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Show ! Uncle Sam, Laundrymati for Two and a Half Million Men, Does SOME Washing i By Frederick A, Cleveland I Of x -President Tift's Com mission on Economy j and Efticifiiry rpHE good -old way was to give each ! soldier "pay and allowance-" With his "allowance" each bought his own clothes 3nd did his own washing and mending or had some one do it for him. Thon the "mammies" of the South and the country folk for miles around the camp had their bacl yards and fences full of soldier j cloihes. This was the easy way when armies j were small. But in this war armies are J counted in millions. The battleline i reaches hundreds -of miles through country laid waste. Crowded training camps and trench life add to the dangers of contagiefhs and filth disease. In the training camps on this side, too. the changes from winter to summer sum-mer weights, from woolen to cotton I and back again, made it seem wise for the Government to go into the laundry business as a part of its waxwork. wax-work. On this side, the washing of each soldier conies in on the average about like this: Socks thirteen times a month, underclothes once a week, cotton cot-ton coats and cotton breeches twice a month, etc.. etc. "Over there" a complete com-plete chans mufrt be made every time the men come in from the trenches. Even if he dries not have to lie out In the mud jmiH rain, there are tho "cooties." For two and a half million and one half million men on the one and one half million men on the other side, this is the size of a year's laundry business that Uncle Sam must get ready to do: 300.000.000 pairs of socks. 221.000.000 drawers. 221.000,-000 221.000,-000 undershirts. 20.000.000 cotton coats. 20.000,000 . cotton breeches, 35.000.000 denim coats, 40.000.000 denim den-im overalls. 126,000,000 olive drab shirts, 65.000,000 bed socks, besides cooks' aprons, cooks' caps, nurses' dresses and aprons and a lot of other washable things. But this is not all. There are the outside woolen wear and other things to be dry-cleaned. "Woolen coats and breeches three times a year while in training and twelve times a year when on the front. The dry cleaning for a year for 1.000.000 men in training and 1,500.000 men in France would amount to 7.000.000 overcoats. 42,000,-000 42,000,-000 coats. 42.000.000 breeches. If the week's wash were hung out on a line, and three inches were allowed for each sock, one foot for an undergarment, two feet for an olive drab shirt, two feet for a coat, etc.. it would reach twice across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Liverpool. The wash for a month would reach around the earth and lap over with a second line all the way across the L'nited States. The wash for a year would reach from the4 earth to the moon and then half way back. But the size of the job is not the thing that most interests us. So much has been said about confusion and waste in war work, we want to know how well it is done and about the cost. Laundries have already been set up in more than thirty training camps and equipment is being bought for overseas over-seas use. Is this business being carried car-ried on in a manner consistent with our war aims? Before attempting to tell the story or to make any comparisons, I wanted to see how big laundry business was carried on by private concerns, and for bigness I went to New Tork. An officer of the Laundrymen's Association acted as guide. I told him I wanted to see just how it should be done. "Well," he said, "there are plenty of places to go to see how not to do laundry work. There is a place nearby where conditions are bad. We also have places which are as clean and well kept as a health resort." We all know that washing at home is mussy work. But the first place we went was the wettest, the mussiest place, I thought, that I had ever been in. Leaky machines, sloppy floors, steam, the smell of soap and machinery machin-ery oil. and rotten wood yet they were doing a big business. From this we went to "one of the ' best" a great four-story building built for light and air, filled with machinery ma-chinery ani girls. Dry Poors! Hood to carry off the steam! The clean smell of ironing! Some one to look after the machinery! Some one to look after the girls and keep them happy; music, books and games during the rest and lunch periods! I wanted to see the head' man just to get something of his spirit. But no! They almost never saw him any more. He has gone to Washington. The chief of the conservation and reclamation service had sent for him to help Uncle Sam get his big1 laundry business going for the soldiers. Then I went to two of the camps where laundries had been installed. I wanted to see one of the worst and one of the best. In both the buildings were temporary one-story, barnlike structures, but they were open and airy. The "worst" camp laundry was a show-place for cleanliness and good