Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-12-22
Machine Gun Inventor Says
Ordnance Chief Is Re-
sponsible for Rifle Short
age in the Army.
Declares His Gun Never Re.
ceived' Fair Trial in the
United States = Faster
Progress Should Have
Been Made in Equipment.

't'SiihSNo VIII lDtt.
for ordnance and rifle shortage in the
American army was laid on General
CroZier, chief of ordnance, today by
Colonel Isaac Lewis, inventor of the
Lewis machine gun, in testimony be-
fore the senate military affairs COM
mittee.
General CroZier is responsible, moro
than any other man, for the obsolete
equipment and the lack of any equip
ment of the army" said Lewis.
In a dramatic declaration that
America is not fighting the battle OF
the allies, but the battle of America
Lewis declared that it's a shame and
an outrage" that American troops
abroad have to beg artillery from
France, already near bankruptcy and
bled white"
NO FAIR TRIAL HERE.
The former West Pointer, who saw
his machine gun rejected by the
American war department and accept
ed as one of the pet weapons of the
allies, told the committee his gun
never received Il fair trial here.
I'm not here to tell the story of the
Lewis gun in great detail" said Colonel
Lewis.
It's telling its own story today, on
every battle field in Europe.
The only Zeppelins that the British
have brought down were brought down
by Lewis guns.
LEWIS SAID THAT FOR THE
SAKE OF HIS TWO SONS. NOW
WITH PERSHING IN FRANCE. AND
FOR THE SAKE OF ALL OUR
SONS WHO WILL BE THERE BE-
FORE THIS TERRIBLE WAR Is
VER," FASTER PROGRESS
SHOULD HAVE BEEN MADE IN
EQUIPPING THE ARMY.
WRATH TOWARD CRoZlER.
Lewis admitted he had publicly
charged General Crozier with film
flamming for Is years"
The coloners wrath toward CroZier
flarcd up later when ne was asked:
What was the trouble in the ord
nance department."
"Crozierism,'' he shouted. ITS the
system CroZerism, rather than Gro
Zier-that the country is suffering
from. | was not in the ring: I knew
there was a ring because had been in
vited to join"
Senator Weeks wanted to know Just
what he meant by a ring"
You don't mean there is anything
crooked" asked the senator. you
don't charge pecuniary graft, do you p"
OTHER KINDS OF GRAFT.
Senator, there are other kinds of
graft than money graft" was the reply.
"A man whose loyalty to his political
party Injuries his country. is a CRATER
! In this case it's case of loyalty to i,
bureau chief that's damaging the ma
tion.
The system has controlled the de-
signs and production of guns for the
past 3S years. l know, because / was
in service that long. There's hopeless
inefficiency due to prejudice, narrow
ness, etc. There hasn't been devel-
oped an ordnance expert in the last
10 years because of the system"
Colonel, what's the reason for the
opposition in the ordnance department
to the Lewis gum" he was asked.
'They want to kill it; they want to
take the label off of 1t, but they will
never do it," he. shouted
CRiTiCIzES BROWNING GUN.
The Lewis and heavy Vickers, he de-
clared, would be the only machine gun
types to survice the present war. The
Browning gun, with the aid of off
cial nursing" he declared, twas able
to pass tests, but he prophesied that
1t would never stand actual tests,
claiming that 1t would 'heat" under
continued working.
The colonel then reverted to anoth-
er instance, in August. 1912, when he
was refused permission to try out his
gun at army maneuvers in Connecti-
cut.
In response to a request from Gen.
eral Scriven. of the signal corps to
try my gun out on an airplane." said