The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-08-02

AT the outbreak of the war the ma
tons of the Entente. relying upon the
control of the sea given TO them by
Great Britatn's fleet. turned to Ameri-
ca for food supplies. materials for
clothing. automobiles and many other
articles going TO make up the equip
ment OF a modern army
BY October they were seeking rifles
and small arms ammunition here. ana
contracts of considerable size for these
products were given to American
manufacturers. But 1t was not until
early in the present year, when it was
realized that the outcome of the war
was to depend largely on artillery and
enormous quantities Of shells, that
any great effort was made to get such
supplies from this country
German Americans, late In 1914 ana
before any considerable amount of
guns and ammunition had been
ordered. instituted a campaign against
the shipment of munitions of war to
the allies on the ground that Germany
was cut of from participation in
similar benefits and that therefore
such trade on the part of the United
States was unneutral The admins
tration, however, stood Arm on the
principles Of international law and
the United States statutes and pre-
cedents governing such traffic. aud
held that IL would be unneutrai rather
to stop the traffic. since such an
mbargo would directly benefit one OF
the contendlng groups and hurt the
other.
1t is impossible to estimate with ac-
curacy the total value Of the war or
ders so far received in this country
Reports were circulated in Wall Street
OF the giving OF this $50, 00o. 900 order
and that 400. 600, 600 order. and in
some cases the manufacturers have
taken pains to announce that the re-
ports were exaggerated.
Orders were given in large amounts
early in the present year by the ma
tons lighting Germany. for the most
part acting through great Britain.
Among the American firms which par
ttcipated in the larger orders were the
Crucibie steel Company. the westing-
house Air Brake Company. the Ameri-
can Locomotive Company, Baldwin
Locomotive Company, the Pressed
Steel Car Company, the Union Metallic
Cartridge Company. the United States
Cartridge Company. Standard Steel
Car Company. the DUPONT and other
powder interests, the Recording and
Computing Machine Company of Day
ton, o.: the Winchester Arms Com
pany. the Remington Arms Company,
the Savage Arms Company. and a
score OF others. Individual orders
range as high as $40, 100000.
American Shells Blamed.
Stories of the huge orders for
shells placed in America quickly gave
rise TO statements widely published
In Germany telling of the effect of
American shells and of the thousands
OF Germans who had lost their lives
through this means. - ~ { ss' =
These stories served the purpose OF
propaganda against the United States
and did much TO aggravate the stu
alton arising out OF the attacks on
American vessels by German suhma-
RINGS and the sinking of the Lusi-
tanAa.
Lack of a SUFFICIENT supply OF high
explosive shells and other ammunition
for the big guns has been given as the
and OF the failure OF the British In
the western theater TO make material
Roadway. The realization OF this
state of affairs in England led to the
reorganization of the ministry as
coalition cabinet, with new portfolio.
that of minister of munitions, given
to Lfoyd-George. He began imme-
diately to organize the entire NUM-
tons industry OF the country on a
war footing,
In the department OF munitions
German efficiency and foresight were
seen at their best Germany. with
her great Krupp works and other
plants, had been for many years the
chief source of war materials for ma
tons with less favorable opportuni-
ties. She had great supplies OF equip
ment and munitions In readiness for
the time when she should need them.
in addition to the means for contin-
uing the supply almost indefinitely
Moreover, at the beginning OF the
war Germany brought every available
industry into line as a producer OF
munitions.
The allies we're less fortunate. and