Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-07-08
ORDNANCE: ACHIEVE
MENTS OF A YEAR

pioieo "a Az = 0So@0o 4 LOAoy
doing capacity business. Throughout
the night the work will go on with
slight interruption. The whistles that
blow to announce closing time to one
army of workers will be a summons
Ito another shift to take it's turn. The
blast chimneys will continue to roar,
and the glittering white-hot streams
of molten metal will flow into the
molds. A year ago only two Of these
ings are now being made were in ex-
jstence. The foundries at Bethlehem
and Midvale represented almost our
entire resources for the making of
cannon forgings. Today those two
plants constitute less than 10 per cent
of u total facilities for making
such products.
In one year a new industry has
been created in this country. 1t is
~14,foundries have been built. but that
the processes of manufacture are
new. Making gun forglngs is differ
ent from making steel forgings for
any other purpose. The heated steel
must be pressed and not hammered.
The methods Of heat treating the
steel. of cooling it, and of .annealins
the molten metal are all different.
Yet, within II year this new in
luuolLS IDS UcSIl Uulll up LII IlllS COuIl-
try. and today it provides the where
withal for the carrying out Of an ar
tillery program the like of which has
not been projected in any other coun-
try.
Nor is that all. In more than a
score Of other factories gun carriages.
recoil mechanisms, and other parts
of artillery are being made. For the
making of those parts, new industries
have likewise been created. AS an
instance, a new industry was estab-
lished to manufacture glass of a
quality available for use in telescope
sights OF amor Such glass had
never been made in the United States
before.
When we entered the war we were
handicapped by a lack Of technical
knowledge. We had been a peace
full people,; we had not trained u
scientists and engineers in the art of
munitions making. Therefore, We
every 200 in Germany. We went into
this var with an Ordnance Bureau
consisting of 81 officers and $50 en-
listed men. Not all of those 81 ofic-
ers were ordnance experts. Some Of
them we're only on detail to the Ord
nance Department. In fact, not more
than eight of them were charged
with | , designing work in the man.
r~factut of artillery. Before a year
had { sed. the Ordnance Depart
ment | grow into an organization
Of 5000 officers, 10000 enlisted men,
and ZVoVu civilian employees. 1t has
undergone a thorough reshaping to
adapt itself to the extraordinary new
conditions. The Ordnance Bureau in
the first year Of war did a total bust
ness Of $4,70o,ooo, ooo. In peace
times its average annoual expendi-
lures were $14.oo0,ooo.
Large as these figures seem, as
founding as this rate Of expansion
must appear, they give only a scant
idea OF the difficulties faced by the
Ordnance Department in its veal of
preparatory work. Ordnance is a
highly technical subject. The few
who knew it thoroughly had had the
double task of. furnishing ideas and
perfecting designs and Of imparting
their knowledge to others. They had
same day. The old Ordnance Depart
ment Of less than 400 officers was
split up into a gun-carriage division,
a cannon division. a small-arms di-
vision, and SO on. each division being
charged with the design and produc-
ton of some part Of ordnance ma
terial. Manufacture of ordnance ma
terial was carried on almost entirely
in Government a%rsenals. The prob
A few officers could follow a gun
through from the day that it was first
sketched out On paper until 1t was
turned owe to a Field Artillery regi-
ment. But when the Ordnance De-
partment was called upon to put
Through a program involving expend-
lures and contracts totaling more
than $500. 900, 900 in a single year,
the old way Of doing business had to
had to be abandoned. To meet the
new problem, most Of the ordnance
experts-the Regular Army ohicers-
were assembled in what is known az
the engineering bureau Of the Ord
nance Department, and to this bureau
was given the task OF designing ord
nance material. How much design
ing work there is to be done in the
Ordnance Department is suggested by
Iare turned out In Washington for the
Information OF manufacturers OF
Iordnance material. The next biz
task Of the Ordnance Department
after designing the material. was ia
place contracts and purchase orders
III wal extremely difficult to- ind
plants where ordnance material could
be made, and in great many casea
u was necessary ito have factoriei
built. or to have them equipped
throughout with new machinery and
tools. Sometimes the Ordinances %.
partment could lot And anytlini
Emore to begin with than 1 group q
man who knew manufacturing meth
FfodE- II would persuade them to in!
Idertake h makjng, sof some paFt
you'd hnencs tiism IN building
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