New-York tribune., 1918-04-09
Creel Is ? Proud That America
Was Not Ready for War
Preparedness He Tells Washington Audience Would Have
Given lie to Our Position Before Word-ntimates
Critics Are Playing Politics

thousands are pouring across the ocean
TO take their part, and although it has
been the custom Of the foreign govern
ments not to put their men on the
firing line without at least a years
training, to-day American soldiers are
taking their part on that great battle
line in France.
"They will tell you we had no rifles,
that our boys were equipped with
broomsticks. AS matter of fact, we
had thousands Of Springfelds and
100000 Krag-J Jorgenscns, and if we had
thought it imperative we could have
put a rifle in the hands Of every man
in the camps
I'VE have found that the English in
this country have developed factories
for the production Of the Enfield rifle,
so we accepted the Enfield as our rifle,
with notifications. Now we have a
rifle that is the best in the world. We
had these rifles in one year. From Ap-
ril l. 1917, to this April 1000, 900 Of these
rifles were manufactured, and to-day
they can be produced at the rate OF 3d.
900 a week, ample for every need.
Have Best Machine Gun
"There is also the criticism that we
had no machine guns in France. which
is cited as another pro Of OF our failure.
We found over there that the French
machine guns were supposed to be the
best in the world at that time, and we
said we will take your gun and use 1t
for our purpose while we are working
or one that will meet our needs. And
so we did not have the American guns
in France during the last few months
because we were using French gun
as a result of Allied insistence; and all
the time we were working on the
Browning, our own gun, and to-day the
Rrowning gun is the marvel of the war.
Now we are producing Brownings at
the rate of 225,0o0 year.
Greatest People of World
GAS far as the knowledge and
leadership of France and England
were concerned we said to them:
you have been fighting for three
years. We will take your advice
and we asked, What about heavy
artillery? They said, we have more
than we can handle, more than we know
what to do with, and instead Of bur
dening your tonnage with shipments
use ours 50 we can keep our factories
going and employ our labor And so
in the last few months we have placed
two million and half dollars worth
Of orders with those factories.
''And there is a peculiar lie now be-
ing foisted upon the country to the
effect that we were SO pckayunsh, in
deed so trivial in our approaches, that
when the French '75' came over here
we have not developed any Of them
or manufactured any of them. be-
cause we were trying to improve
them. What is the result? When we
got them we found the recoil mechan-
ism Of such n nature that there was
not factory in the United States that
could turn it out, and so before we
could begin manufacturing we had to
90 to work and try to develop factories
for the production of this gun. And
so we have gone ahead and made that
mechanism and are now ready to pro-
duce the French 49, That is an am
swer to the lies that nave been ut
tered on that score.
"As | say, this is not due to pacif-
ism or pro- Germanism entirely. but to
the fact that we are very patient pco-
pie and rather a people who always
thought very highly of ourselves. Ry
persistent ryiteration we have come to
believe that we arc the greatest peo-
pie in the world. We do not ask any
one to prove it; we admit it,"