The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-03

expenditure ut ammunition as has
taken place. hundreds of thousands of
shells being fred at given points on
the front within the space of twenty
four hours. at "A cost Of forty and nifty
millions of dollars, 1t is a fact that
| when Kitchener took no Il of the Eng
l!sh War Department. in August. 1914.
after four years spent in diplomatic
, and administrative work n Egypt and
seven years prior to that passed in
commanding the forces in India and
ir ~reorganizing the dcfenccs of that
great dependence, he found all the
British arscna's empty. the skilled
workmen dismissed and dispersed.
The great ronmasters such as cx-
Acknowledgement Wickersham's Eng
fish brother .n-law. SIR Robert Had
field. had converted all the munition
plants which they had created after
the Boer war to the manufacture of
quite different articles IL mere
owing t. the refusal Of tho War De-
partment to continue any orders for
shells. ordnance and munitions Of
every kind.
In one word not merely were the
stores of ammunition OF the British
army absolutely depleted at the out
set of the present conflict and the ar.
scnals empty but oven The means Of
manufacturing tho shells had disap-
pcarcd owing to the ~Ibandonmont Of
this form of Industry oy private con-
Germs, such as that Of Sir Robert Had
tie.d, and the dismissal ON the ground
OF economy % most at the skilled
workers ct the great military arsenals
AZ Woolwich ana elsewhere. THIS
shortage Of every Kind of military sup
plies as well ~ of small arms. of ma
chine guns and IF heavy ordnance
Was entirely and altogether the fault
OF Lord Haldan,. who tur a number of
years was at the head OF the War De-
his successor there, Col.
Sceley. having been too brief a period
Ia office to lie saddled with any real
responsibility in the matter. If the
British army is to-day amply supplied
with ammunition which j, enabling il
now to make It's long delayed advanc,
oa the front in France it - wholly due
90 Lord Kitchener and t." his wonder.
nj rcsourcetulncss and powers oil or
San!Hatiun.
With regard tu Winston Spencer
Churchill's presence on the new COM
m.ttce OF d!CtItorute he has been
wrongly blamed f.. the rcvtrscs that
attended the early stages of the Oar
Lancllcs expedition, and he HIS beer
vigorously crit ciscd ON both rides OF
the atlantic Tor having s.ught tt
force the straits and to reach Con.
stGntinoplc with a fleet without III,
,nfnpT .ipD nf tho la Ylfnrr f,-a., St,l.
s%cuucnily despatched. But his coun.
u ymen have now hccum" aware tina.
If in his capacity Of First Lord of tn,
Admiralty he sent the fleet To talk,
Constant!ncplc and to force the Oar
danclles it was because the Grecl
Government had pledged itself to sup
| port the naval operations with tn,
despatch of an army of 10000 men u
Gailipoli. a promise which At tho yer,
last m vac not fulfilled owing {,
King tonstIntinc's dismissal of prim,
, N.n!ste. Nc1iH".ns. who had given tn,
!; pledge and WIN now after severa
months nf retirement has been force,
! back into Office hy the people O
I Greece.
l Russia toe had insisted that Eng
} land SHOULD open up the Dardanellcs
and 10y thus releasing the enormous
Russian grain fleet shut up in tn,
Black Sea relieve the economic an,
. financial crisis in the dominionS Of tn,
{ Car ana put a stop IL the Ottoman
invasion Of M Caucasus 10y cumDc
y ling the Porte to retire its troops from
the Russian frontier to defend Con
T. stantinople. Moreover. the EnEliSl
Y peoplp cannot forget that If the Irii
. ish fleet was, unlik" the army. full,
= modified and wholly ready for wa
] on the very day of its commencement