Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1918-01-29
obsolete rifle for practice until men
learn to take care of better weapon.
MEN HAVE RlElE PRAC1lCE..

AcdTu 10 take care OF DelIeT WodpOA.
MEN HAVE RIFLE PRACTICE.
II do not mean to say" he added,
that the question was decided lnfal-
libby. It might have been better to
have used the English Enfield. But /
do mean to say that it was decided
conscientiously and that now every
man in this country intended to carry
a Fife has one, and a rifle of better
quality than if we had adopted the ex-
listing type at the time.
and" he continued, although we
have sent soldiers to Europe much
more rapidly than we ever thought we
would or could, every soldier has not
only modern rifle but has had prac-
tice with it. That also is true of every
soldier who will 60 to Europe"
DENIES MACHINE GUN DELAY.
Turning to the machine gun Ques'
ton, Mr. Baker said that up to last
April the Lewis gun had not been sat
isfactorily tested with American am
munition, although widely used by
England. The French, he said, never
took the Lewis gun in any large mum.
bers.
"The board" he added, referring to
the board he appointed In the fall OF
1916 to test machine guns, never de-
layed for one second the procurement
of additional machine guns"
He told Of the navy's test Of the
Lewis gun last April with an army
officer present and added:
"In the meantime" said Mr.. Baker,
"the French government is able to
supply us with light French guns and
heavy Hotchkiss guns for the troops
that are abroad and all that will be
sent for the present.
GUNS SHIPPED NOVEMBER I.
I'VE have ordered all the Lewis
guns we could get and have encour'
aged the company to extend its plant
for increased production. 1t has not
begun to expand to the extent we
would like. Our army abroad is pro.
vided with the guns it has elected as
adapted to its use, and our supply Is
to supplement that. Obviously, he
said, there were not as many machine
guns for camp training as was to be
desired, but he read a table showing
that on November each camp or can.
Torment had been shipped 80 Colt, IS
Lewis and 45 Chauchat guns and, in
addition, each regular cavalry regi'
ment had been supplied with 10 Lewis
guns and each infantry regiment with
10 Chauchats.
practically all of these were ship
ped before the troops were ready for
them: that is, before November 1" Mr..
Baker said.
ANSWERS SENATOR'S QUERIES,
Senator Reed asked If before the
troops were ready for them" meant
that the men needed preliminary train
ing or before they had been modified.
Secretary Baker said he believed
that it meant that the ranges had not
been completed and also that prelim-
mary training was necessary.
Senator Kirby asked why Lewis
guns had been sent to the camps when
it had been decided not to use them
with the land forces.
Secretary Baker said it was sol the
men might learn the complicated
mechanisms of as many types as pos.
sible.
RECALLS cRoZlER's PLEAS.
On the question of big guns, Score.
tary Baker recalled that General Gro.
zier, chief of ordnance, had urged con-
gress and the various secretaries of
war continuously for larger programs
because of the time required to make
the guns. The record served, he
thought, to show that General Crozier
had realized the delay that must be
faced and sought to prepare in ad'
vance.
Reading from letter from M. Tar.
s~k,
rotary Baker showed that France en-
tered the war with more than 5000
pieces Of heavy artillery but only lao
quick firers. Great effort was made,
M. Tardieu said, to get the slow fir
ing guns from the fortresses into SER
vice for the field, and this policy
proved to be mistake as quick firers
were needed for field work.
WARS DEMANDS ENORMOUS. e.
An appended list of orders for heavy
artillery placed by France, the secre-
tary said, showed that lit did not lie
in the Imagination of any one to re-
alize what the ordnance program OF
the war woulI become-not even
France, the very seat of the conflict,
with the enemy at her throat.
HAD ARTILLERY SHORTAGE.
1--WE had a limited amount Of artil-
lery, and our first STEP" the secretary
said, "was to speed up that already Or
dered and in process of manufacture"
British and French theory of artil'
lery usage differs, he said, adding,
1--WE ha dto decide for ourselves what
we should use."
Army experts we're sent abroad to
study the question Early in June it
was intimated that France had so far
her industrial program
that the wastage of industry would not
fully occupy her resources and that
she could supply artillery for Ameri-
can forces then going into France
without curtailing her own forces.
Captain Tardieu opened the subject.
FRENCH OFFER GUNS.
ION July 13 or A." Mr.. Baker con-
tinued, IAN agreement was made by
which the French government agreed
to supply the principal pieces Of 75-
milimeter field guns and 155-milimeter
rapid fire howitzers needed for the
American forces being sent abroad.
The American government wished to
adopt the quickest solution to get the
largest supply in the shortest possible
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