Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1917-01-02
Many Thousands of Guns Are
Being Turned Out Each
Week to Restore Balance of
Artillery Power.
SPECULATION NOW ON
NEXT GREAT BATTlE {
Year of Privations in Father
land Ahead; Potato Crop Is
Admittedly Short, but Peo-
pie Can Live,

tBN MORNING JOURNAL SPECIAL LEASED wlRG1
Berlin Jan. 1.-(Wireless to the
Associated Press, via Sayville) e)-Many
thousand guns per week is reported
to be the measure of the mighty man.
ufacturing effort which Germany is
now making for the campaign of 1917,
and effort upon which the entire man.
hood force of the nation which can
be spared from the front and their reg
ular occupations is being concentrated
under First Quartermaster General
Won Ludendorfs universal labor serv-
ice law.
Counting four months before the
probable renewal of the world war in
full vigor on all fronts, these figures
mean a new immense supply of can
non of all calibers from field guns
up to the gigantic howitzers, to meet
the admittedly gigantic effort which
the entente allies are expected to
make.
Stupci uous Munitions supply.
Along wnn these guns, the German
factories are turning out correspond
ingly stupendous quantities of am
munition. and the production of ma
chine guns, each of which virtually
replaces a platoon of men, has been
placed on a scale far beyond that of
the past year.
The campaign of 1917, it is already
evident, will be fought as a wide
extension and development Of the
Somme battle, with even a heavier
concentration of artillery over a far
wider front and with lines literally
bristling with machine guns. Con-
fidence that their opponents will be
not only by the high commanders but
also manifested right down into the
ranks of the common people.
To produce great masses of war ma
terial thousands of skilled men have
been brought and are being brought
back from the front and placed in the
Krupp and other muntion factories.
Great Battles Ahead.
Another expected development of
1917 is a change in the center of
gravity on the western front. The
Somme battle has swept it's way into
comparative quietude and while the
military experts here naturally are un-
able to predict with certainty the
plans of the Anglo French leaders,
recent advices point to a transfer Of
the entente allies main efforts to an-
other region-most likely that OF Ver-
dun-where the French energies re-
Gently have been concentrated on ex-
tending to its original size the sally
port west Of the Meuse-the most OBJ
vious point as that nearest to the
heart on Germany-for the effort to
roll back the invasion, or, in case
of minor success, a point whence OPP
erations into the rich iron fields would
be possible.
Military experts here point out that
the employment of British troops in
large numbers at this point would be
hampared by general transportation
facilities and assert the reserves are
not sufficient for any great effort.
They express the fullest confidence
that with the balance of artillery
strength fully restored, as they expect
it to be by spring, Germany will be
able to prevent any serious advance
at this salient
Year of Privations Ahead.
The new year, as far as internal
conditions are concerned, will be a
year of privations. The increased
harvest of grains is offset by dis
appointing potato crop, so that de-
spite the food supplies captured in
Rumania, no prospect of an increase
in the total ration can be held out
for the present, though perhaps later
it may be found possible to provide an
extra allowance of meat. Dietary ex-
perts declare, however, that the pres
ent ration is entirely adequate to sup
port life and maintain working vigor,
except in the case of those occupied
in heavy work, for whom special pro-