The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 29

CI Blue in 1939 Bowb The Army seeks economy, service in new uniforms FIELD CAP 73c Old Style 71c (less vizer) SHIRT $2.78 Old Style $3 04 'l i I 3 Jul Revolutionary War, 1777 Civil War, 1861 War of 1812 Spanish-American War, 1898 Mexican War, 1846 WorUWar, 1918 Hi ifjgte flj gut; ri0 SOME TIME during the spring and summer some 600 of Uncle Sam's doughboys will get down on their stomachs and go crawling through the mud and the tall grass all in the interests of economy and national defense. These doughboys will be wearing the new experimental uniforms of slate-blue cloth. They will be guinea pigs in the tests which are to determine whether the army officially drops its traditional olive-drab and goes slate-blue all over. The general staff is looking for a cheaper and more serviceable outfit. It knows the new cloth will be cheaper; it suspects that it will have a lower visibility as well, and that it will be more soil-resistant and durable.

It is going to find out by watching the slate-blue 600. They will get photographed from the air and from, the ground. Their uniforms will be examined before and after crawling. In the end, the commanding officers of the six posts where the tests will be made will submit the reports on which the general staff will base its decision. It has been predicted that the blue-clad soldier will be much less visible to aerial observers than his olive-drab brother, but the War Department doesn't take much stock in this.

It's movement and shadows that determine visibility from the air, its experts say; if a soldier lies doggo and keeps out of the sun, it doesn't matter whether he wears olive-drab or pink. From the ground, the new shade is expected to be less noticeable. It was found during the World War, for instance, that French troops with their horizon blue uniforms were hard to see during early-morning attacks, especially if there was a fog or a ground mist. The army experimented recently with tent cloth colors. It heard that the Germans were using a vari-colored cloth for pup tents which made them hard to see, so it tried out some of its own.

If the new tents were approached from the ground, particularly through a screen of woods, they were much less visible; but from an airplane they were as easy to see as the old kind. Oddly enough, it was found the important thing about pup tents is to keep the triangular end flaps closed. If they're open, they cast shadows which make the tents instantly recognizable. TN the main, the slate-blue cloth idea is an economy move. The general staff had been complaining for a long time that it cost too much to clothe the army.

The quartermaster's department kept explaining that this was because olive-drab is just naturally expensive. Here's why: Olive-drab is a mixture of while, brown and green wool. Say a manufacturer gets a contract to turn out 1 000 uniforms. Chances are his mill can produce in one batch only cloth enough for 500 uniforms. He produces that, makes the 500 uniforms, and then puts a second batch in the works.

But the second batch won't have quite the same shade as the first. He may use the same dyes and mix his yarns in exactly the same proportions; but perhaps he had Texas wool in the first batch and Alabama wool in the second and they'll take the green or brown dyes differently. So the second run of cloth may be several shades lighter or darker than the first, in spite of everything the manufacturer can do. For a long time the quartermaster has been rejecting about 30 per cent of the samples submitted by manufacturers filling army orders. Knowing this would happen, manufacturers naturally bid high when seeking such orders.

The slate-blue cloth is made of pearl, black and blue wool. For some reason, there is much less variation in the shades you get when you dye wool in these colors. Hence the slate-blue cloth will be cheaper. U. S.

Army figures on comparative costs of the proposed slate-blue uniforms and the present olive-drab show that a saving of $8.22 per man may be effected by adopting the new color. The total cost of the slate-blue uniform is $33.10, while that of the olive-drab is $41.32. A comparison of the costs of each item follows Slate Blue Olive Drab Field cap .73 .71 Service cap 2.23 2.60 Coat 6.60 7.57 Overcoat 7.79 10.77 Shirt 2.78 3.04 Trousers 3.68 4.87 Leggings 65 .81 Incidentally, the doughboy will blossom out in a gprgcous chess uniform, if the new cloth is finally adopted. He'll get a dark-blue coat with gold braid on it, and slate-blus pants with vertical stripes along the trouser scam. With all that, plus his natty new cap, he'll be all set to step.

(Copyright, 1939, by BveryWeek Maalne) 'Iff- if IT TROUSERS $3.68 Old Style $4.87 LEGGINGS 65c Old Style 81c Comparative costs of the new slate-blue and the old olive-drab uniforms for the U. S. Army. In addition to the items noted above, the slate-blue overcoat costs $7.79 as compared to the olive-drab at the coat $6.60 as compared to the 0-D blouse at and the service cap $2.23 or 37 cents less than the old style cap at $2.60. The total cost of the new uniform will be $33.10 as compared with the olive-drab at $41.32, a saving of $8.22 per man..