Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-30
Lewis Machine Guns for Army.

! Lewis Machine Guns for Army.
| The cosent reason for the immediate
manufacture of the Lewis machine gun
for the Army is that, whether 1t he bet
| ter or inferior. it can be produced In
quantities earlier than the Browning
gun. and that is enough.
| According to the statements OF Gen.
=! Crozier the War Department has adopt
| ed, like the French. three types OF ma
chine gun-the heavy, intermediate and
the light. The heavy are Browning
and Sickers: the intermediate, Lewis,
and the light. the Browning automatic
But according to Mr.. Borie of the Saw
age Arms Company. which Is making
the Lewis gun. the intermediate type.
the War Department will use them only
for flying machines and for training
purposes on this side the Atlantic, and
not on the American firing line. al
| though they have heen tried and are In
use by both French and English, as
| well as by the Belgians and all the
other allies that can get them.
/ The Lewis gun does not take the
place of the Vickers or the Browning
| heavy. which are less mobile on account
| of the greater weight of the gun and al
mos. equally heavy tripod. but its own
| Mace can heardly be filed by an auto
matte gun, such as the light Browning
| or the gun of that type adopted by the
French in addition to but not supplant-
ing the Lewis in their firing line.
The Lewis gun. which can be carried
with the advancing line. is fred from
the hip, the shoulder or preferably from
! rest, either the light bfped or two
! legged support under the oarrel or a
ground. From that position 1t will dis
charge 1000 shots without becoming
too hot for use: and it has earned the
reputation of being the best killing
proposition in use against the boches.
The Brownip light is a wonderful
gun. Accord, to all accounts. but 1t
fires only twenty or so shots without
the insertion of new clip, and 1t is re-
after a couple of hundred shots. 1t is
| the ideal weapon for the raid. the
charge or the melee. where heavier
gun could not be put into action.
But whether il can take the place OF
the Lewis or not, 1t seems very like
putting the eggs in one basket to ex-
clude the gun that has been proven to
be the best of it's class up to the present
time. and that can be manufactured
now, in favor of a gun apparently not
yet reduced to manufacturing prop
osition and of a weight not fully tried
out in the crucible of battle.
The three types use the same ammu-
milton, the United States standard. so
that no confusion will arise in that re-
spect, If all of them are sent to the
same sector; and from all accounts
there is not the slightest danger that
all the factories of the country viii
| produce more machine guns of any type
| than the armies of the United States
and her allies will welcome at the front
at the earliest possible moment they
can be sent there.
The manager of the Savage Arms
| Company claims that it can double it's
| output in eight months, and states that
| if the War Department had given the
order six months ago. II would be send
| ing more than double its daily deliv-
cries, SO that there would be no short
age of guns for training in canton !.
ments.
War Department Red Tape.
| RED tape used in the sense of of
| fetal circumlocution." is always a
nuisance. but orderly procedure is never
| to be lost sight of il the department
| is to get anywhere. Some place be-
tween the extremes is to be found the
business way of doing things.
| In the inquiry OF the Senate military
committee Senator Mckellar's Ques-
lions to Mai. Gen. Sharpe brought out
a routine practice that leads to the
inference that perhaps the War De-
| partment has gone rather close to one
of the extremes II is the rule grown
out OF long practice that a divisional
master general directly on matter
specifically appertaining to a matter be-
tween him and that bureau, but for any
ordinary or usual matter the line Of
dcer must send the communication to
| the adjutant general, who Endorses IL
and passes 1t on to the quartermaster
general. who then, IL he were in an
iordinary business concern. would at
tend to the request of the letter. but
not SO in the War Department. There
81 80 1efu % =,
animation and consideration, Endorses
upon the papers his conclusion and
passes them on to the chief of staff
who may or may not make recon-.
clear he passes them on to the proper
officer in the War College for an opin-
ion.
After due consideration. the officer
passes them with an Endorsement Of
his judgment back to the chief Of staff
who then submits them to the Score
tary of War If they require his APP
provai. and once this is obtained the!
are sent again to the adjutant genera
for record. and one copy Is sent t
the quartermaster general for his guild
ance. and another to the divisiona
commander to let him know, in cas-.
he by that time may have forgotten
that his request has had favorable con
sideration: in due time the order will
be filled and the items sent as soon a.
they can be duly checked. approved
, gotten out of the depot and sent for
| ward.
1t goes without saying. that when i
can be done the officials take shorter
cuts than this, because they see tn,
necessity of getting things done; bu
that was their peace rigamarole, ant
they have never had practice in an,
| other way.
Add to these difficulties the fact tina
the Quartermaster generals office ha,
been expanded nearly a hundredfold
and one can find every excuse for III,
office. II not for the system.
n Woman Nurses in Navy.
When the newly converted hospita
ships soon to be commissioned steam
, out In company with the fleet the,
VIII take an innovation to the nava
service in the shape of body of highl,
trained young woman nurses. This ii
; an experiment never before, so 1t 1.
said. tried in any navy. 1t has beer
found by experience in the land hos
pitfalls that the women make SO muct
more successful nurses than men d.
Il that II would be depriving the wound
ed to leave the nurses ashore Accord
| tn6iys the best quarters that can b
J spared have been set aside for Thu
sesoom1odati00s OF the nurses who AR