The Cordova daily times., 1919-05-23

cleaned in any way each gun fired a belt of 250 cartridges without a mal- function.
 The demand for light Brownings was so heavy that when the armistice was signed the department was driv- ing forward production to the end that British, Belgian and French troops might be equipped with this weapon, these three nations having asked for supplies of this latest Am erican addition to the fighting equip ment.
 Up to November Il the production of Browning rifles was 52,23S, major ity of which were in France. In addi- tion 29,O0O Chauchat guns had been purchased, so that enough light auto matic rifles were on hand to supply 100 divisions or an army of 3500,0OO men. In the same time 41,804 heavy Brownings and enough Vickers guns had been produced to make with the Hotchkiss weapons purchased from the French total of 54,627 of this type, or enough to equip 200 divisions or an army of 100000.
 "At the peak of our production" the report says, "a total of l,794 ma chine guns and automatic rifles of all types were produced within a period of "A hours," and the total production of machine guns in the United States between April 6, 1917, and November Il, 1918, was 185,099 as against 129,- 238 produced by the French and 181,- 404 by the British in the same period.
 Only the loyal cooperation of the manufactures with whom ''competi- tive commercial advantages weighed not at all against the national need" made possible this achievement, the report states.
 Other production struggles describ- ed in today's chapters include items varying in size from trench knives to the Alton Mark VIII tanks of British design of which 1,500 were being con- structed in cooperation with the Brit ish and 1,45O additional wholly by American enterprise. Only one of these had been delivered up to Janu- ary 1, 1919, but it is noted that the work on each program on component parts was 50 per cent complete when the armistice was signed. Orders for all but 100 of these tanks have been cancelled.
 Il On November II, 64 tanks of the French 6-ton type had been delivered and by January 31 of this year zs1. Of these six were shipped abroad. Orders for 1000 Mark I light tanks were cancelled as were orders for 15,O15 three-ton tanks, fifteen of which had been completed on November II.
 The history of the rife production, including all of the considerations which led to the adoption of the stand ardized British Enfield weapon for American use, also is fully outlined This was another element of the ord nance program that was severely criti- cized, but the department states that it sees no reason now to change its view that the wisest course was that which was followed. Army experts still hold that the Springfield rife is the best military weapon made, but it Is declared the rifle program would have been "hopelessly delayed if it had been attempted to equip the forces with those weapons. SIt is re- iterated also that the Enfield rife as it was in production in American plants when the United States entered the war was an utterly inadequate weapon, while as it was modified, it became second only to the Springfield. Despite the delay due to modification and standardization, all American troops were equipped with modern ef- ficient, American-made rifles before they left the United States.
 "The decision to modify the En- field" says the report, twas one of the greatest decisions of the execu- tive prosecution of war-all honor to General John T. Thompson and the other rife experts who made it." | The total rife production in the United States from the beginning of the war up to November g, 1918 was 2,5O6,307 of which little more than 300, ,O0O were Springfield rifles.
 Considerable attention is devoted to the production of automatic pistols