Valdez daily prospector., 1918-01-15
LEWIS GUN
 WAS INFERIOR
Major General Crozier Says Gun Was Given Test and Lacked Efficiency
 Questions Answered


 The senate war inquiry again was turned to the ordnance situation when Major General Crozier was permitted 10 take the stand again to reply to recent statements made by Col. Isaac Lewis, inventor of the Lewis machine gun, rejected by the war department
 ID favor of the Browning type.
 Colonel Lewis. who testified De cember 22. denied that he first of- fered his invention to the British gov ernment and asserted he repeatedly had rendered his patents without pro- fits to the American government. He said Gen. Crozier prevented the accep- lance of the Lewis gun in 1911 and 1912 when it had been favored by Gen. Wood. then chief of staff. He also told the committee that more recently he had made attempts to present the government with checks for his royalties on orders for guns. and had been blocked for time by Gen. CrOzier.
 Is Put Under Oath
 Before beginning, Gen. Crozler ask ed to be put under oath and then read a prepared statement declaring they had borrowed artillery from the allies for Gen. Pershings force. Desire to make Americas s forces of actual aid on the front as soon as possible was prime factor, Gen. Crozier said. in the artillery loans from France. Cores oondence was produced in which M. Tardieu, of the French high commis- sion. asked the war department to or der French artillery and that fresh deliveries exceeded the number pro- uised.
 Conferences between the heads of the British. French and American gov ernments abroad regarding furnish ing of artillery to American forces were cited by Gen. Crozier. He pro- duced a letter from Gov. Bliss. chief of staff, stating that British and French intuition heads had formally assured him that their artillery and ammunition production had so in creased they would be able to com pletely equip all American forces ar irving abroad in 1918.
 Whole Country to Blame
 II am not attempting to excuse the that appears to depend on our heavy artillery" said Gen. Cro- xier. but the responsibility rests on .he whole country"
 How he had during previous years asked congress for larger appropria- tions for artillery and that he and other army heads had many times called the country's attention to the needs for more artillery, was related by the general.
 "This is a plain statement of the case," said Gen. Crozier. citing one instance before the war in which modest program of artillery appro- priations calling for $1,200,o00 was cut in half by direction of the secre- tary of war. then further reduced by congress to $310,000. No considerable he said. was made for heavy artillery until 1916. Appropria- tions in preceding years. he said, were absolutely inadequate.
 Germans Stole March
 Machine guns, Gen. Crozier said. were never expected to become such an important weapon, but the Ger mans realizing better than anyone else their great future proceeded to secure them in quantity.
 Turning to, the charges that pre- judice had kept the Lewis gun out of American equipment, Gen. Crozier de- tailed the official records of the de- partment.
 The first officer. to his knowledge, was received May 2. 1912, when the Automatic Arms company asked for a special test. which was held at the arsenal. The Vickers was adopted. however, because the boards report showed the Lewis gun jam med 206 times, had thirty-five brok- eu parts and fifteen parts required re- placement. while the Vickers gun damned 23 times and had no parts broken. The board held the Lewis gun inferior to their Vickers or Ben- In the tests of April, 1916. Gen. Crozer said, the manu- lecturers withdrew the guns because It was said they were not in condition.
 The board, in April. 1916. found he Lewis gun had many desirable fea-