Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-08-11
EUROPE DAzEDBY
French ASSAULT
Vast Stores of Ammunitions Ncces-
sary to Garry On Gigantic 0per-
ations Causing Wonder.
GET LITTLE FROM AMERICA
Officials Declare Very Small Amount OF
Ammunition Used Is Obtained
From United States.

I.OndOn-(C Correspondence OF the
/ Associated Press) When the British
! forces in France began their great Of
fensivc bombardmcnt on June 27 and
/ for days hurled into the German lines
such an avalanche of steel and lead as
! the world had never known before,
even the people Of England expressed
wonder that it should have been pos
sibIe to assemble so vast store Of
munitions The story of how these
supplies were created constitutes one
! Of the mot important chapters in the
/ history Of British achievement during
/ the war.
! At the outbreak Of hostiGdes, two
4 years ago, there were only three I'M
/ portant government munitions fac
tories in the British Isles. Today some
/ 1900 government controlled firms,
employing more than 100000 work
ers, are turning out virtually all Of
! the tremendous amount OF war mate
rails which have gone to equip the
/ 100000 British soldiers in the field.
+ The organization Of this great in
dUStry has been accomplished in lit
. tie more than one year by the ministry
Of munitions, which was established
in May 1915, under the leadership OF
David Lloyd George. In that time ev-
cry available resource Of the country
has been built for the production Of
munitions. Some idea Of the scale up
on which this organization has been
/ carried out may be gathered from the
statement that the largest Of the new
plants covers an area nine miles long
and from three to four miles wide.
A staff Of 5000 people has been re
quired to supervise the work. At the
head of this staI and responsible only
to the minister of munitions, has been
man whose organizing ability has
+ been accorded widespread recognition.
He is Dr. Christopher Addison, inter
nationally known for his medical re
+ search work. For some years he has
devoted his attention to politics, and
besides holding q seat in the house Of
commons had been parliamentary sec
rotary to the board of education before
entering on his present duties as par
liamentary secretary to the ministry
Of munitions. Every detail Of the mu-
nitions production is known to DR.. Ad-
Olson. and during an interview with a
representative Of the Associated Press
he told as much o. the story Of the
creation of this industry as could be
made public at this time
At the outset he disposed Of the
statement which has been made in
America to the effect that if it were
not for the munitions furnished by the
! United States Great Britain would have
to quit the war.
Il have heard that statement made"
said DR.. Addison, "aud it is prepOs-
ferrous. of course The United States
has furnished and is furnishing many
raw materials y hich we are anxious to
get for the manufacture Of munitions,
but so far as the actual production Of
shells goes, America has provided Us
with only very small percentage Of
those which we have used"
Handicapped at First.
Turning to the manufacture of mu-
niti0ns in this country he continued:
AT the beginning Of the war there
were only three important munitions
factories in the United Kingdom. In
addition there were a number Of large
private munitions and armament firms.
At the start reliance was placed main
Iy in these national factories and ex-
perienced firms, and at that time they
were full of orders.
IN the early stages Of the conflict
more attention was paid TO field gun
and their equipment than to heavy
guns but as time went on the require
meuIs for heavy shells greatly in
creased. In June, 1915. We made an in
vGnt0ry Of all the available machinery
in the country and it was evident that
it was entirely Inadequate to meet the
demands. There were, however, a
great many private firms which could
be brought in TO make munitions and
it was decided to mobilize them for ma
i2nal service In order TO do this we
created an organization embracing the
entire country. The country was di-
vtded into districts ia each of which Il
& - ~ ~ 90 ~
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