bunch in the office and all 

 inquiring friends. 



Sincerely, 



DuMONT. 



NEW GENERAL IMPORT LICENSE DOES NOT AFFECT RUBBER. 



Ruljber crude, scrap and reclaimed; balata, jelutong, gutta 

 liercha. gutta siak ; manufacturers of rubber ; also raw cot- 

 ton, cotton duck and yarn, are among the commodities specifically 

 excluded from the terms of the new general import license P.B.F. 

 No. 27, effective on and after October 1, 1918, covering the im- 

 portation of all commodities into the United States from the 

 United Kingdom, France, Italy, or their European or Mediter- 

 -■\frican possessions or protectorates. 



PROCEDURE GOVERNING EXPORTS TO SWEDEN, 



.Arrangements have been made by the War Trade Board with 

 the following import associations in Sweden to accept, on behalf 

 of the Swedish importer actually interested, consignments of the 

 articles mentioned below : 



Rubber and rubber goods : Rubber Import Association. 



Chemicals, technical oils, antimony, sulphide, sulphur, and 

 similar commodities : Chemical Industries Import Associations. 



Cotton Textiles : Textile Import Association. 



Exporters in the United States, before filing applications for 

 export licenses, must obtain from the prospective importer in 

 Sweden advice that there has been issued by an appropriate im- 

 porting association, or by the Statens Handel's Kommission, 

 subsequent to June 28, 1918,»a certificate covering tlie proposed 

 consignment. The number of the certificate should be forwarded 

 by the importer in Sweden to the American exporter. This 

 number Should be specified on Supplemental Information Sheet 

 X — 104, which must be duly executed and annexed to Application 

 Form X for an export license. 



The shipment must be consigned to the export association that 

 issued the certificate, and exporters are required to state on the 

 application the name of the person or firm in whose favor the 

 import certificate was issued. Shipments may be made only on 

 vessels flying tlie Swedish flag. 



