The Seward gateway daily edition, and the Alaska weekly post., 1919-06-02
2an mm howitzer after q shot,

Summarizing the production or guns by the United States as compar' cd with France and Great Britain the report says that between April, l9lh and November 1918, the United Stat es produced 2,00S complete artillery units as against II ,056 by France and S,O65 by Great Britain and during those l9 months turned out 4,275 gun bodies as against l9,492 by France and 1l.S52 by Great Britain.
 And our artillery capacity" it adds twas then, in the autumn of 1918, only getting under way"
 Big guns are dealt with separately. A survey of the country immediately after the war declaration located AGA weapons ranging from 7-inch to IA inch calibrc which could be spared from coast dcfeNses or by the Navy to be placed on railway mounts for l,e in France. There was also avail lblc one giant l6-inch howit2er bull: bv the army before 1917. From the seacoast dcfcnSes were taken 96 S- 'nch; l29 10-inch 49 l2-inch rifles anu l5O 12-inch mortars while the Navy supplied l2 7-inch rifles and 2l l4- inch. and 6 high power 12-inch rifles building for the Chilean government were COmmandered. Practically all Of these were intended for the railway mounts of various types and the great majority or them together with new runs of these sizes would have reached France in time for the campaigns T 1919 and 1920 had the war continued.
 In all there were in process pro. iectS to support the American army with 200 of these tremendous guns, all If which were well advanced when the 'ighting ended. In addition to the Ma ,y's contribution of l4-inch rifles on ailway mounts, three army S-inch un- .ts went overseas. By the end of 1918, A units had been completed and tht runs and mounts fully demonstrated, An interesting feature of the mount yaS that it had trucks which permit l! o operate over either standard rail. pads or the narrow gauge lines at tn front.
 Railway mounts for 36 l0-inch rifl- IS from the coast defenses also wcr" ordered in cooperation with the French machine work and assembly to be lone in France. They were to be deliv- cred at General Pershing'S request by March, 1919.
 One of the projects embarked upon as the mounting of 40 of the l2-inch nortars for use in the 1919 campaign. This proved to be the largest job cf he whole artillery program and re- ,uircd the construction by the govern. ncnt of wholly new plant which w2S omplctcd on June 1, 1918. The first mount was finished in August of th2t ear and passed all tests, and when he armisticc was signed the castings. 'orgings and structural parts for "i mounts were on hand. In April of this ear 45 complete units had been de ivered and the whole 9l guns could ave been mounted by June.
 The department ordered l6 mount or l4-inch rifles, deliveries to begin February, 1919. These were in addi- ion to the five guns of this size man led in France by the Navy. The arm 7tice served to cancel the contract.
 The l6-inch howtzer, largest of the hole gun family, was successfully mounted upon a railway carriage and 'ollowing its passage of severe tests General Pershing called for 12 oi hose weapons as soon as they could 5e produced. Orders were placed for Sl additional guns of this size, but rore Tad been turned out by the time The armiStice was signed and the work if mounting them was never under taken.
 The chapters of the report given ,ut today deal also with artillery am nunition. with the powder production md with the plans that were beyond he experimental stage for mounting heavy guns on caterpiller tractors which was an American development )f the war. It promises now to revo' 'utionize the handling of artillery foi the entire world. While numerous ex, perimental types were produced anc successfully tried out, however, this notorization had not reached the poin' of production before the a,mistict ended hostilities.