The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-12-07
EMIGRATION OF
METAL WORKERS
ENDED BY DUTCH
Government, Adopting Pre-
paredness, Prevents Con
tinuatiOn of Exodus.

| The Hague, Netherlands, Dec. =
| The restriction by the Dutch govern
nent of the movements of metal
/ workers who were intending to go to
| Great Britain to take advantage OF
| high wages there has called attentloh
to the position of the Netherlands IN
| connection with war supplies.
| , The enforcement of the regulations
4 was a surprise to the workmen con-
| cerned several thousands of whose
| comrades had been employed IN Ger
man rnunition factories since the be-
ginning of the war. THE labor rep
resentatives who conferred with the
government officials were told that the
action of the authorities was necessary
because so many snen were leaving
whose service would be Invaluable to
the country in case of need, and that
the prohibition of emigration is now
applicable without regard to which
country they might wish to go.
THE Metal Workers Union has en-
tered an energetic protest against the
stoppage of it's members emigration,
and has brought forward statistics to
show that many of them are out Of
work in this country. At the same
time the Union demands, in case the
order should remain in force, an in
crease of 35 per cent. in the mems
wages, and the government is consid-
ering the problem thus brought for
ward as it affects the workers in the
government factories.
For many years some of the Dutch
newspapers have been calling atten-
ton to the necessity of establishing
efficient arsenals, and ammunition fac
tories under Dutch state control to
provide sufficient war material for
the Dutch army under all conditions,
instead of leaving the military forces
of the country as hitherto dependent
on foreign contractors. Possibly as
a result of this agitation, the. state,
since January. 1913 has possessed an.
arms and ammunition factory on the
Hem brug at Amsterdam and an ar
senal at Delft. These state insti-
buttons have been recently extended
to include the construction of certain
mines, but the entire output is based
| on theS requirements of the small
Dutch army on a peace footing.
Much has been done since the be-
ginning of the European war to
place the Dutch army in a position to
cope with modern conditions of fight
ing Under the circumstances the
government deems it unwise to pub
lish even approximate figures as to
what has been done. but it may be
taken as a fact that the Netherlands
are prepared for most eventualities
The army possesses, a good rifle
rather light as compared with others
| in use in Europe, and the country has
enough of them to arm all it's trained
| infantrymen. Rife ammunition, too,
| is on hand In satisfactory quantities.,
reckoned on the basis of the immense
numbers Of cartridges fred off in mod
ern engagement Several private
| factories are engaged in nanufactur-
ing still further large quantities of
1 UQ11 orr +iSx,
under the supervision of the munitions
| committee of the government. 3
AS to the Dutch artillery, the army
experts have followed closely the OPP
erations going on all around. They
have made their calculations as to the
number of shells to have ready for
each piece of ordnance and in all
probability have provided for even
greater quantities of shells than were
considered Indispensable by the
French and German gunnery experts
before the opening of hosti1ities Pro+
vision was then made by the French
for each piece of field ordnance sent
on active service to be supplied with
579 shells. The Germans, on the
other hand, calculated that 39S was
an ample supply. Both have proved
almost incredibly far below the actual
requir ements and the Dutch gunners
are understood to have taken full cog
nizapce of this fact.
AS to the guns themselves, the
Dutch have come to the conclusion
that their artillery must be siren 9Th
ened. and it rs believed that much has
already been accomplished in this d.
rection. both as regards light and
heavy field pieces and machine guns
The ordinary field guns in use in the
Dutch army do not differ very greatly
from the Austrian 8-centfmeter weap-|
ons.
They have also very light field
piece of 6-centim meters caIibre. handy
for use in broken ground such sas is
found everywhere in the Netherlands
AS to heavier mobile pieces, some of
the fortress guns are capable of be-
ing provided with field carriages and
in this way guns of 10, II andl15 CEN
| titneter bore could be placed in the
field
In Holland the, guns of the field
| artillery have many times to be car
ried by water and the guns are often
exercised in this Transportation. In
every irrigation canal are numerous
shallow fatLbottomed scows used for
the carrying over of cattle and ma
nureA These are put to use by the
Prti1lerynen. Two of them are plae-
| ed side by side and made fast The
gun and its carriage are then s1ipoed
aboard along planks use as runners.
| each of the scows holding two of the
! wheels. In this way most of the
difficulties of the ground, when cut 11p
cut up by canals, are overcome
TWENTY MFNaRERC 0Er