New-York tribune., 1918-04-26
Churchill Tells Commons
Munitions Supply Can
Meet Any Test
Pays Tribute to
Women Workers
Scouts Berlin's Claim of
Booty Captured in Last
Offensive

/ LONDON, April 25--Winston Spcn-
Ger Churchill, introducing in the House
Of Commons to-day the estimates for
the Ministry of Munitions, of which
he is the head, said that during the
five weeks since the battle in France
had opened they had been passing
through the greatest strain regarding
the supply Of war material that had
occurred in the experience of the min
! istry.
Not only had the consumption and
destruction of munitions of all kinds
been proceeding at the greatest rate
but there also were very heavy losses
by capture by the enemy.
eve lost" the Minister said. "ncarlv
a thousand guns by shellfre OF capture;
between four thousand and five thousand
machine guns have been lost or de-
! stroyed, and the quantity of ammuni-
ton, apart from that which has been
fired and that which has been lost in
the dumps, amounted to something be-
tween one and three weeks total of
! manufactures
Losses Made Good
"Other war materials have been used
or lost in great variety Of classes
and on a similar scale but by the end
! of last week all the losses had been
made good and in many cases more
than made good.
Vast quantities of small arms am
munltlon have been lost OF left behind,
but, great AS the demand has been. the
expenditure in the last month did rot
exceed the maximum potential capacity
! OF the British factories, without touch
ing enormous reserves which had acou-
mulated against such continpencv
/ Inc Wastage of rifles was very praat
I out the losses We're quite easily and
promptly made good
"Our preparations had contenplated
a period Of supreme battle INTENSIVE
from inc third week of February. i'm
stead OF from the third week of March
50 we are at present from one to three
weeks to the good Those calculations
allowed the artillery to fire during the
,Whole hghtng season considerablv
heavler volume of shells than was OK
! 'NSNi? NQliuE Cno OttpOSiyc
pattles of last year and more than
double the volume Of shells fired d,1r.
ing the terrific bombardment wb;ch
characterized the SOmme offensive of
/ 1916. 'e"''Ne VI
lhey also provided for the carrvinc
forward INTO 1919 of sufficient reserves
20 ailow the British total to mount one
tensity. '''' '''-
In fact, barring unforeseen circun,-
Stances, our supply of munitions would
enable us to carry on a battle at the
supreme pitch Of intensity until win
Ter without compromising our rcor;re-
ment for 1919. This is despite the fact
tnat INA; hundred thousand men were
! taken from munition factories for SER
wee in the army
I'VE are making in n s;no,o u,oo,.
more airplanes than we made in the
"nole OF l9l4; in single month more
IMAM we made in the whole of 101E.
IN threc months more than we made in
the whole of 1916, and we are go;no
10 make this year several times what
we made last year"
Tribute to Workers
, He paid tribute to the workers sa,.-
ing that latterly less than one,sixfh
the total OF the time worked had been
lost through labor disputes, while
labor during the Easter HOLIDAYS had
more than wiped this out Another oy-
planatlon of the ministry's success
was that more than three-quar-
ters OF million women were employed
in the munitions factories. More t6an
nine-tenths of the whole manufacture
Of shells was due to the labors of won
en- who before the war had never seen
lathe.
While every demand for steel plate
had been met, the minister hoped .iis
/ year to boat all records in it's produc
ton. Turning to the chemical sphere.
Mr.. Churchill announced that the gov
ernment had embarked upon the task
OF extracting nitrate from the air on q
considerable scale, and that officers had
informed him that the British had
KILLED more Germans with their cas-
than the Germans had killed British
by this means, although the Germans
had caused more transient casualties
with their irritants.
Just as last year we had more am
munitlon than the guns could fire."
shall have sufficient guns to fire all and
more than all the ammunition which
the tonnage, and tonnage alone. allows
us to manufacture. All the yrcat
armies in the latter stages Of his
campaign will be fully supplied with
guns and shells, but the gunners will
be the limiting factor in artillery do.
vclopment
"lf that conclusion should prove true
1T Will afford us some ground for think
ing that tho great capture of guns
which the Germans made in Russia. in
addition to their own supply, will not
be of so much service to them as Soma
people seem to think"
Referring to the German War Min
istcr's claim of the capture of more
than twice the number of guns than
he had announced, Mr. Churchill said
that the German claim was a rro-
tcsque exaggeraton and untrue. But
IT it had been true he believed that
he would still have been able tn sav
that the losses in guns had been made
good.
Not only had the machine guns been
replaced, but the munitions ministry
had placed at .he disposal OF the All,
and ground services more than twice
the number Of guns lost or DESTROYED
IN battle in France
The supply Of airplancs had been
for some time in advance OF the de-
velopment Of squadrons and trimmed
pilots, and this supply had enabled tho
ministry to meet all the needs of tho
great battle and the wastage rcsultinn.
therefrom. and, in addition, to carry
forward tho programme Of expansion tn