New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-02-05
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

To the Editor OF Inc lrlpuHe'
Sir: Almost all the signs that history mas
taught one TO recognize as the forerunhers
of a great national crisis are present to-day
in the United States and in her relations
with the outer world. Next 70 victory LOT
the Allies, an Englishman like myself, VINO
has known the United States for twenty
wears. can have no dearer wish than that
Americans may face this crisis when II comes
| fully prepared
But great numbers of them still do not
seem to have learned one of the most patent
lessons of this war. They still persist IN
thinking of armies in terms of men, Inc
Great War should have taught them to thlhN
of armies in terms of munitions. The men
you can always get. But 1t IS mueh
| lengthier and an infinitely more difficult bus'-
ness to arm and equip them.
! Victory nowadays is not to the biz pat
| talions. II is to the big battalions packed
BY the big guns. and you will find wneh your
| turn comes, as We found in England, that
unless you look ahead the men VIII be
| trained and ready long before there arc
weapons TO put in their hands. A few months
/ ago, Wnen was dL the l'N''N' :"
crystalized the whole problem: when am
ordered" he said, ito undertake an attack
| don't ask how many men are gong TO DC
given me. but how many guns
Guns. shells. material-these are the toun-
dation of all real preparedness. Your hrst
! line of defence in the United States Is not
your millions of men. 1t IL your plants ana
! factories and steel works. your chemists and
engineers and metallurgists. your lathes and
/ tools and machinery, your manufacturing m
dustries and the men they have trained, the
/ organizations they have built up and the eX-
perience they have amassed. Take away ilrms
| like Bethlehem and du Points and the Midvale
Steel Company and the Winchester Arms
! COMPANY and Remingtons. and for all mill
tary purposes you would be infinitely worse
off even though you doubled your population
Halve your population and double the capac'
/ itv OF these and similar firms, and Tor ali
military purposes your strength would be I'M
measurably increased so curiously nave mod
ern conditions Of warfare shifted the relative
! Importance of men and material.
| With this lesson branded Oh his brain by
somewhat bitter experience. 1t almost APP
pals an Englishman who to-day reylsltS inc
| limited States to lind that the relations pc
| tween the American government and the lead-
| ing American munition makers leave appar-
emily so much to be desired. We in England
have learned in the costliest of all schools, al
the price of thousands of lives lost ana
months of precious time wasted. the vital
inheritance Of encouraging during the years
of peace as many private manufacturers as
possible to engage in the production OF wal
material. Tho United States government, on
the contrary, seems in part to be moving
| toward a government monopoly of the manu-
/ facture OF munitions and in part to be OK
ueriencne the greatest difficulty IN making
satisfactory arrangements with the private
! firms on which it has TO depend.
! Every one has read Mr.. Danlelss recent
onslaught upon the Bethlehem Steel Com
many. Every one, too, knows of the contrac'
| for heavy shells which was awarded TO an
English firm and the fulflment of which has
been forbidden by the British government
Rehind each of these incidents great deal
must be hidden on which only an eFperU
oniniou would be of value, though an Eng
Iishman who knows the strong teeilhg OF
Gratitude which the leading British states
mo, and soldiers have frequently expressed
for the work of the Bethlehem Steel Conl-
many may perhaps legtimately confess MS
surnrise at finding it accused of lnethclehcy'
Rut there are certain broad principles WnlclI
tho war has shown that nation can neglect
only at its peril
Eirst II has shown the folly of depending
unon other and possibly hostile countries Tor
essential items in the national equipment LOT
war. The habit of placing orders ABROAD 10