working conditions. In both the "worst" and the "best" were found enthusiastic "commanding officers" lieutenants by rank. Both places had the same kind of machinery the same kind that we found in "one of the best" in New York. The only difference was in the way that the work was handled--"the system." The "worst" way this was the way that the laundry had been started by a private contractor who put it up and ran it under an arrangement arrange-ment to wash for the camp. The "best way" was the way that had been worked out by the man who had been called to Washington. He was not Vi ore p f t'v IPp. bn t h o bad bpr n , and he had his man there who was making the place a school for training train-ing and experiment In camp work was finding out the best way to handle camp washing and was training men to go out to manage other laundries and to be ready to go "over there" to help Pershing keep his army clean. A camp laundry wagon drove up to the front platform. Out of this rolled great bags one bag for each of the "quarters" fronS which the load had been picked up. Out of each bag when opened tumbled many bundles. To each bundle was tied a ticket which bore the name of the soldier, his organization or-ganization and location as well as his list of things to be washed. As the string on each bundle was cut the things were checked to the list and errors, if any, were noted. The clothes were not marked they belonged to Uncle Sam but each pin was "pi" tagged." The corrected tickets then went to the record' room, and the "pin tagged" clothes to the sorters coat3, breeches, underclothes, 0. D. shirts, socks, handkerchiefs and denims, each found a separate section in the sorting truck. Then they went to the washers; from the washers to the centrifugal "extractors"; thence to the steam dryers: from dryers to the ironera; from ironers to girls who got them together again by "pin tag" numbers, num-bers, checked each bundle to the ticket that came out of the record room to meet the clothes, tied the ticket on the bundle, put the right bundle in each bf?- Tim w?chjnr wa" done. "What does it cost?" "Each soldier pays twenty-five cents a week he pays less for the right to have twenty pieces washed than it would tuke to get his coat done up at home." "Does Uncle Sam break even?" "Yes, and has a small margin beside, counting count-ing everything."" "Why does the soldier pay for this washing?" "Because "Be-cause there is1 no appropriation for it by Congress. Doing laundry work as a part of army upkeep is a new idea. They haven't got used to It on the hill." And the washing must be well done, too. The laundry is not only under the supervision of a reclamation officer offi-cer at each camp, but it must pass double inspection the sanitary officer inspects for cleanliness, and the line officer of each organization for appearance. ap-pearance. From camp to central office at Washington. The conscripted laundry-man laundry-man was not in. "Will you wait a few minutes he is in a morning conference con-ference the heads of all the branches of the conservation and reclamation division hold a conference each morning morn-ing to find out how they can help each other," said the young lady who was getting out letters and instructions instruc-tions to the camps and answering questions at a side desk. She was . proud of the fact that she was a cog in the driving wheel of the great washing-machine. The chief came in. "How many pieces did you wash last month?" "s orn for r.frws and nlifpd mn: OS7.000 for bass hospitals; 233,000 foj the reclamation work, and 154,000 other 1,732,000 pieces in all. We handle more woolen at one of our -c;mp laundries than all the private f laundries in the United States. ' "What is the reclamation work?" "That is washing the cast-offs before they are mended for reissue, or ripped up for patches and rags." "I hear you have Bbeen cutting down the price?" "Yes. we began with a schedule of regular commercial rates. But we decided it was better to have a .fixed price for each soldier whether he sent anything or not. If he paid for his washing there would be no reason .'or his not sending it to us. We first set a price of $1.40 a month, but we had too much money left over and the price was reduced to a dollar.", "Why are you working here throu:-i " these hot sumemr days?" "Because I was asked to do something to help win the war that I knew how to do. We are all in it and we must see it through. Each man back of the trenches must do his bit. I am a laundryman, and a laundry man can help in two ways: Help to keep every mother's son clean and well, whether in training or in the trenches, and help to make every dollar saved and given to the Government do a hun died cents worth of fighting." "How long before you will get all the plant? running well?" "I don't know, but we are at it day in and day out. and we will keep at it till every unit is as fH fa a flchllnc I'nrpt." |
