The Nenana daily news., 1919-06-09

-hPiAl Ec, i"IO, oi ol tileoe leCupel . ators had been completed and 53 of these passed by French experts and accepted by the government. They were the first of these devices built out of France or by other than skilled French workmen.
 Construction of the guns them selves and their carriages went for ward swiftly. Under the agreements the French and British were to sup. ply the first American armies with all their field artillery and inter- mediate batteries, with the exception of the powerful American AZ rifle and howitzer, which was taken over by the troops, and which proved highly effective against German field guns. The American EXpedtionary Force received from the French be- for the armistice was signed 1928 75-mm guns and TYP 155-mm how itzers. They had also received from the French 216 155-mm rifles and from the British 123 S-nch howitz- CTS with 40 92-inch howitzers com pleted and ready for delivery. Adj ditional contracts were made with the British for 302 howitzers of 6-inch calibre for delivery by April, 1919.
 To fill their own factories with forgings for guns, both French and British were drawing heavily on American industry when the United States entered the war. Thees or ders were not interfered with, but on the contrary were stimulated and expanded in order that the United States might furnish forgings in trade for completed guns and at the HaHie tiiile Sicale q NHolly HeN source of supply for the bulk of its own artillery program. The report shows that between April, 1917, and the conclusion of hostilities there were supplied to the Allies forgines for 1,102 guns of calibers ranging from 3-inch to 9.5-inch; additional gun tube forgings to the extent of 14,623, and shell forgings totalling 5,01S,451.
 There were only four gun makers in the United States when the coun- try entered the contest, but by Oc tober, 1918, there were 19 factories engaged in this work. During the month, with three of the 19 factories still lacking their complete equip ment, there were produced 2,031 gun forgings of calibers up to 9,5-inch. or at rate of 24,000 guns year, as compared to the capacity for 55 finished weapons year in the spring of 1917.
 The actual production of com pleted guns up to December, 1919, was 4,039, including l,1S3 of 75- nm caiber; 23O of the 3-inch anti aircraft type; 218 of the 4.7-inch type; 1,456 of the 155-mm how itzers; 129 of the 155-mm rifles; 191 8-inch howitzers and of the monster French 24O-mm howitzers; i; which would have supplanted the smaller British guns of this type in 1919. Over the same period the number of gun forgings pro duced totaled S,44O.
 The report points out that the gun program in reality depended upon the ability to produce the re- coil mechanisms. This picture of what such mechanisms are called upon to do is drawn:
 Not long ago a touring car. weighting two tons, travelled at rate of 12O miles an hour along a Florida beach. Conceive of such car going 337 miles an hour, which is much faster than any man ever travelled; then conceive of 9 mechanism which would stop this car, goins nearly six miles a minute, stop it in 45 inches of space and half second of time, without the slightest injury to the automobile. That is precisely the equivalent of the feat performed by recuperator by a 240-mm hoWitzer after shot"