The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1920-10-14

|
q We had 2ss eo onanSas f. for ss az
firing line
@ We had Il contracts for i2-inch
shells, on which we expended s9,5O!,-
firing line
shells. on, which we spent $1.266,477.
None of these ever reached the FIRING
| line.
| % We, let IL contracts. to the
struction of artillery of all calibers.
gyms and gun ib ms
program of expenditures there reached
our troops ana were actually used IN
mount trucks. forty-eight 4. 7-ineh guns
of the 1896 model. forty-eight 4.7-inch
! gun carriages of the same model, twen-
| ty-foqr s-ineh howitzers. and twenty
are shown in a table furnished by the
War Department and attached hereto.
PIP f46247
| To sum up. We furnished our troops
for use six thousand e nm shells iout-
guns and twenty-four S-inch howitzers.
Construction Of Camps and Canton
ments.-We expended $l.2oo,oo9'O0o Tor
a system adopted by the war Depart
men BY this system costs t mere COM mn
I
| pletion of the camps was delayed sol
| diers called to the coiors were suDJect-
and death. and from 40 to so per cent
| of the money was wasted.
Twenty-Five million dollars was spent
for fees to favored contractors on camps
and cantonments, most of which would
have been saved had this work been iet
| by bids.
were spent for the production of tanks
the exact amount of which has not been
| computed. Not a single tank Of Amerl-
| fore the Armistice.
TO complete our tan kprogram we
| s25, 600 each To build these we started
an immense steel and concrete factory
in France, which was to assemble anu
the entire supply in ~ days. The Brit
| ish were to furnish the guns and armor
| and ship them to France for Assembly:
while We We're to furnish the engines
fn France ru4 for ASSEMBLY, The sR
piled their part but we Snpph,aeSd at the
Production Of Hxplosives. Powder and
powder and gas was likewise humiliat-
| ing failure from the viewpoint of the
results obtained. This is what we got:
powder plant at Nitro w: va. It never
produced pound of powder for the
war. After the Armistice there was
at fair cash value. $4,000. 900: Both
plant and property were SeG sold AFTER ah fne
( o. We p paid ID the Hercules Powder
Co, for operating the Nitro plant sl1.-
that we could " use IN the war 70 p
| (c) We spent s2.sOo,0oo in furnish
ing electrical machinery r and o pSha
Company at Nitro. w. Va. and after
We ha dbuilt. them first class sys-
tenn, giving them a practical MONOPOLY
addition gave them a longtime con
tract to furnish electric for she
ld) We spent approximately s9O.ts w
Of a powder plant at Nashville. Tenn,
called Old Hickory, and which produced
| no powder that could be used in the war.
trate plants at Sheffield, Ala; Muscle
shoals, Ala; Toledo, Ohio, and Gin
d"ce as pound Of r nitra pf that could be
used in the war.
q We, spent for poison gas s1l6,-
| was ever fired in an American shell,
| and only about 100 tons of American
gas loaded in shells. ever reached the
(g). The Government built three pic
ric acid plants and seven plants to make max!
French who desired it for explosives.
None of these plants produced pound
The pants cost w us 200. e The
| French were to pay the whole bill, but
the War Department settled with France
Port Terininals.-we spent $l7,11G.ooo
IN constructing port terminal at
isolated swamp 10 miles up the Cooper
hfre Sars to d poGs
ped either out of or into this terminal
W. spent sls7. ssliSoo for port ter
Philadelphia, Norfolk. Charleston. and
New orleans. Some of them were not
finished and none of them We're used
The foregoing summarizes briefly the
conclusions reached by the Select Com
mittee of the House of Representatives
on Expenditures in the War Department
after months of careful investigation.
The conclusions of that Committee re-
main uncontradicted.
Excessive orders for Less Essential
Things.--No less startling than the gov
things such as guns. shells. gas. aero
planes and tanks, was the misnSRAge-
easave orasrs an to the the % Rasng
necessary expenditures for less essen
tial things. A few instances verified
(aj We ordered 4l,lOO,152 pairs of
| shoes and received deliveries Of 32,227.-
$50 pairs, for 3,513,S37 men,
OBJ We bought and received 500,326
double sets of harness and 11O,S2S sim
gle sets. We had. in all. during the
which only 67.94S were shipped over
seas and $4,000 died.
(c) We bought $4,000 saddles and
had, in all. S6,41S cavalry horses.
I'D We bought 2,S50,S53 halters.
(e) We bought 5S5,615 saddle bags.
81 We bought 1.637,199 horse
ca we bought 2,o33,2O4 nose bags.
Chi We bought 1,14S,36i horse COW
ers.
ID We bought for our Ordnance Of
ficers 1850 complete sets of spur
straps, about SO sets for each officer.
Cd We bought S,7S1,G15 horseshoes
(k) We bought $4,000 branding
% We ordered 149,456,611 hard
bread cans and used 3l,500.000 during
the war.
The conclusions presented here and
elsewhere in this report are based upon
data furnished by agencies of the Fed
eral Government and upon the sworn
testimony of competent witnesses who
appeared in the hearings before the
Select Committee on War Expenditures
of the House of Representatives. The
evidence, testimony and conclusions
have been published in the various pub
lie reports of this committee. See also
Congressional Record of June /, 1920