Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-12-21

| C1uur6u ana l1LLlo SlILS WHICH IUS.
never will see are badly needed.
BUREAU CRITIC HITS
ORDNANCE OFFICERS
| CONTINUED From Page ~
test and adopt the new weapon. Han
son was a member of the board.
Although given the Browning gun
contract in July, Mr.. Hanson said thai
because of time needed to prepare new
machinery his deliveries win not be
gin until next April. His firm, how
ever, is making deliveries on previous
orders of Vickers machine guns, some
contracted for year ago.
REFUTES cOLvIN'S CRITICISM.
Regarding government arsenal pro
duction, Mr.. Hanson said the impress
sion that they are away behind the
times" is wrong. The arsenals com
pare very favorably, he said, with
those of foreign governments and with
American private factories. The prin
cipal difficulty Of American arsenals
he explained, is in retaining skilled
wormen.
Rifle production has been greatly In
creased, he said, by adoption of the
modified Enfield.
American machine gun manufactur'
ers, Hanson declared, have had prac-
tically no encouragement from this
government, most of their orders COM
ing from abroad.
Upon conclusion of Hanson's testi-
mony the hearing was adjourned until
tomorrow, when Quartermaster Sharpe
is to be examined.
With its inquiry into alleged delays
in supplying the war armies with guns
and ammunition virtually concluded,
the senate military committee is
preparing to investigate the shortage
and production delays affecting cloth
irg and food fbr Sbidlers. The relation
of the clothing shortage and preva-
lence OF disease in various canton
ments also will be developed.
SUPPLIES FOR ARMY.
The war department has complied
with all but one of Surgeon General
Gorgas' recommendations for better
ment of training camp conditions, Sec
rotary Baker has announced and q
general improvement of health Of the
men is already noted by field santa
ton officers in reports OF national
guard divisions.
Wooden uniforms for all troops have
been provided and are either at the
camps or enroute there, Secretary
Baker asserted.
The only step recommended by Gen
eral Gorgas which remained to be act
ed upon, Secretary Baker said, is that
regarding the establishment Of obser-
walton camps in which all recruits
shall be held for period of two
weeks
DEFENSE COUNCIL BLAMED.
Partial responsibility for the delay
in supplying soldiers with winter cloth
ing-a condition which is held by Sur
geon General Gorgas to have con
tributed largely to the spread of pneu.
monia in training camps-was laid al
the door of the Council of National
Defense by the war department
officials.
'The quartermaster generals Office
which is blamed for this shortage" one
official said, "is nothing more than a
rubber stamp, to sign contracts on the
recommendation of the council"
RED TAPE IN CONTRACTS.
Secretary Baker made no charges,
but he outlined the machinery through
which uniforms are made. He point.
ed out that the army cannot contract
for clothing until the cloth is supplied
and priority between competing pur-
chasers is decided. This supply is in
the hands of the supplies conmittee
of the Council of National Defense.
of which julius Rosenwald OF Chicago
is chairman and Charles Eisenman OF
Cleveland vice chairman.
MORE PNEUMONIA DEATHS.
General Gorgas in supplementary
reports show that there were 592 new
cases of pneumonia and 212 deaths
from pneumonia in the thirty national
army and national guard army camps
for the week ending December IA. OF
a total of 1859 deaths since November
2 from all causes in these camps S05
were due to pneumonia.
PERSHlNG STARTED ROW.
General Pershing, feeling keenly
his responsibility for the effectiveness
and safety of the American army in
action, precipitated the reorganization
in the war department as result of
which General Crozier, chief of ord
nance, and Quartermaster General
Sharpe were relieved OF active duty
and kicked upstairs" to the newly
created war council. probably for the
period of the war. This fact devel-
oped last night.
The red tape and ineficiency per
vading the ordnance bureau and the
quartermaster generals office retard-
ed the supplying of the American
troops in France with arms and equip
ment to an extent that soon brought
protests from General Pershing. The
commander of the overseas army be-
gan sending mild cablegrams urging
the secretary of war to speed up the