The Seward gateway daily edition, and the Alaska weekly post., 1919-05-27

were traded to the French aS they were equipped with the standard Am clican weapons the light and heavy Blownings"
 The work of the light Brownings iG declared to have been so spectacular as compared with any existing weap- onS O! this character that when they were demonstrated in France the or ficerS of the American Expedtionarv Force promptly decided to increase the equipment of infantry troops by 70 per cent adding enormously to the production burden at home. The hearv BrowningS functioned so we'll that an official report is quoted telling of the work of IT guns which were tested immediately after they had been en- gagged with the enemy in severe ac- tion and while they still were encrust- cd with rust and mud and bearing tho Shrapnel sears. Without being clcanc,l in any way each gun fired belt Jf 250 cartridges without a malfunction.
 The demand for light Brownings vas 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 ot this latest American add ition to the fighting equipment.
 Up to November II the production of Browning rifles was 52,23S, ma iority of which were in France. Tn ad- dition 29000 ChauChat guns had been purchased, so that enough light ar- tomatic rifles were on hand to supply 100 divisions or an army of 3,500,00O men. In the same time 4i.S04 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 7000,0O0
 At the peak of our production the report says, "a total of l,794 ma chine eunS and automatic rifles of all types were produced within a period of 24 hours" and the total production of machine guns in the United StateS between April 6, 1917, and November II. 1918 was lS5,039 as against 229,- 2%S produced by the French and lSl 2 404 by the British in the same period.
 Only the loyal cooperation of the manufacturers with whom "compet- 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 item varying in size from trench knives ,o the Aston Mark Will tanks of British design of which 1,500 were being con Structed in cooperation with the Brit iSh and l,450 additional wholly by American enterprise. Only one of these had been delivered up to Janu. ary 1. 1919, but it is noted that tho work on each program on component parts was 50 percent complete when the almiStice was signed. Orders for all but 100 of these tanks have been cancelled.
 On November llth, 64 tanks of the French Six-ton type had been deliver ed and by January Sl of this year 2si. Of these six were shipped abroad. Or derS for l5,0l5 threc-ton tanks, fifteen of whi.h had been completed on Nov cmber II.
 The history of the rifle production, including all of the consideration 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 severaly crit icized, 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 rifle Is the best military weapon made, but it is declared the rifle program would have been "hopelessly delayed. it 1t had been attempted to equip the fore eS with those weapons. It is reiterated also that the Enfield rifle as it was n production in American plants when the United States entered the war was