The Fayette falcon. (Somerville, Tenn.) 190?-current, 1918-05-10
Standardized Equipment, Quality,
Efficiency, Determine AGan-
tage Over Enemy.
WORK OF ORDNANCE BRANCH
Department Has In Washington Alone
1000 Officers With Thousands OF
Civilian Employees and Many
Being Added.
BY JAMES H. COLLINS,
[From the Committee on Public InfoF-
nation. WASHINGTON. D, CT

VI hH the large dCttFllleb cOnuuCIeu
by Uncle Sam In his war establishment,
the ordnance department of the army
Is second largest In expenditure, being
exceeded only By the Quartermastet
department And as our war program
develops, ordnance might easily come
to be the largest single activity.
This department has the responsible
Ity for furnishing artillery, rifles, am
munltion. motor transports, and prac-
tically all the fighting tools our army
needs, except aircraft, together with
means for assembling and storing
them in this country and deliver
Ing them on the fighting front in
France. With expenditures now ap-
preaching tTtce what Is called for by
our entire shipbuildlng program, the
operations Of ordnance are naturally
Of great magnitude, and It's problems
are complex. for In furnishing the tools
Of war II has to enlist enormous pro-
ductive capacity by converting old In
dustries and creating new ones, as well
as go back of the munitions factories
In many instances and find enormous
supplies of raw materials.
During January the ordnance de-
partment was thoroughly reorganized.
So II becomes interesting TO observe
the workings of this department as
newly constituted.
Let us try to look at the proposition
through the soldiers eyes, and see II
whole IL we can. 1t may be we'll to
begin at the A B c Of the subject and
ask ourselves: What Is soldler7
The answer to this question might be:
A soldier Is a man whose occupation
Is fighting. What does soldier fight
with? He fights with tools. How do
soldiers tools compare with tools used
by other craftsmen? They show prac.
tically the same characteristics as
those In any peaceful modern indus
try.
In the first place, they have been
wonderfully ampllfed in recent years
by the use Of power, and increased In
compacity and complexity. Practically,
every labor-saving contrivance invent
ed for peaceful calling has been APP
piled to present-day war. The ma
chine excavator that lIys our water
and sewer pipe quickly in peace times
can be taken into the field to dig
trenches, and a battle front requires
construction work, power plants, tele-
phone and telegraph systems and rail-
road transportation far beyond peace
requirements for equal population,
and these requirements must be met
under the pressure OF wars emer-
gencies.
Soldier Like Factory Workman.
Present-day war involves the organ
lzatlon of great communities back Of
the fighting front. so that the soldier
may follow his actual trade OF fight
Ing with the greatest efficiency. And
when he actually reaches the fighting
front with his real fighting equipment
he Is comparable to craftsmen in other
trades IN that his fighting tools are
more or less standardized and that sue
cess or failure turns upon the quality
of his tools and Improvements In de-
sign and efficiency which give him a
definite advantage over the enemy for
the time being.
The soldier on the fighting front is
not unlike a workman In a factory.
Modern industrial production, under
competitive conditions. seeks advan-
tage by STANDARDIZATION OF equipment.
large scale production and ceaseless
activity in the Improvement Of tools
20 that a little increase In output here
or a little increase In cost there
Will enable given workman or fac
tory to outstrip competitors. The tools
Of war are standardized. Every army
uses rifles. machine guns. keldpleces,
heavy artillery, aircraft. Popular Inn
aginatIon continually looks to some
novel and unheard-of invention as a
means Of settling the war. Actually,
modern war Is made with tools az
standard as those Of a shoe factory or
steel works. and most Of the inventive
ability eentered on those tools Is d.
rected toward minor technical improve
ments which win place better sppa-
ratus In the hands Of the men on the
lighting froat and give them an advan-
sage perhaps only temporary over
their competitors. the enemy. The en-
envy. OF course. 10 Just as quick as an
Industrial competitor In catching up
with all advances In the art and Is
also an active inventor and impsoyer
himself.
Il was along this great general trend |
II modern war. the making Of better
lighting tools. that the recent reorgan-
lzation IN the ordnance department |
was carried out. When war was de-
clared we had an establishment Of mil
stary men whose business II was to de-
sign tools OF var. They not only knew
now these tools were used by the sol
Ner but kept track Of improvements
n fighting tools In every modern army.
md the almost daily changes In the
way fighting tools are used. That was
heir Job. and a highly technical pro-
sssion. They corTeSponded Ia every |