The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-12-31

faesa eeRrsrs havinx enarxa g ne
zHnS cFssaefEiaE ehR Lewis garSs adj
NeeSesv. wsre nEc6eee8 and GensraI
Erezser sab3 that "a TIE Border SER
Naee to Lewis SIN vas Eenerally
REevea EEeeEa0r e. the Eennet- sEer~
Ger ard VteSeFs,
CeaGweSSf9a8G aRpEoRriatieHs fer
usaeAE,e gu1S RFisr 90 tsts. afesr TIE
&ecbaFaEhea e war wheN Sf&aoa 90
wesS aasherfsRs General esrOzier
SasR sha& eean veEN uaeagre~. Ee~
e2nSp q HNaEhEnR gun development
aa.R tha Earg@ 1915 appEeagiathOa.
esqne~aH CrszAeF sid SECRETARY KsaS-
e. SReRaszs e aRe0sus a sascsA1 hoard
erwsnssess IN Sepsen2esrs 1915. ard
waseA arranged toE ths tests C
~ t. nsaaams. Gsas-al Crozisr
szh3. tie heard er3ere3 Ase0 NicS~
e. wzwS w1Seez1eG TIE cFder az the
rsSusxs C tAs LAWS PscRls> bat
Atsr tosG &eea NteSsEs guns m
Sapse-nNer. ISIS Tha NfckerS gen
- hzs~ proved the heSE fer Amsrf-
can aEnUG3sho&- IL was evident. be
sahs- tat good Lewis guns were be-
fnE Ea&4a In Enxtan1 for Use vita
RyfsESA arauriGhon and peer Lewis
xarS were being E&&s In this eo0n-
MAsn var with Germany became
R~--Rrens. General Crczfer said he
asked Nc< Se90 Lewis guns On
AprE II. he said. 1.Sa0 Lewis guns
wers ordered. A.&ea naCrs O. June u
arE 2eN@ mere JGHs Is
~TA6S sAcwS~. said General Croztsrs
~Ihat IS Sooa a. the Lewis Ean was
Ssveaon@s fer use with American
Ls~sS ssns Fer ANiats-s.
Letters frora General PerShing last
summer asking for The greatest pos
she proSuctfon~ cg Nfc&erS guns
were nut In evidence and General
PersAlrx SnecfaIly asked for Lewis
xurS fo- aviation Demands for
Lewis guns In the latter service.
General CrOzler said. probably viii
result In continued orders for them.
There Is Sod prospect that cur
forceS in Ezrcpe win not BE lacking
machine guns In any way. said Gen
Ssveaty-sva hundred machine
guns are avaflahse fur training pur-
poses in this country, General CroE-
Ter said.
Turning to the charges by Colonel
Lewis, inventor e the gun bearing
his name, that General Crozfer had
ben prefUdiced against him. Gen
eral Croxier showed that q board
which investigated charges exoner-
ate5 him. Assertions that he had op-
posed adoption OF Colonel Lewis
RANGE finder also were cateEorkcalty
deried by General Croker.
Letter Frona Lewis.
A letter from Colonel Lewis stating
that he wanted the governments to
have the first opportunity to pur-
chase his American rights In patents
for . range hinder was produced by
General Croker. The offer was not
accepted but it was shown that the
government had paid royalties on
Lewis range finders for years. az
gTeEatfng SSSeee.
ReSar6fnE the machine gun supply
81 the PerShinE expedition. General
Croker said more than 20o.e go have
been ordered. vs. including S4.Oee
abroad.
Regarding charges that there are
rife and machine gun shortages in
training camps. General Crozier de-
elared:
Enough rifes have been manu-
featured to equip all the troops in
the environments but do not know
-if they have actually arrived they
are on the way. And they are ahund-
ant for all troops that arc likely to
he called out for service.
To show the scope OF the ordnance
bureaus work, General Crozier dis
closed that contracts for ammunition
aEEreEating more than one billion
dollars had been placed up to Dec.
]. Contracts average $4,000. 600
daily. In seven months orders for
81, 500, 0e0, 600 were placed as COM
pared to 81. S00, 00n. 900 OF British
ordnance orders in this country IN
three years. The ordnance bureau,
he said. ordered eS,eTS, 90 shells
from May to December against So.-
NOO, 600 ordered in this country BY
England during the entire war.