National Affairs: War Spoils

In the last Congress, a number of eager Congressmen tried to secure for their constituencies a number of captured German cannon and other war spoils to stand about in public places as tokens of the bravery of our sons in arms—and of the enterprise of our sons in Congress. The matter was compromised by passing a general bill for 'dividing the War spoils of all kinds among all the States. These trophies are now cluttering up storage space and the War Department must get rid of them.

So it has notified the Governors of the several States just what trophies they are offered; it is a case of "Take all we offer you or nothing." The list of articles being offered is tremendous and varied.

Besides cannon, the list includes: thousands of "Gott mit uns" belt buckles, of steel helmets; hundreds of sabers, of rifles, of cartridge cases, of canteens; and also horse collars, paper aprons, body armor, hand grenades, lances, machine guns, artillery maps, gas masks, trench pickaxes, badges, feed and saddle bags, ball bearings, curb bits, paper cloth, tug chains, tea, coffee, and food-tins, trench cups, paper wagon-curtains, wire cutters, sack fillers, forks and spoons, burlap halters, holsters, mess kits, fur-covered knapsacks, canvas knapsacks, saber knots, trench lanterns, flamethrower nozzles, ornaments, sweat pads, tent pins, tent poles, a paper rein, ropes, saddles, saws, shovels, spurs, straps, stirrups, sur-cingles, paper tape, torches, traces, a paper whip, wagons, carts, other vehicles, empty shells.