New-York tribune., 1919-07-15
10000 Executives, w h o
Served Behind Lines in
Arming Fighters, to Keep
Ready for Emergencies
Nations Defence Is Aim
Will Mean 9 Months Time
Saved in Organizing if
Another Conflict Comes

An American Legion for technical
men is being formed. Its object will
be to keep alive the community of spe-
cialists who served the nation behind
the lines during the war and to keep
them organized to aid the government
at any future time. Ten thousand
scientific and industrial leaders, who un-
tangled the business problems of war
for America, have been invited to be-
come members.
1t took nine months for Uncle Sam
to build up an adequate body of technical
advisers during the war, and it is pro-
posed to keep the the informal structure
intact-and ready to serve at any time.
The organization, for which temporary
officers have been chosen, will be known
as the Army Ordnance Association. 1t
will be for technical men wnar the
American Legion hopes to be for vet
Grams of the field of battle.
The temporary founding committee Of
this organization, The Tribune learned
yesterday, is Herbert w. Alden, vice
president of the Timken- Detroit Axle
Company; Waldo C. Bryant, president
Bryant Electric Company; C. L. Harri-
son, president Missouri Mutual Life In
surance Company; James c. Hickman,
general manager Of the Larkin Com
pany; Robert P. Lamont, president
American Steel Foundries; Bascom
Little, building contractor of Cleveland;
Ohio; Samuel McRoberts, vice-president
National City Bank; Alton S. Miller,
cc-president Bartlett, Howard Com
pany, Baltimore; David C. Seagrave,
vice president Pacific Coast Shipbuild-
ing Company; John r. Simpson, for
merly of f. A. Filene Company, of
Boston. William c. Spruance, jr., direc
tor of explosives. manufacture for Il. |.
du Pont de Nemours Company; Guy E.
Trip, chairman board of directors
Westinghouse Electric and Manufact-
uring Company. Charles Eliot War
rem. president Lincoln National Bank
Of New York, is acting as temporary
reasuror of the associations Major
lohn II. Van Deventer, acting secre-
airy. and Ralph Crews, of Sherman &
sterling, New York attorneys, is acting
IS legal counsel.
or the experts in the Ordnance De-
partment alone, OF per cent were civil
ians who entered the service for the
period OF the war, and with the reduc
tion of the army to peace basis the
size Of the technical personnel will be
tremendously reduced, it pointed
out. The Army Ordnance Association
is designed to keep these veteran ex
perts accessible to the government in
p9ce as we'll as in war.
Major Van peventer, who is editor
cf THE American Machinists," ex-
rlaincd the scope of the organization
TO The Tribune:
"That America shall never again be
in the defenceless position of not know
ing how to quickly get the materials
Of war is the object Of the Army Ord
nance Association, which is now being
formed" he said, "the membership of
which embraces thousands of technical
experts. reserve officers and prominent
American manufacturers. We learned
during the war that so per cent of
preparedness consists of knowing how.
Jnpreparedness consists not so much IN
not having the materials of war as 1T
does in not knowing how to get them
''Imagine the potential preparedness
value of 10000 of the foremost Of
Americas industrial experts who have
been through the war game, who know
Zach other, who know the sources of
our manufacturing capacity, who know
the kind OF steels and the kinds of
chemicals and the kinds of machinery
that war calls into it's service; who
keep THIS knowledge fresh in their
minds as national obligation and who
keep these relationships established to
be ready without delay if needed. This
body of 10000 men will represent a
n ho itA fc,rr
of Uncle Sam should he need them,
for in the last emergency it took that
long to find them and get them to-
gether.
Little Is Now Left
This wax is over. The experts, most
Of them, have been sent back to their
civilian occupations the officers back
20 inactive duty in the reserve aud
very little is OF necessity left of the
great organization that finally evolved
from this milling mass of specialists
and this intense application of effort
IN the ordinary course Of events. what
has been learned would be forgotten
and acquaintanceships which have been
made would in time, many of them
fade into dim recollections. The stee1
expert, who applied his energies TO,
eighteen months to the production OF
cannon steels. will go back to think
,Hs about bridges and ships plates
In ten years from now, If the call
should come, if II were not for this
association there would be the same
milling around and the same frantic
scramble there was for information
and means of action in 1917. The TEN.
pcrary founding committee of the
Amy Ordnance Association believe:
tnct this knowledge and acquaintance.
snap TOO precious are to America to
no q to tt.~t~ L
believe, while not for one moment giy
ing np the hope of universal peace and
permanent disarmament, that the know