The Monticellonian., 1918-09-27


 the procurement division, men who were experienced in the lines of in- l dustry affected. as, for instance, ex- i perts in shell industry, in explosives, machine tools. textiles, etc.
 The orders placed, it was next nee essary to follow them up in each of | the more than 1000 munitions fac tories engaged upon ordnance work. To do this. and to force quick produc- | tion. production division was organ iZed which has representatives in every i plant and which is responsible for all l production of material This division, too, is made up almost entirely of | civilians commissioned for the period of the war. An inspection division has the duty of making sIIrP that guns and shells are up to specifications. After the material has been manufactured. 1 inspected and accepted by the United States government, 1t Is next necessary to supply it to troops in the training camps in this country and to the Amer ican expeditionary forces in France.
 Numerous Articles Required.
 The extremely difficult problem of the supply division of the ordnance de- | partment is readily understood when it is known that there are more than 100000 different articles which must be furnished to our fighting forces and which must be distributed under the most difficult circumstances without hitch. These 100000 articles range from the small striker or firing pin of rifle or little nut or bolt to q mann moth railway mount for 16-inch how have as many as 1000 parts and it is the duty of the ordnance department to repair and maintain such material.
 The rifle is the ready weapon of the infantryman. Owing to the changed conditions of modern warfare, it does not retain the extraordinary place of importance it once held. It is still, however. the principal standby of the American soldier, and the maintenance of an adequate reserve of rifles is, therefore, Il matter of much concern.
 Have we enough rifles for our rife carrying soldiers? We have. What is more. we are able to outfit them with the very best type of rifle known in the munitions world. For number of years before the war the superiority of the United States model of 1905 (popularly called the SpringfielO was well recognized. In five international meets, extending over q period of five years, our riflemen, using the Spring field, won first place every time, de feating the marksmen of 15 nations. Most of our opponents were armed with types of the Mauser rifle, which is used by the Germans. The new United States model of 1917 (popu- larly called the modified Enfeld) is substantially the equivalent of the Springfield. It was decided to manu- facture the modified Enfield because our American factories, which had ac- cepted large contracts from Great Brit ain, could turn this weapon out in larger quantities than the Springfield, which had been made only at govern ment arsenals.
 Our rate of rifle production Is to-
 
 months we are now making as many rifles as we had altogether at the be- ginning of the war. Yet that original supply (600,000 Springfelds and 100,- 900 rifles of other sorts) was. from the start, sufficient to equip the rifle-carry- ing men of an army of million. We can congratulate ourselves about rifles. knottiest Problem of All.
 But artillery manufacture was the knottiest problem of all. It is almost impossible to make the layman under stand how difficult it is to manufacture piece of modern artillery. Perhaps that was the reason, or one of the req sons, why public opinion in this coun- try failed to listen to the warnings Of ordnance experts and provide adequate appropriations for artillery manufac- ture years ago. For the last 12 years the war department has been telling congress that artillery could not be made quickly after the outbreak of war A year would be required to be- gin deliveries on any guns in quantity. these experts told congress. To pro- vide for artillery manufacture on vast scale would take even longer, be- cause in that event literally scores of new plants would have to be built. mill lions of dollars worth of machine tools and equipment would have to be pro- vded and thousands upon thousands of men would have to be taught line of work unknown to them at the outset. That is precisely what the ordnance department has been doing since the declaration of war. It has been creating manufacturing facili- ties to make artillery. Arrangements were made to provide our troops with artillery of British and French manu- facture while our own manufacturing resources were being developed. Al though, thus far, this reliance upon the resources of our allies has proved satisfactory, naturally the war de partment is anxious to gain independ- ence in its artillery supply at the earliest possible moment. and that is the task upon which the energies of the ordnance department are now concentrated. Every possible effort is being made to expedite production of artillery.
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