South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-06-26

ing "a pdE4LN business. nrD1
out the night the work will 90 on
with slight interruption The
Whistles that blow 20 announce clos
ing time 10 one army OF workers
viii be a summons 10 another shift
10 take its turn. The blast chin
nsys will continue 20 roar. and the
suffering white-hot streams or
molten metal Will fow into the
moids A year ago only two or
these IS foundries where cannon
forgings are now being made were
IN existence The fouadries .
Bethlehem and Midyale represented
almost our entire resources for the
making OF cannon forginEs. To-
day those two plants constitute
less chan 10 per cent Of our total
facilities for making such prod
ucts
In one year new industry has
been created In this country TO u.s.
new not only in the sense that the
Is fOundries have been built but
that the processes or manufacture
are new. Making gun forEiugs is
different from making steel forg-
lngs for any other purpose The
heated steel must be pressed and not
hammered. The methods OF heat
treating the steel Of cooling st. and
~ anneal!ug the molten metal are
an ffereut. Yet, within one year.
this new industry has been built mp
IN this country. and today 81 pro-
tTdes the where withaI FOR the carry
Ing out Of an artillery program the
like OF which has not been pro-
fected in any other country.
Nor is that an In more than a
score OF other factories gun car
Iiages recOu mechsnisms. and 9TH
or parts OF artillery are being made.
FOR the making Of those parts. new
Industries have likewise been Gre
ated As an instance. a new indus
Try was established TO manufacture
glass Of a quality available for use i'm
telescope sights on cannon. such
glass had never been made IN the
United States before.
Lack OF knowledge.
When we entered the war we were
Handicapped by a lack of technical
knowledge. We had been peace
ful people. We had not trained our
scientists and engineers i'm the art
had bat one ordnance expert FOX
every zoo I'M Germany. We went in
to this war with an ordnance bu-
reau consisting or - officers and
500 enlisted men Not all Of those
% officers were ordnance experts
Some OF them were only on detail to
the ordnance department. In fact
not more than eight of them were
charged with the designing work in
the manufacture or artillery. Be
fore "a wear had elapsed. the ord
nance department had grown into
am organization Of 5000 officers.
80. 600 enlisted men. and 10000 CT
william employees To has undergone
n thorough resha ping 20 adapt itself
TO the extra ordinary new conditions.
The ordnance bureau i'm the first
YEAR or war did a total business of
st7O0.OOO. goo I'm peace times it's
average annual expenditures were
$4,000, 900.
Large as these 1cures seem,
astounding as this rate OF eXpan-
sion must appear. they give only a
scant idea of the difficulties faced
Toy the ordnance department in Its
year Of preparatory work. ord
nance is a highly technical sub
fect The few who knew il thor
oughlv have had the double task of
furnishing ideas and perfecuug de-
signs and OF impsrtins their knowl-
edge 20 others They had 10 be
workers and teachers in the same
dav The old ordnance department
OF less than 100 officers was split
up into a gun-carriage division a
cannon division small-arms de
vision. and so on, each division be-
ing charged with The design and
production of some part or ordnance
material Manufacture of ordnance
material was carried on almost en-
tireIv i'm government arsenals. The
problem or production was not diff
cult 4 few officers could follow d
gun through from the day that d
was first sketched out ON paper un-
TN it was turned over 10 field ar
tiIlery regiment. But when the
ordnance department was Gale,
upon To put throuEh q program
involving expenditures and con
tracts totaIluc more than Sf.5OO.
600 GOO In q single year the old wa.
~ doine business had 10 end and th'
abandoned To meet the new prob
lem. most OF the ordnance experts
the regular army officers were as
scmnled i'm what is known as TN,
engineerinE bureau OF the ordnance
department. and 10 this bureau
was given the task OF designing ord
nance material How much design
inc work there Isl COB be done In th
ordnance department is suggested b,
the fact that 10000 blue prints
dsv are turned out ,u Washinsto'
FOR the information or mauufactur
ers OF ordnance material. The mex
big task Of the ordnance department
after designing the material Wa
70 place contracts and purchase or
ders To was extremely difficult O
md plants where ordnance msterIa
could be made. and n great man
cases IL was necessary 10 have fac
tories built. or 20 have them equip
ned throughout with new machlu
cry and tools Sometimes fhe ord