The Nenana daily news., 1918-10-26
MONSTER SHOPS
 IN FRANCE ARE
 BACK OF ARMY

and arplanes are going to be two of the decisive factors in winning the war, according to the military experts, and here at this little in- terior town can be seen what the ordnance branch of the American army has built up in the last four months to keep up the steady flow of artillery, arms, ammunition, ma- chine guns, tanks, and all the ma terial of combat, toward the fight ing front.
 It is one of the mammoth institu- tions which has suddenly sprung up with the coming of the Americans, and since April last, it has spread over an area of several miles. with two enormous gunshops, two similar shops for tanks and gun tractors. two more for assembling and re- pairing artillery of all kinds, an- other for machine guns, rifles and small arms, with huge foundries and forges for the casting. Along with these are going up four great ware houses for housing all kinds of ord nance material
 The big government arsenal at Rock Island, Mo, is the only thing of the kind that compares in extent with this plant, and yet it is 90 per cent completed after four months of existence.
 There are two stages in the steady up-keep of the cannon and all kinds of weapons going forward to the fighting lines. The first step is in the zone of the advance, along with the army, where number of ordnance shops are operated to meet immediate requirements in the field, to remount crippled cannon and to get the guns back into use with the least possible delay. The shops move forward with the troops, with machinery, tools, and a. the stock and parts to do quick work.
 The larger stage of work, which is not done in the face of the fight ing. comes back here to the big shops equipped to do all kinds of extensive ordnance work such as the reboring of the heavy guns, the remountihg of the gun carriage and all classes of artillery work on a large scale.
 In the heavy and constant artillery actions now going on. the big guns are put to a severe test and there must be frequent re-tubing and re- rifling. The bigger gun is the shorter is its life for effective shooting The 12-inch gun has a life of $50 shots: the sea-coast IA inch gun, capable of shooting 21 miles, has a life of about 150 shots. The smaller French 75 is good for some 10000 shots. But when the limit is reached the gun must come back here to be made over Its use as a gun is in no way impaired and with new cylinder in the barrel, i and new rifling to keep the shell , whirling, the gun is as good as new |
 While this big institution is keep ing up the steady supply of guns, large and small, in the fighting now going on, yet the main supply will : sooner or later come from America when its vast productive resources 1; get in full operation. There are cheering reports of how this pro- duction is fast increasing, particu- larly in machine guns. But big guns and their mammoth tractors i be turned out in day, and fl after that is the problem of ship ping such unwieldy monsters across the Atlantic.
 So, for the present at least, much il of the vast supply of guns, great | and small, moving forward to the firing line is of French pattern or French make. The splendid artil- ery results in the recent fighting tell how these guns are operated in American batteries. And yet it is Il only fair to the American fighting