Borrowed Eyes

When the U. S. Navy, greatly increased in numbers of ships & men, was hurriedly preparing for the War, sextants, binoculars, telescopes were almost a German manufacturing monopoly. The supply in the U. S. was limited. Yet the new ships & men could not go to sea without eye-extensions. Knowing that many a German lens lay unused in U. S. private homes, the Navy Department launched a big advertising campaign, begged U. S. citizens to lend "eyes for the Navy." Thereupon 52,000 sextants, binoculars, telescopes were received at Washington, were distributed among the recruits. After the War the borrowed "eyes" were returned to their owners--all but 697 pairs of binoculars, 295 telescopes, nine sextants, whose owners the Navy has yet to locate after twelve years of correspondence. Last week the Navy Department announced its intention to auction off all unclaimed instruments, asked for sealed bids.

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