The daily progressive-miner., 1917-10-12


 as the nation producing more war munitions than any other nation on earth. To ascertain this famous en- gineer has made a tour of the war factories. You read of 100000 big shells being fired on the Somme front in an offensive in a day. Well, the munitions plants of America are able to turn out 5O0,O00 day, the investi- gator found.
 The investigator visited fifteen num- ition plants located in all parts of the country from Glouchester, Mass, to St Louis Mo, There shops, he found were producing 75,000 shells a day, an amount he estimated is easily doubled by the shops actively engaged in shell '- king that he did not include in his ,-cg
 Thus, plants actively in operation are turning out 150.000 shells a day. Under the direction of the Council of @fional Defense hundreds of plants are being equipped for war work. The engineer estimates that their total production will easily bring the am ount of shells manufactured in this country to 500,000
 Capacity is Enormous.
 The report takes one shop in the Middle West as an example This plant is turning out from 1900 to 1900 S-inch shells a week, or 250 to 300 a working day. These shells weigh 25O pounds each. In one city two shops were found with capacity of 5000 shells of the 92-inch variety per day and another plant in the same place was making 800 12-inch shells each working day. These weigh 500 pounds each.
 And when" declares the engineer. ''we realize that there are single shell turning plants with capacity of 10000 3-inch shells a day, plants where 1000 9-inch shells can be put thru every A hours, we get some idea of the tremendous shell capacity that is now available in this country"
 The making of brass cases which carry the detonating charge and fuses in great quantities was also found to be a well-established business in sev- eral manufacturing centers. The same kind of shops, the investigator says, make the primers, which go in the base of the brass cases which go in the base of the brass cases and set off the main charge when the shot is fired. The fuses include both the time fuse and the graze or detonating fuse, which explodes only on striking an object.
 Have Special Machinery
 These shops were also found to be we'll equipped with special machinery One large plant has refused to make fuses for the Allies unless they could be adapted to the shells in use in the United States, so that it is in a posi- tion to turn out thousands of fuses day for the American Government at a moments notice.
 As to machine guns, there are two plants at present that are turning out 100 day. The concerns now em. ployed in this work can easily double their capacity and with the firms that are being added there would be little trouble in turning out 800 of the rapid-frers a day.
 Concerning big guns, the engineer says:
 We have had less experience in making big guns-for the field artillery but even here we are fortunate in hay ing plants such as the Bethlehem Steel Works and the Midvale concern not to mention few others that have had the necessary experience And these entirely aside from our arsenals at Watervliet and Washington. Smaller field guns are also being made in New England and Pennsylvauia and this list can be enlarged in short order, should it become necessary to do so. Here again we have the nu. cleus Of much larger organizations that can be built from the small but trained skeleton
 Can Make 2,25o Rifles Daily
 The Springfield rife plant is now in shape to turn out 300 rifles a day, in a single shift, or 1,500 in twenty-four 
 hour day, with three shifts working. The plant at Rock Island has half the capacity of the one at Springfield, but here, too, the work is being pushed.
 There are scores of plants in the United States, privately owned, that are now working on Belgian, Russian and British rifles. The two years ex-