124 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[December 1, 1914. 



The Use of Rubber in the Armies of the World. 



Leon L. Watters, M. D., Hospital Supply Co., New York. 



Rubbed Bandagi 



Slkll'J'El) of its glamor, the basic motive of an army 

 at w;ir is i" kill or maim as man} of the enemj as 

 possible by the employment of any o) the many recog- 

 nized "legitimate" means for dealing death and destruction. 

 Thus laid bare, war . in all of its horror to 



the gaze of the lover of peace, as conforming exactly to 

 ral Sherman's classic designation of it. 

 This article does not aspire to deal at all with the ethics 



of war; it con- 

 cerns i t s e 1 £ 

 solely with one 



ii imic phase 



of the practice 

 of warfare, 

 namely, the eco- 

 nomic employ- 

 ment of rubber 

 m its armamentarium. But the anomalies of strife with arms are 

 immediately brought to the mind of the writer when he con- 

 trasts the elaborate methods which have been worked out 

 by some of the brightest minds of nations with the one end 

 in view of creating havoc, death and devastation, with the 

 ■equally elaborate means that these same nations provide for 

 alleviating the sufferings, injury and poverty which are the 

 immediate results of war. While in times of peace the life 

 and property of the individual are sacred and extreme pre- 

 cautions are taken to safeguard his well-being; while all the 

 methods of science are exhausted to save the life of even 

 the most humble citizen; while the skill of the most expert 

 surgeon is brought to bear to repair the slightest injury to a 

 helpless child or a decrepit octogenarian; yet, in time of 

 war, every available means is employed to kill or maim the 

 flower of a nation's manhood. The individual and the life 

 or injury of the individual, as such, are lost sight of. Armies are 

 simply masses with large numbers of units; they are employed as 

 masses with a brutal disregard of the life and limb of the in- 

 dividual except as his death or injury, in large enough num- 

 bers, affects the 



fighting ability _. . 



the ^^^^J 



The armies i if 

 every civilized 

 nation worthy 

 of the name 

 have special and 

 well - organized 

 branches of the 

 service whose 

 sole object is to 

 care for the 

 health and wel- 

 fare of thi 

 dier in times of 

 peace and to ad- 



/-. 



-IsT 





RlBBER TOURNIQUE - 



U. S. Army Stretcher. 



minister to the injured and the sick in times of war. A story 

 prevails among the correspondents who were on the scene 

 to the effect that during the Balkan war, trainloads of injured 

 were i igui camps and encouraged to die. 



The argument of the commanders was that it costs more to 

 take care ounded soldier, whose usefulness has been 



impaired, than to bury a dead one. This story, whether true 

 or not, i= to the customs of the nations now at war. 



Their commanders pay attention to the care of the wounded 

 from two distinct motives; the first is the motive of humanity, 

 which makes it incumbent on a nation at war to care for the 

 injured of its own army and of its enemy; the second motive 

 is an economic one, based upon the value of the individual 

 soldier as a fighting unit. The soldier who is temporarily 

 disabled and who can be nursed back to health and healed of 

 his wound can again enter the ranks and become active as a 

 useful member and thus help to effect the destruction of the 

 opposing army. 



To take care of the wounded in such manner that suffering 

 is reduced to a minimum and the maximum number of lives 

 saved, requires that the facilities of the hospital be dupli- 

 cated to such an extent that at least temporary relief is as 

 close as possible to the scene of hostilities. Thus the require- 

 ment of quick transportation is immediately presented, for 

 means of relief must be such that it may be transported from 

 place to place with practically the same speed as a moving 



army, which means 

 often over rough 

 roads and under 

 adverse conditions. 

 Lightness becomes 

 i if prime importance 

 as well as the prop- 

 erty of being com- 

 pressed into small 

 bulk. Beyond this 

 is the requirement of impermeability to moisture. It is for 

 these reasons that rubber becomes the ideal substance for 

 employment in the manufacture of munitions for the Medical 

 Supply Corps of armies in the field. 



The uses of rubber for other than medical and surgical 

 purposes in the army are well known. To enumerate only 

 a few there might be mentioned the following: Waterproof 

 coverings for wagons, guns and gun-carriages, army chests 

 and the like, where there is employed either a rubber-covered 



fabric similar to 

 rubber sheeting 

 or fabrics of 

 cloth which are 

 rendered water- 

 proof by being 

 impregnated with 

 compounds o f 

 rubber. Rubber 

 boots and shoes 

 are part of the 

 regular equip- 

 ment of most 

 armies, though 

 they are made 

 use of only un- 

 der special con- 

 ditions, on account of the more lasting qualities of leather. 

 Rubber sheets and blankets are in extensive use for pro- 

 tection from damp, and rubberized fabrics are even employed 

 as tent coverings. Rubber-covered rain coats are in extensive 

 use by the officers and chapeaus or mantles are employed by 

 the privates as protection from rain. There is a growing 

 tendency to employ rubber-coated fabrics wherever possible 

 as coverings for medical pouches, first-aid kits, etc., and the 







