Waterbury Democrat., 1900-11-15
bIJEF|NGTONS REPORT.
The Secret CT the French Field
 Gun is Known.

Discussed by General Burlington in His Report-IIe Also Refers to the Pom-rom Guns Which Were Csed in the South African War. Washington. Nov 15.-,i'he report of General 15utnngton chief of the bu- reau of ordnance, has been made to the secretary of war. As some of the Ho|t interesting portions ot the re port, dealing with disputed points be- tween the ordnance bureau and the ] board of ordnance and fOrtiticationS are contained ill appendices which have net vet hecn made public. the report is not as interesting as expect cd. Among these features is that of field guns. which i& dismissed with q para graph stating that the facts can ne found ill an appendix. The ord nance h11re3u was about to let the con tract for 200 field guns when the rec 0mnpnlatiOn of tho hoard Gf ord nance and fortitications N'as approved. holding up any action for some months. It is in connection with field ordnance that an agent of the government has obtained what he alleges is the secret of the French field gun. and which it i& proposed shah be tested by this gov ! crnment.
 Another controversy is that relating i to !he disuppcarin" gun carriage. whose further manufacture has been ! decided against by the board of ord rance and Qualifications. General 1 Burlington discusses the history Of this carriage. showing that it was ordered | by the IIudicott board and the secre- t&ry Of war.
 General Burlington says:
 ] There wAs at the time no disap- 1 pc0ring carriage known to the world which satisfied fully the requirements
 and it is inferred that tho highest mili- tary authority deemed that the ,lisaD- ipearing principle was of such para, mount importanccor so peculiarly de- Sirable that # must be adopted and that a suitable carriage would ulti
 nately be forthcoming for it. Tt was therefore presented to the
 ordnance department as q problem to ! he solved. and tEr present service car iriagc is the best solution it has l..
 able to tiud. So far aS experience has
 gone, it has worked well. and ill fact much more satisfactorily than was an i ticipated. It is presumed, however 1 that the question raised involves the disappearing system itself. and the sc were requirements it imposes upon the carriage builGn".
 The department is not hy any means. welded to the disappearing system. Ii accepted it from higher authority as q condition ia which it
 was required to conform, but is ready
 to take lip from the proper authority
 any other system and cevote it's encr-
 gics to making it successful
 There has been a great deal of dis cuSSiOn over thp> SO-cal1ed 'pOm-DOm guns. one-pounderS. They hay" been
 used in the South African war. but nc official opinion h0S been received re-
 garCinI them. Two batteries of six l inch guns each have been ordered and
 as soon as completed win be sent to the Philippines.
 Many rapid-fire sea coast guns are mounting. These consist of five and six-fnch and Gfteen-pOundCrS. The DlimgS- Sea bury company has delivered fftv-saycn fifteen-pounders and twen- l ty siXDoundrrs. but General Buthng- ton says that the failure of the com many to deliver tifteen-pounder guns l and carriages under their two con l +rocfs with the government has caused fseriouS delay.
 | Tine report says that heretofore 1 thcreh as heen little use for the moun- | tain guns but uDon requiSition from i inc Philippines all the mountain guns on hand. together with two siH-&un Ihatterios were purchased and sent to
 Nanita. There was also dcma 2d Tor small calibre machine guns an, quite
 a number have been purchase>. and sent to the Philippines.
 Contracts have been made for I,lol.- GOO pounds of smokeless powder. or
 which 8OO.C0O pounds were for the use of seaccast guns and mortars. It IS Iheiieyod that the difficulties encoun- tered last year have been overcome and that the new powder will prove satis- factory.
 During the last year there were com pleted the following heavy guns: Ten ter-inch rifles. tWcnty-four twelve inch rifles. thirty-eight tWelye-inch mortars. making total of Such heavy guns now ready for our detens-
 es of G53. Work On the siXteen-lnch
 rifle has been retarded because a lar ger furnace was needed.
 There have been accepted during
 the year $500 armor and deck piercing pr0jectiles.
 f Concerning IpSlS aL NiuuS 11ooh' General Burlington says that expert
 ments have been made for shells with wet gun cotton, thorite. jovite No ?,
 corberite and with explosives of the lyddite and ammonia nitrate classes.
 It is necessary to have an explosive
 which will be safe in the gun and in
 storage, q compound swhicft is still afI
 object of pursuit. Experiments to de
 tect flashes Of smokeless' powder proved intellectual. Five patterns ot
 field carriage which controlled recoil
 have been tried and none found who'll ly satisfac ctory.
 Out of appropriations of $29.396.79
 the bureau has expended s1624o, lS5.
 MANILA CUSTOMS COLLECTOR.