Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-12-31

also designated as fire marshal by
the commanding officer. He is al
so the military intelligence officer.
! The military division also includes
quartermaster. recruiting officer
and summary court officer. sta
/ toned at the post is a personnel
adiutant in charge of troops which
/ includes the regular ordnance de-
tachment, casual military person
nell The post surgeon, post ex
change and infantry guard also re-
port to the military division. The
Rock Island general supply depot is
in charge of Major c. X. BOettcher,
who reports direct to the command
ing officer.
Production.
Definite figures as to the actual
production Of war material at Rock
Island arsenal are as yet unavail-
able. but the following unofficial
. figures have been submitted The
principal articles manufactured
here have been artillery vehicles,
recOiI cylinders, artillery wheels.
spoke shoes and spoke shoe plates.
artillery harness, arm repair
chests, rifles, loaded shells and
personal equipment items in add
tion TO test tool sets furnished to
various other manufacturing firms
throughout the country.
Since the United States entered
the war, up to and including No
vember IS. 1918, there have been
manufactured 1559-"75 nm" gun
carriages at this arsenal. UnOffi-
cial reports also show 1874 AT
inch gun carriages and 6-3 inch
gun carriages and &c inch howit-
ger gun carriages. Gun caissons
manufactured in this period num-
bered 121 and gun forge limbers
446. There were also 255 bat
terry and store wagons manufac-
tured.
During the same period Rock Is
land arsenal furnished TO the sup
ply department and 70 various 9TH
CT manufacturing concerns 264-
~" inch recoil cylinders COM
pleto.
The supply division and outside
contractors received from this ar
senal during the time that the Uni
ted States was in the war 9.71S
artillery wheels, all Of which we're
manufactured here The same dis
position was made Of 2'S,65O
spoke shoes and spoke shoe plates
also produced here.
Supplied All Artillery Harness.
Up to Aug. l. 1918, all the artil-
lery harness supplied to the United
States forces was manufactured a.
this arsenal Between April g,
1917. to November Is. 1918. 24,2l2
sets of artillery harness were man
ufGctured and 74,207 sets were as
sembIed In a statement made re-
Gently by BriEa[ General John
r. Thompson. director of arsenalS,
il was announced that the harness
manufacturing department at Rock
Island arsenal was the largest and
most completely equipped in the
world.
There were manufactured and as
sembled during the period of hos
Titles 1921 arm repair chests.
Made 1860 Rifles
The manufacture OF rifles was
one of the principal tasks at Rock
Island arsenal. For practically the
States was in the war almost $500
men and women were employed in
the small arms plant exclusively.
During that time there We're manu-
featured and are now assembled OF
furnished as repair parts, an equiv
aIent appr0XimaGng 1860 rifles,
NJ. 1903.
There were 1877. 1875 nm
howitzer shells loaded without
and boosters.
Approximately 100000 complete
sets Of personal equipment were
manufactured during that period,
including the following items:
1,512,19O bacon cans. ITO
knives, G49457 canteen covers,
SIS, 344 haversacks and 400, 256
pack carriers.
a comparative statement Of the
production at Rock Island arsenal
during the last year indicates that
signed. this institution was just
reaching a point where maximum
production could be attained.
In March two Is nm gun car
riages were manufactured. The
same number were turned out in
April. In May production increas-
ed to 16, 90 in June, % in July, %
in August, % in September and 46
in October The Al inch gun car
riages reached the maximum pro-
duction in September when So were
Out of 1874 which
have been manufactured at this
arsenal since the declaration of
war, 1873 have been turned out since
January of this year.
In the manufacture Of rifles the
high water mark was reached in
October, when parts sufficient to
make an equivalent Of 30,455 were |
made.
Aside from the actual work in the
shops for the production of war |
employees of Rock Island /
arsenal hung up q record for war /
service that has not been surpassed |
BY any manufacturing plant in the |
country in proportion to size. Since !
he declaration Of war they have
subscribed the enormous sum of /
$4,000 600 to the various war char /
ties and TO the Liberty bond issues. (
The bonds, of coarse, have been the I
principal investment of the work !
ers, sales here tOtalling So $50 600. (
The Red Cross campaigns have .
1etted more than $4,000. the Sal
yatiOn Army $4,000, the allied war
lrive S20 600 and the Davenport
Visiting Nurse association $4,000. /
The sale of war savings and thrift
stamps, of which no record has
Jeen kept. will bring the total well