New Britain herald., 1917-12-19
Hearings by Committees Being Held During Recess, Consider
 able Testimony Being Taken
SECRETARY DANIELS TESTIFIES TODAY

Hampered by Lack of Facilities
 New Types of American Rifles Are Superior to the English
 Make.
 Washington, Dec. 19.-Ordnance manufacturers were called before the senate committee Investigating army preparations here today to give details of government contracts and past and future deliveries of guns and ammu- milton. The committee proposed to seek causes for recent explosions in munition plants reported due, in some cases, to neglect of fire prevention and the award of contracts to tnexperi- enced manufacturers.
 A contract with the War depart ment to IEoduce modified Enf1elds was not complete until last July, President Kimball of the Remington company, testified It was October, he said, be- fore machinery changes could be com- pleted to begin output. s Delay in appropriations, Kimball also stated further delayed the out- put His firm hesitated to take a propriations. #e
 Modified Rife.
 The new modified rifle and also the . American ammunition. Vice- President Tyler. of the same concern. testified. , are regarded superior to British types. After war was declared in April he stated, the War department began negotiation with them to devel- op their factories, engaged on British contract for 400, ,000 Enf1elds, to make the modifled American type. M .Tho committee cannot understand ..aFhx. with war. imminent in March, no j contract was made ditir sJJt6iy. . said Senator Hitchcock. Ag>
 MT. KimbaN disclaimed any 1mpli- cation that appropriations were slow' and said negotiations by the War de- partment were promptly begun IT the department had not decided to modify the British type, he saAd' ms firm could have turned out the En- field British type virtually without any delay though he and MT. IyIer said tho new American rifle is supe- rior. largely due to it's ability to use much better American cartridges.
 Both manufacturers declared 1t very wise move to adopt the new type, notwithstanding the delay in produc- tion. {. .It would have been too bad and Ja great mistake to have retained the old rifles," said MT. Kimban.
 Senator's Hitchcock and Wadsworth asked if it would not have been better to assure that American, British and French ammunition should be inter- changeable.
 "If your policy of preparedness had been started early enough, 1t would have been possible,~ MT. Kimball an. swered. adding that rife machinery 1T the Remington plants was bought from England by the War department
 ''The change in the rife was abso- lutely Justified by the facility to use the much superior American ammuni- tion," he said.
 How private manufa cturers antic1- pated government needs and spent millions in preparation without orders or with only informal verbal arrange ments at most, was told by wee Presidnt Louis E. Stoddard, Of the Marlin corporation.
 7"In February" Stoddard said, Ion verbal orders from Rear Admiral Earle, work on 5000 machine guns /was begun" He went to Colonel Rice / at the army ordnance bureau, he testified and offered to begin work on guns for the army in anticipation of war.
 We're not interested" was Colonel Rice's reply, MT. Stoddard said, adding:
 Tt was utterly impossible to make the ordnance department realize the possibility of war, and we simply folded our tents and went home."
 Before the war began, Stoddard said, he offered to sell machine guns ,} to the department for $500 each but 1t was turned down. Since under orders placed, the contract cost was twice that sum.
 Delivery of the new light Browning guns for airplanes under an order given by the war department three weeks ago Is expected to begin this month. Stoddard said.