The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-01
GREAT ARSENAL
 AT SPRINGFIELD Can Turn Out Thousands ot
 Guns a Day II IS A PEACEFUL PLACE About 1900 Men Are Employed Here in Turning Out Rifles When There Is no War Cloud
 in Sight.
1T IS A PEACEFUL PLACE
From the Washington Post.

From the Washington Post.
 It would be hard to find an institution as dramatic in its contrasts the Uni ted States arsenal at Springfield Capable as 1t Is of turning out thousands of mur- derous weapons in a single day, 1t is as peaceful and as pleasant to look upon as If 1t were an old ladies home.
 The buildings are scattered over twen- ty-nve acres or more. With their perfect quiet. their green lawns. and fine old elms they are like an almost forgotten park in the very heart of the city. Beautl- full homes surround the arsenal grounds. Church towers look down into them Nine cows grazed under the windows when The Post representative visited the establish ment the other day.
 Yet in some of those quiet brown build- ings stacked with long boxes suggestive of collins are 150,0OO of the most up-to- date man-killing Instruments. And in the other buildings men work unremittingly, making yet more and more thousands.
 Our very young government began man ufacturing guns at Springfield back in 179l, and has been at 1t, on practically the same sites ever since. Early in the nine- teenth century the water shops were started, nearer the river than the main arsenal. for forging the heavier pieces, and as the water shops they are known to this day.
 In the two places 1900 men are employed and 1000 magazine rifles can be turned out in day If there were any extraordinary pressure, necessltating double shifts. or even two and a half shifts, as in war time, the output would be correspondingly greater.
 Up to 1892 the rife known as the Spring field was the regulation gun used in the army. At that time a change was made to the Krag- Jorgensen, which was manu- factured at Springfield continuously from that date to within the past year or so. Now a new model has superseded the Krag-Josgenson. It Is officially known as the United States rife of 1903. and is sup posed to incorporate all the best features of the most improved army rifles the world over.
 Secrecy of no Purpose.
 There is no particular necessity for se- crecy in the manufactuhe of smallll arms. Any government can easily get specimens of those made in other countries. Colonel Fitch the commanding officer at Spring field, secures foreign-made rifles and has the experts at the armory take them to pieces and report on the details of their construction.
 Of course other countries do the same with our rifles so that there is not much danger of spies at Springfleld or, rather, not much of an excuse for spying. Never theless permits to visit the armory are not issued to foreigners and the law re- quires that every employe shall be citl- zen of the United States.
 Executions, of course. are sometimes made to the rule against admitting for eigners. Some time ago a number of Japanese visited the arsenal In sort of "continued story" manner. The first one had a special request to study up the subject of gun stocks. The second was interested in the barrel. Another was in- vestigating the magazine, and so on. By the time the continued story was con- cluded the Japs had studied the whole gun lock, stock and barrel"
 One of the results was that the Japa- nese have been buying quantities of American black walnut for gun stocks Because of it's greater density, black wal nut is the preferred wood everywhere for this purpose, but the American product is not as good as the European Import eo black walnut is denser than the Amer ican. but the price is also considerably more solid. For the square, unturneo stock. as 1t is bought by the government Uncle Sam pays 55 cents for American black walnut and from % cents to $l oi more for the imported wood. Most of the domestic wood comes from Indian Terri tory. Missouri and Arkansas.
 Apparently the Springfield employe: like to work for Uncle sam, for one Is struck with the number of gray haired men in the shops. One of the foremer has been there more than fifty years. Al most all of the work is piece work. so that unless there is extraordinary pres. sure a man can be kept on, even after his earning capacity has become less. Ht