New Britain herald., 1917-07-02
i. 5. CAN SUPPLY AN
 7 ARMY OF 100000
Now Prepared to Provide Muni- tions to Vast Army


 .ths country, except food. mooilized f6r war service, and an announcement = this o6fsct will be made by secre- Ary Baker this week. For the frst ti1nA the public will learn what has been acosnpnxhed toward putting the nation on . WIT footing.
 Tfseone Idea Of tho n1agnitude or the task can be gleansd by the know lodge that the government forsees no \ Hngle ohxtacle to establishing, equip ptnx and maintaining in Europe an Aner1can lighting force of 2.ooo.0OO fnkn in tho process of steadily exerted military pressure against Germany. FT T1he score of tho nations war policy which MT. Baker will announce will come as . revelation for several reasons. Chief among these is the fiet that the general public has had no notion Of tho hugo systematized {ask which the Council of National f3efense has been quietly accomplish 3ffE with the aid of thousands of the best trained business minds of the country.
 President Wilson realizes, as does eeSfstary Baker, who is president of fne Council of National Defence. that the secrecy which 50 far has shrowded the work has left the general impress sion that little of specific value was being dune.
 nahe question ''1s there enough ana- mutation in sight and arranged for to supply a hundred thousand men ?" O90aght authoritative answer tha. the nations facilities now organized on th4sf line could supply an army of million men for 20 years without difacuity. Tho flow of ammunition fs Ao we'll assured that they could use 1t virtually svsry day without feeling the shortage, provided of course, there is adequate means to keep up tt6 transportation to them. The last bids on three inch shells showed capacity for production even now which has frankly staggered the war department
 The reason for this is not only be- cause of the organization now con- trolling the nations resources but because the Entente Allies have been xetting their ammunition here so IAifx that Uncle Sam had a running etAft on this vitally necessary war measure
 F On the matter of helmets it has de- veloped that there ts no concern about the immediate future because the men now in France are supplied with hel- xnBts just as they are supplied with gas 1nAs1xs and every other essential. But On the question of future supply. ex- pansive production, the answer was that the government figured on SUD- plying "a million men with sufficient speed to make the capacity for SUD- plying the second million compara- lively easy
 Hitch Over Rifles.
 With rifles the sa1ne general plan is being followed. Here there is slight hitch in rounding out the expansive prod duction plan because 1t was found that the army estimates of 1918 did not include s9.500.000 which Secre- tAry Baker now finds is imperatively needed for machinery for the manu- flcture of Springhelds. MT. Baker says this additional sum is urgently needed and he expects Congress to ap- propriate it without delay.
 Even without it the army can be kept going into the hundred thou sand figure and can use the British Enfeld rifle for additional troops If nscesaary, but the Government is figuring. in the millions and the Springields are superior to the En- fields, which will be rechambered to 1t the United States army ammuni- ton. It is assumed that Congress will appropriate the needed additional funds. If not the army will have to find some means of getting the ma chjnery manufactured anyway.
 It appears now that neither red tape nor legal problems are seriously checking the full steam ahead pro- gram of putting the nation on a war footing. Cases have already arisen where the Government has been com pelled to arrange in a hurry for forg- ings or other vitally necessary sup plies. but has found that the manu factursrs had not the capacity to han .dle such huge orders without enlarg- ing their plants and branching out in . manner which required rush funds. They told the Government they would expand if the Government advanced them the money. The Government found it had no legal right to do this or to pay money for goods 1t hadn't received.
 There was an immediate deadlock. but tho Council of National Defence took hold and ordered the plants ex- banded. Arrangements were made whereby the manufacturers regulate the price so that the Government pays for the additional buildings and fa- ctlities as the work advances. In these as in other cases the Council of National Defence has sacrificed law. rcd tape and other Instructions to the necessity of getting work under way. Advisers of Secretary Baker say that 1t came hard to him to forget tenn porarily ::his legal mind, but that he has thrown law overheard as blithely as any one else.
 Both the army and navy authori- ties say that the Council of National Defence with its apparent endless chain of committees and subcommit- tees has now whipped the organiza- ton of the nations military resources