New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-02-10
MUNITIONS AND PREPARrnm,.
Need Of Encouraging Private E..
Demonstrated In br;t,i, "
To the Editor of The Tribune

10 the Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir: Mr.. 8. X. Ratcliyes Latte.
me. should not have thought tia. ~"
could have missed SO completely a. ~,
moral Of British experience In the 80. sas
munitions. That moral Is that Ora, go
owes her salvation in this war IA
more obviously than to the fact tb., ..%
at her disposal and was able to utp,.
during the years of peace had taken ,.,.'
encourage and support, large puni.
private plants that were skilled and .o,,..'s.
TO produce the material OF war.
Had We depended merely on On, 49,.
ment arsenals, with their slow.mov,os VIZ
businesslike methods, doubt whs.A..
could have maintained over 10000 ~.
France. What saved US, and wh,. 49,.
seved-1us, was being able TO turn IA 49,
the skill and organization and maeh,..'
the firms that in peace time had ene.,.ss
the manufacture OF munitions. upon a..
firms we have drawn for the trained ma, =,
the technical experts, under whose euiA.,-
virtually the whole engineering indu,tr, :.
Great Britain has been devoted 10 Tia -.
poses of the war. Without this sr,..
serve of practical knowledge and exn.,,...
to fall back upon we should have be-, :,
terly lost. Had we put all our naval ~,
military eggs into the bureaucratic h,,,~.
and decreed, say ten or twenty year, -,
that no ships or guns or shells or rife, w.,
to be made except in government plant a.
disaster, which even as il was we only I'm,
escaped, would infallbly have overtaken m
There are to-day some 100000 peoph A..
gagged in Great Britain in making muni.on,
about 100 colossal factories have been er,e,,,
for that purpose by the Ministry OF Nun.
tions, and over $500 firms, not one Of vsie
thirty months ago even dreamed Of mana
featuring the implements Of war, are IA,
manufacturing nothing else. And III. ,n.,
gies of all these people and of all ,Am
plants, working under the highest presrr,
will be none too much to produce III. r.
quired output. And yet Mr.. Radcliffe CALI,
suggests that government arsenals and sr
eminent monopoly OF the making Of nun.
tions would have given US all we needed. A,
knows apparently nothing Of the techala
conditions that the war uncovered n Wei.
witch, one of the greatest of our goyernnr,
plants. He knows, apparently, just as llss
of the thousands of lives that we lost IN N
earlier stages of the war, OF the attacks ia.
broke down, simply because we had not enovts
guns and enough shells. With the nss.
cheney, the comfortable official stupOr, Of ,v
government arsenals staring him in the face,
and with the results of an industrial pr,.
raredness that, while far greater than An0'
ica's. was still inadequate TO the crisis, grsus
on his heart and mind, no Engishman Ia d,
senses will accept Mr. Ratcliffe's advice y
place the safety Of his country in the iels
keeping OF government munition fsctories
The lessons of our experience that in ny
letter of January 80 i sought to submit u
the consideration Of your readers were tat's:
1) That it is extremely desirable and nal
at any moment be vital that as large liz
her of firms and individuals as posss'
should have mastered the very intrican BAL
ress of munition making during the yean .!
peace. 90 That no government srsend' u''
less built and conducted on scsk that
would deplete and disorganize all orcit1
industry, can adequately provide for na'Na'
defence. 81 That whatever prohts IN rea"'
private firms in peace time may earn OF INV
government contracts are all returned
the nation a thousandfold IN time OF W.
through the mere fact that the hrme are "
existence and able to meet the nations he,s'
n need hardly add that no MANUFACTURER
fru while war is on ought to be allow
TO make any extra profits out OF the ne...,
necessities, and must have expressed my.
very badly or Mr.. Radcliffe must De W.,
careless reader if he inferred that heiu ~
other yiew.) a. That IL is source y, =.
.;onsl weakness when n governh'eh. P's.,
orders for indispensable war matena' aV'~
ar fails to maintain satisfactory ana ~ nv,
usI,v helpful and profitable relations WV
the private manufacturers az home ..
7, was because seemed TO observe W.
can't may at any moment become q,
ean-in Americas industrial READINESS ,,-
n..r ,ba, I felt impelled 10 wr1te " r
re % face with the present erss, a. r..,
.sns must. I should imagine, be wnoi.. IA,
AL hateful that they have something -. y,
to rely upon besides their sGve! .sai, M,
senals, and that they possess N tns" 4.
rrivate corporations, like the beI ;,H:. y.s.
MidvaIe Steel Company, the BALDWIN
o.i,,o Company, the Savage Arms 10y
- n dozen other firms that are ~ =.
ords not merely in America ou. -.
,n;od countries, national assets thss .;,, 4.
10 nI;ateIv he modified for the proteess ss,,
m anrics The way in which these ana avs a.,
companies have hurried in the .s'. =. u. d,
10 place their enormous resource. e. :. a .s,r,
no.al of the government seems 70 ., ,,.sial
ppc,sristically American exhibit exhibit O. pJppoEs
patriotism. ,ot7
New York Pep. :. w. IL