The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1917-12-20
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ORD.
NANCE SITUATION.

Nip'lJ IllSIllDClS VI AOISltSS llIu
difficult to understand that the Unit
ed states is not engaged in a privat,
war with Germany. That accounts
for much of the excitement in Wash
ingto over Gen. Crozlcr's testimony
before the Senate Committee.
his is war in which the nations
that are battling against Prussian-
ism are obliged to supply one anoth-
er's deficiencies. 1t is OF little impor-
lance that we shall have to use
French field artillery and French ma
chine guns for months to come. The
essential thing is that our troops as
they go into French camps are fully
equipped with everything that is
needed, and nobody denies that they
are.
~ is evident at this time that the
Ordnance Department might have
made Il llfttfe-hetttef record in seine
respects last summer, but at the be-
ginning OF the war there were many
questions to consider. First OF all,
1t was necessary to make our own
military preparations supplemental.
to those OF the French and British.
which was advantageous to the win
ming OF the war but not to the imme-
date creator of complete military
establishment. As Gen. Crozicr said
in his testimony:
The principle adopted by our
Government was that we would in
terferc in the least decree possible
with the work OF supplying the
allies and we thought it would be
poor assistance ii we started i'll
by depriving the allies OF the ma
terials being manufactured in
American plants.
Secretary Baker says the same
thing in his annual report
In addition to this the industrial
agencies OF the country have been
devoting a large part Of their ca
pacity to foreign production. which.
in the new set Of circumstances. i!
is unwise to interrupt.
This is sound principle and what
ever errors OF Judgment may have
been made in carrying it ont, the net
result has been To increase the mill
tary strength OF the nations concern
ed Whether the Secretary OF War
was justified in making a long ex-
pertinent to find new and more
satisfactory type OF machine gun re-
duces itself to matter Of personal
opinion. and his opinion is perhaps
as good as anybody's. The .Ameri-
can troops i'll France will have all the
machine guns they require and it is
hardly worth while to get hysterical
about the source of the supply
We arc doing far more for the
British and French than they are do
ing for us, and nobody in Great Brit
ain and France is Inundated because
the United States is making thir de-
ficiencies good, whether OF money or
Of food or of munitions or of ships
or of men. After the Cambria bat
tie it was discovered that it was
American engineers who were BALD
running the lines up to the very first
line trenches. No member OF Parlia-
ment would find any reproach to the
British Government in this. or would
profess to be shocked because the
British had not provided their own
engineers. This is a war of co-opera-
ton, and what is required for the flu
ture is not less cooperation but more
cooperation. If it promotes military
efficiency in any respect for the Unit
ed States to use French field artillery,
for example, it should be employed
without question to the end of the
war, thus keeping our own factories
at other necessary work. That ap-
plies to any other weapon which
would require a readjustment of es-
sential industry for this country to
make in great quantities for itself
Post Dispatch.