Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-09-19
AMERICAN FACTORY
POURS MUNITIONS
French Surprised at the Speed Up
Results of u. S. Rush in Plant
Construction.

Central France, Sept. l0.~Artillery
and airplanes are going 10 be two Of the
decisive factors in winning the war, ac-
cordinR to the military experts, and here
at this little interior town can be seen
what the ordnance branch Of the American
army has built up IN the last four months
to keep up the steady flow Of artillery,
arms, ammunition, machine guns, tanks,
and all the material of combat, toward
the fighting front.
II is one of the mammoth institutions
which have suddenly sprung up with the
coming Of the Americans and, since
April last, it has spread over an area Of
several miles, with two enormous gum
shops, two similar shops for tank and
g,m-tractors two more for assembling
and repairing artillery Of all kinds, an
other for machine-guns, rifles and small
arms. with huge fo,IndrICs and fOrges
for the casting Along with these ara
going up four great warehouses for housing
all kinds of ordnance material
The big government arsenal mt Rock
Island, Mo, is the only thing of the kind
that compares in extent with this plant,
and yet 1t rs 90 per cent completed after
four months Of existence
There aret wo stages in the steady mp
keep Of the cannon and all kinds of weapon
goin forward TO the fighting lines. The
flrstg stage is in the zone Of the advance
along with the army where a number Of
ordnance shops are operated TO meet
immediate requirements IN the field,
to remount crippled cannon and TO get the
guns back into use with the least possible
delay The shops move forward with
the troops, with machinery, tools, and all
tho stock and parts 10 do quick work
r{
not done in the face Of the fighting,
comes back here TO the big shops equipped
to do all kinds Of extensive ordnance
guns, the remounting of the gun carriages
and all classes of artillery work on a
large scale.
In the heavy and constant artillery
actions now going on the big guns are
put 10 severe test and there must be
frequent re-tubing and re-rihing The
bigger gun ~ the shorter IL its life for
effective shooting The Pinch gun
has a life Of $50 shoots. the sea-coast
l4-inch gun, capable Of shooting II
miles has a life Of about $50 shots
The smaller French Is IL good for some
10000 rounds. But when the limit is
reached the gun must come back here
20 be made over It's use as a gun j. IN
no way IMPAIRED, and with a new cylinder
in the barrel, and new spiral rihlng 70
keep the shell whirling, the gun Is as
good as new
While this big Institution is keeping
up the steady supply og guns, large
and small, in the fighting now going
on, yet the main supply will sooner or
later come from America when its vast
productive resources get IN full operation
There are cheering reports Of how this
production Is fast increasing particularly
in machlne-gIns. But big guns and
their mammoth tractors cannot be
turned out in day and after that Is
the problem Of shipping such unwieldly
monsters across the Atlantic.
so for the present at least, much Of
the vast supply Of guns, great and small
moving forward TO the firing Inc IL Of
French pattern or French make The
splendid artillery results in the recent
fighting tell how these guns are operated
in American batteries. And vet it is
only fair TO the American fighting force
to recognize that they are not yet fully
equipped with their own arms and that
from this time forward there Will be
steady Increase Of American metal
and American high explosive as we'll
As American aIrplanes IN the crucial
phases OF the conflict.