The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-10-24
CHAPTER VIZ
Shells shells! shells!


Shcilsi shells! shells!
The story OF this prodiRlous effort
has never been written. We had. I'm
1914, 3,G0G pieces OF 40. Despite
loes ana destruction. We had 1855
whom hostiutics ceased A. to
heavy artillery the supply rosc from
2sS pieces In 1914 60 San In 1918.
In other wordH We Increased our
ficld artillery by n por cent and
our heavy artillery by i9i3 per
cent One-tpnth ot this latter in
crease was obtained by rCconstruc-
tion Of old pieces, nine-tcntha by
new construction. All our artillery
combined In 1914 had less than
5000, 900 shells. The monthly out
put at the end OF the war exceeded
100000
50 much for round figures Now
FOR details. In 1914, the production
Of 75's was negligible ana there wns
no regular service of repair. In
October, 1913, our workshops were
turning out. for this Caliber alone,
$50 new tubes and 573 repaired.
b94 new brakes and 1876 repaired,
267 new carriages and ia repaired.
TO these must he added shells. more
shells and even more shells. In"
battle OF Champagne and Artois In
100000 as shcllE--Hn average OF
.si,nGG dag. The battle of Yer
dun and the Somme IN l9l6--lnstiug
ten months--cost Ms moro than "a
OOO,O rs Hhells---an average of
$4,000 u day. The offensive OF
1913, lasting four mouthe, cost u
nearly 33,OOO,000 shells, an average
OF 272. 500 n day, We met this in
rrTnsing expenditure. The output OF
az shells Ht the beginning ot the
war was theoretically $4,000 a day.
as O matter Of fact It WAS 5000. II
rose to 10000 "a day IN October
1918, to i73,G00 IN August. 1916. 20
100000 In the following November,
TO $4,000 In May, 1917 which level
is maintained and even exceeded To
the end of the war. This Increase
OF production--3,7 1873 per cent was
obtained undor almost hopeless con-
ditionR brought about by INVASION,
II is to the everlasting honor OF our
government, OF our parliament ana
OF our industry that they were abe
TO achieve II. In spite OF everything.
But to the first weapon. the b
the use OF which was developed so
tremendously---it was necessary TO
add the war weapons of modern
warfare, the 1906 short, ib5 lons, 22O.
2fO, $50, $40, 420. Here everything
had to be built up from the bottom
I'm to the very eve OF war experts
had discussed the question OF quick
firing heavy artillery In sctonune
papera to no result. Whom war
broke out we had i0l pieces OF
quick firing l55's--ard that was all
But follow the expenditures from
battle TO battle; Champagne nnd
Artols In 1915 (two months) rosl
us $4,000 rounds OF 1856, or S60c
a day, and $500 rounds OF 2gO, OF
900 a day. Verdun and tho Somme
i'm 1915 (ten monthsl cost us $3.50,
OOO rounds OF 1855, or 1900 a day
and $4,000 rounds OF 220, or i,3a3
a dny. Tho Alsno in 1917 (two
months) cost us 100000 rounds OF
1865, or $4,000 day, and $4,000
rounds OF $50. or 1900 "A day, For
tho offensive OF 1915 the cNpondl.
turo reached e,b30,00O rounds OF
1855 or 54,li6 Il day.
This heavy expenditure OF heavy
shells. as In the case OF the 7b's, was
completely covered by production,
The daily output OF 1854, which aid
not even exist in september, 1871
had grown TO 5000 In September
1915, TO 10000 In october, 1915
10 $4,000 In july, 1919 Tho output
OF 220's rose from 460 In September
1915, 10 2,l00 In september. 1910
and to 3,400 In April, 1917. The
total Increase was 3,7s2 per cont FOR
the 7b's, was 98S per cent Tor th'
1858, and 6S9 per Gene TOR the 22O'S
And all this, repeat and insist, wal
after invasion had robbed us o
about S5 per cent OF our prewa
iron and steel metallurgio resources
IL we take into account other size
than the rs, the 15b and the 22e
we have during the last period o
the war, a total daily production @
$4,000 shells, and FOR the entire wa
total production ot SOO,OOo'Oo'
projectiles. a.,
I do not want to prolong TN
enumeration. Lot me merely ha'
that In september, l9l4, our arinle
had lAO alrplanes in action ah'
that In October. 1918, they ha'
9.6Og, that al tho beginning OF IN
war. we were producing 62 month
and ut the end 2,06S ! note that II
December, 1919. we had : tanks an,
ON the day OF the Rrmistice Saw
Finally, let me emphasize the poin
that this production for the needs
the French army did not eShaus
our manufacturing capacity Tor WI
furnished our various allies WIZ
1000 guns, 1868 arplanes' am
400 tanks. This. after three ana
half years OF war and invasion, w