Bisbee daily review., 1916-07-14
David Lloyd-George Ayers: We Have Crossed The Watershed And Victory Is Beginning To Flow
ALLIES EQUIPMENT
 GROWS ENORMOUSLY
Output Will Be Trebled In Near Future, However.
 Russian, French And Brit ish Munitions Men Confer
(ey Review Leased Wire.l


 George. British minister of war. pre- siding r5day at an Entente allied con ference on equipment, declared that the combined offensive of the allies had wrenched the initiative from the Germans, never, he trusted, to re- turn.
 We have crossed the watershed, he said, "and now victory is begin ming to flow in our direction. This change is due to the improvement in our equipment"
 The conference was held at the war office and was participated in by the French minister of munitions, General Belieoff, assistant minister of war of Russia, General A. RalrOliO, member of the Italian ministry of war and the new British minister of munitions, Edwin s. Montague.
 Since our last conference" said MT. LlOyd-George, there has been a considerable change in the fortunes Champaigne offensive on the west had just failed to attain its objective and the French and British armies had sustained heavy losses without the achievement of any particular success. In the east the enemy had pressed the gallant armies of Russia back some miles, and the. Balkans had been over run by the Central Powers
 Allies Hold Whip Hard.
 'The overwhelming victories won by the valiant soldiers of Russia struck terror into the heart of our foes and those, coupled with the Ge- fense by our French comrades, and the brave resistance of the Italians against overwhelming odds in the southern Alps have changed the whole complexion of the landscape.
 Now. the combined offensive in the east and west has wrenched the in itiative out of the hands of the enemy never, I trust, ro return to his grasp We have crossed the water shed and now victory is beginning to flow in our direction.
 Equipment Responsible.
 ''Why have our prospects improved? The answer is, the equipment of our armies has improved enormously and is Continuing to improve the Brit ish navy until recently has observed more than half the metal work CTS of the country. The task of build ing new ships and repairing the old ones for the gigantic navy and fitting and equipping them. occupied the energies of a million men. Most of our new factories now are complete. most of the machinery has been se,I up. Hundreds of thousands of men and women. hitherto unaccustomed to metal and chemical work have been trained for munitions making.
 Output to Treble.
 Every month we are turning out hunderds of guns and howitzers. light. medium and heavy. Our heavy guns are rolling in at a great rate and we are turning out nearly twice as much munitions in a single week and nearly three times as many heavy shells as we first did. The new factories and works we set up have not yet at tained one third their full capacity but their output is row increasing with great rapidity Our main diff ficulty in organization. construction, equipment. labor supply and read justment have been solved. If em- ployers and workers keep at it with the same zeal and assiduity as they have hitherto employed our supplies will soon be overwhelming.
 'T cannot help thinking that the improvement in the Russian ammuni- ton has been one of the greatest and most unpleasant surprises the enemy has sustained Still our task is hut half accomplished. Every great hat tle furnishes additional proof that this is a war of equipment. More am munition means more victories and fewer casualties"