. GHE MILE OF BATTLE FRONT
Barbed Wire Used Amounts to Hun
dreds of Tons—Millions of Sand
Bags Are Required.
Few who read of a “mile of front”
have any idea of the enormous labor
and material that go to its making,
writes a trench correspondent. For
a mile of front among the swamps of
Flanders, for example, with its first
and second lines of trenches, its com
munications and breastworks, the
necessary barbed wire is 900 miles in
length—long enough to reach from
London to Perth and back—and
weighs 110 tons.
The sandbags required for its pro
tection numjter 6,250,000. So many
are they that placed end to end they
would stretch across Europe from
North Cape in Norway to Cape Mat
apan, the southernmost point in
Greece; and their weight is more
than a thousand tons.
To fill these millions of sandbags
and place them in position would
keep 500 industrious men at work
for twelve months; for the average
man cannot fill and place more than
25 sandbags in one night.
In addition to these thousands of
miles of wire and sandbags, 12,000
six-foot standards are required; 12,
000 small pickets, 35,000 running
feet of corrugated iron, more than
1,000,000 feet of timber and vast
quantities of riveting material of
various kinds.
TRENCH-DIGGING WITH PLOWS
Machinery Used by Both British and
German Armies Instead of the
Spade of the Soldier.
Whenever and wherever it has
been possible to do so, gigantic
trench-digging machines have been
used for entrenchments instead of
the spade of the soldier, writes a cor
respondent. Many hundreds of
“trench-plows,” as they are called,
were used by the Germans in the
early days of the war, and that gave
rise to the common belief that the
Germans were the first to use them.
But so long ago as the Boer war Brit
ish army authorities experimented
with plows and found them so suc
cessful that they became part of the
equipment of the army.
The smaller plows cut a trench 20
’ inches wide and 20 inches deep, turn
ing the earth over so as to form a
parapet. The larger ones will cut
trenches from three to four feet
deep, doing the work of 50 soldiers,
and in half the time. These plows
have proved extremely useful in
digging trenches in front of towns
and other prepared positions in the
path of the enemy.
EXPENSIVE INDECISION.
He (proposing in a taxi)—Say
yes, darling.
She—Give me time to think.
He—Yes; but good heavens, not
in here.
HIS IDEA.
First Regular—That young col
lege student is some puffed up over
joinin’ the army.
Second Regular—Aw, he thinks
the army joined him.—Puck.
URGE FRENCH METRIC SYSTEM
Scale of Measurement Favored In
Preference to the English Stand
ard Which Now Is in Use.
Recently we have been strongly
urged to adopt the French system of
measurement in this country, as op
posed to the English scale now in
use, comments a writer. The war
has made us familiar with such
terms as millimeter, centimeter, kilo
meter and so on. It is urged that
the metric system of the French is
much superior to the English. The
English themselves are awake to this j
fact, and there has been a similar 1
movement in England that has
gained more strength than its coun
terpart in America.
An English engineering journal,
in supporting the plan, states that
since 1840 34 countries have given
up their standards of measurement j
to adopt the French system, and that
not a single nation has adopted the
English method in all that period.
It also is pointed out that no fresh
system of measurement has been
brought forward. The French plan
is so exact and easy of manipulation
that it leaves little chance of im
provement.
QUIQK, WATSON.
Vacationist (much winded)—I—•
X just saw a bear!
Innkeeper—Fetch my gun, Jake
Vacationist—He was green, with
yellow stripes.
Innkeeper—Never mind the gun,
Jake. Fetch bromide.
THE BEST WAY.
“Don’t try to court that girl. She
has a heart of marble.”
“Then the best thing to do is to
leave it in statu quo.”
Had The Grip Three Weeks
With January comes lagrippe
Lingering colds seem to settle in
the system, causing one to ache
all over, feel feverish and chilly
tired, heavy and drooping. Mrs
Lizzie Tyles, Henderson, Ky
wrices: “My daughter had la
grippe for three weeks. I gave
her Foley's Honey and Tar and
now she is all right.” Sold by
Red Cross Drug Co.
Died: Cathleen, age one year
and eleven months, daughter of
Roy and Callie Boyce of near
Grays, Tuesday, January 1, 1918,
at 3:40 p. m. The remains were
laid to rest in Bolden family ceme
tery near Revel Wednesday after
noon.
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WE THANK YOU!
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A most prosperous year has come to a close. Our
business has flourished beyond our expectations and it
is to our loyal friends and customers that we owe such
remarkable success. The policy of our store still re
mains the same-—Honest Merchandise, reasonab y pric
ed and sold with a guarantee of satisfaction. It has
meant profit and pleasure to our patrons in the past—
it means the same agreeable, satisfactory dealings in
the future. In thinking of the good will you have so
freely showered upon us let us wish you “Health and
Happiness”—those priceless jewels of earthly wealth.
May they be yours in great abundance. Sincerely,
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Planters Merc. Co.
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“The House on the Corner with Prices on the Square”
| McCrory, Arkansas