The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-04-25
Senate Committees Inquiry Re
yc:llS Il Serious State
of Affairs.
GENERAL MILES'S CHARGES.
Smokelcss Powder Shells Fired
With Black puwdcr-iDepart-
mrnt Said to IL. IL Close Cor
ruration y gainst Inventors.
REpl BL1C SPECIAL.

REPl BI.1C SPECIAL
Washington. April ot-Sl.Is loaded with
smokeiess powder To bo fired with black
powder sent Ia General Miles for his army
in Porto Rico. with the result that the
enemy could locate the American sunners
who were unable to see the effect of the
shells
General Burlington Chief of the Ordnance
Bureau. and Captain Crozier of the ord
nance Bureau charged with excluding ali
gun carriages except their own from the
service and getting a royalty from Nickers.
Maxim & Go. OF England for the Buing-
ton carriages.
The Ordnance Department being A close
corporation. prevented the United States
from being prepared with sinokeess powder
al the outbreak of the war with Spain.
The powerful explosive thorite reported
against by the Ordnance Department. in
spite of General Miles.
Tie above were some of the charges made
against the Ordnance Bureau and its head
and other officers as brought out before
the Senate Committee on Military Affairs
after General Miles, as printed in The Re
public. had made damaging charges against
the bureau personally to the committee and
in a scat!Ing letter TO the Secretary Of
War.
The most important witnesses before the
committee were Captain l. y. Lewis. an ar
tillerr officer and \. II. Emery inventor
of q disappearing sun carriage which Cen
eral Burlington and the Ordnance Bureau
ring are endeavorng to exclude from the
service in the interest of the Burlington
CroZier invention.
icwiss Expose.
Captain Lewis talked freely only when
he was assured 10y senators I!llman and
Teller that they would stand by him If tho
bureau Tried to punish him for telling the
truth. He told the comnlitte. OF a remark
able incident. hitherto an Ordnance Bureau
secret. Senator Teller said that he had
been told that the Government made lot
them with smoke powder. so that the
man who fired the gun could not see the
effect OF it. where The fellow being shot
at had a good view Of where the shells
came from.
captain Lewis confirmed the report and
said the incident occurred in Porto Rico
When asked if j, was done accidentally. tho
Captain replied positively:
Ne. sir. not accidentally
This led up 20 some question about smolS.
less power. and The most interesting mat.
ter brought out was the charge that civil
ian inventors have :. hard time getting
prrts of ;h. army. When Mr.. Teller asked
why our army was without smol<rcss pow
der at the time Of the war with Spain.
Lewis remarked:
Il do not wish to cr!ticise my sr.periors
There Is no personality in this. but | do
know the conditions that produced the fact
OF which you nave knowledge.
Close C0rPOrati0n.
In my opinion it was The result os our
policy III regard TO all military inventions
and their development. We have tried 10
form close corporation within ourselves.
rhe opportunities and facilities for original
experimental work are limited to a very
few. and these fow not IN svmpat hetic
t"uch. as they should be, with outside de-
Y.lopm"nts.
With tEe invcn'ors?'' prompted Mr Tel
Ter.
captain Lewis replied: YES. sir Nv sym
prtily il entirely with III. inventors of the
| country. = hon thfse gentlemen come TO MS
| in good faiti ami are willing To let the
merit of their inventions be determined on
tests mad" by tn. Government. ] think
"Eu, has this not been done?' Senator
Teller asked.
~. IS not always done. I know of my
own knowledge that The effect of our pres
cnt procedure Is TO drive away Inventors
To discourage them--to throw obstacles IN
their way. I thirk this is unfortunate. The
navy is much more progressive
captain Lewis here referred 10 the OK
clusior of thorite. as exposed by General
Miles.
when Emery. the gln-carriage inventor
appeared before the committed lie had
good deal to say uf 81 critical nature about
Buflng.or while w. s. Isharu the in
ventor of the hcl,-eSpiosivc shell. :ndulscd
himself in - similar complaint. These men
represented inventors who hay" encountered
gr.a. difficulty in getting any satisfaction
charged the ordnance officers with blocking
l,-,,, :r.ir work.