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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1917)
? I) rhe Commoner. 24 VOL. 17, no. 3 r- I V; li i'v si:: I Cost of lSqulpmont, Fiold Army Troop - .;.",.,. Headquarters . ,, . . ij regiment Infantry l regiment uavairy , . . ; . . . , 1 battalion 6-inch howitzers . 1 battalion, 4.7-inch howitzers 1 battalion 4.7.Mnch guns 1 roglmont mo.untaln artillery , t .) )J .Q'mastor Ordnance Bngfneer . Signal $149354.66 3S6,2i3.92 402,839.91 $71,705.44 174,011.58 1,804,27528 4 258i623.22 .474,821.19 $3,263.00 271,00 790.60 120.00 120.00 $2,073.69 2,111.84 3,821.77 Medical t $536.35 536.35 1,509.95 3,821.77 J 636.35 Total $3,263.00 223,941.74 643,664.29 2,212,56.6.80 737,822.53 board, which was composed of se lected army officers, for the purpose of, determining the amount of -re-servo of, artillery and artillery am munition necessary for an army of 1,000,000 men; reported that such an army would require reserves to tho value of $480,000,000 in artil lery and artillery ammunition. The appropriations now being made for reserves of artillery and ammunition for our present army are based upon tho report of this board. Accepting these figures as our basis, an army of 3,000,000 men would require a reserve three times as largo as that recommondod by tho Treat board. This would mean an investment of $1,440,000,000 in artillery and artillory ammunition. Tho wastage in field equipment and arms is enormous in actual war. A reserve of at least 25 per cent must always bo maintained of fiold equip ment and small arms and ammuni tion, and this for an army of 3,000,000 men calls for at least a billion more of reserve supplies., So wo have for arms, equipment, am munition, and reserves for an army of 3,000,000 men, ready for action in 90 clays, as the general staff has declared we must have, a total of armanioht, and equipment . required will have to be renewed every 10 years, because it is in present prac tice renewed oftener than this. It these figures seem , somewhat exces sive as an estimate of our probable limitary expenditures for the fu ture, just compare for a moment tho advance in those expenditures, as ap propriated for by this, congress with those voted by the last. We. must romember that wo have only started upon tho road to complete military preparedness, as advocated by those who are shaping the destinies of this nation today. Resist as much as some of you may, the expenditures for the army and navy will continue to grow greater and greater as the years advance, unless the whole world changes its policy and ideas upon the subject of war. For the year 1916 you appropri ated $300,000 for aviation and $160,000 for machine guns. This congress will appropriate almost one-half as much for these two items alone as was the entire cost of the army for the fiscal year 1916. I have taken the time of tho house to read .these estimates and compar isons as to the probable expenditures in the future for military prepared $5,016,000,000. This estimate does t ive some foundation for the T. "1UIUU i'J "4 -UJ" D"u. idea thai -I desire to advance.: mstenco, transportation, maneuvers, Quarters, or the hundred other ex penses that make" up an array appro priation bill. ' Mr. Fess. Mr. Chairman, will the gontloman yield? Mr. Shallenbergor. Yes. Mr. Fess. Those figures are stag gering to me. Mr. Shallonborger. Yes; and I will give the gentleman others that will stagger him more. Mr. Fess. Wo could probably raise the monoy, but how are we go ing to raise the men? Mr. Shallenberger. That - is . a, proposition that we will have ,to cou- sider later. -:.. Mr. Borland. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield? Mr. Shallenberger.. For a ques tion. I have only five minute.8. Mr. Borland. If equipping an army becomes imperative, had 4we not better direct our attention to getting good results for our money? Mr. Shallenberger. Yes, The war department recommends a period of eight years for secunlrig tho reserves contemplated by" the Treat board. Distributing the apr Uroprlations to provide equipment, armament, and reserves for tho army, contemplated- by the general staff plan, over a period of 10 years would necessitate appropriating $500,000,000 a year. Add to that amount tho cost of the regular es tablishment, which Gen. Scott states must bo maintained, and tho cost Aaums up $850,000,000 a year. Add Mo that the" cost of pay, transporta- Son, subsistence and all other neces sary expenses for the army of 500, 000 citizens to be always maintained In, the field by compulsory service, as the general staff plan contem plates, and the cost will easily amount o a-billion dollars a year fpr the army alone. We may bo sure that the arms, The vast sums of money voted for national defense are appropriated under our present system with a lack of accurate knowledge upon the part of both congress and of com mittees that is monumental in its magnitude and is bound to result in a wastefulness of public money that would appall our constituents if they really understood it. We are spend ing billions of public funds upon the request, either in person or by let ter, of department clerks and bureau chiefs who are interested mainly in the matter of securing the greatest possible expenditure of mohey by their departments. Possibilities of nay and promotion are always po tential factors in determining the size of appropriations asked for by every department of this government. I believe that every member of the military affairs committee of this house feels that w'e have, to pass up on hundreds 'of millions of expendi tures for the military establishment of this government about which we have not sufficient knowledge to act intelligently. We have the same machinery to determine and decide the. government's expenditures for the army and navy that we had a few years ago when we voted about one- fourth the amount of public money for national defense that we are spending at present. Committees are fighting for jurisdiction as to appropriations for thirty or forty millions of dollars for aeroplanes and anti-aircraft armament about which none of them has any accur ate Knowledge either as to efficiency, cost, or need. The same thing is true as to artillery, ammunition, ma chine gunsand all. military ma teriel. A Here are some examples oft results under our present system" taken from the records of hearings had be fore the military committee of the house. The service rifle which the soldier carries with him into battle is the most important weapon with whicu an army fights. No other single arm compares with it in effectiveness in battle. The chief of ordnance states that an army of a million men would re quire 1,260,000 rifles to properly arm it. An army of 3,000,000 men would therefore require more than 3,500,000 rifles.. We have at pres ent 700,000 service rifles' about half enough to equip an army of 1,000,000 men. No manufacturer in the United States is equipped to manufacture a single rifle such as our army uses, nor could they produce them in quantities in less than a year's "time. Therefore the only source of supply wo have is the government arsenals. They have a capacity of at least 600,000 rifles a year. Notwithstanding the fact that the war in Europe has been going oh for more than two and a half years, "sparks have been flying," a,nd we have been constantly on the "verge of war," in three, years we have add ed less than 25,000 rifles a. year to our supply. - The, actual .figures showing ..the 'number of rifles manufactured' tared In 1914 we made 26,545 rifles; in 1915, 25,972; and in 1916, with the war in Europe still coming, clospr to us, we manufactured and secured 13,628 rifles; or in three years we have added 66,000 rifles to our re serves. One of the wonders of this war has been the development of large caliber field howitzers and mortars that are used in countless thousands on the battle lines of Europe, and without which modern infantry in trenched in ditches and armed with machine guns and military repeat ing rifles, could not be dislodged but could hold their positions indefin itely. If our troops were required to dis lodge an intrenched, enemy with the field artillery we now have, they would find it an impossibility except at the end of frightful slaughter. The heaviest ealibered field artillery wo have is a 6-inch howitzer, throw ing a shell weighing 120 pounds, and never designed to be used against modern intrenchments, and'we have not eaough high-explosive shells of that caliber to keep the guns we have in action for a week. If large caliber mobile guns, throwing high explosive shells at high angles,' are essential for driving men out of modern intrenchments, and every military authority says they are, then we have not made much prog ress in three years in this direction, with the example of the war in Eu rope constantly before us. We have not manufactured a single gun of heavier caliber than 6-iuch. The third astonishing development of this war. has been in the increased use of the automatic machine rifle. The record shows we had" last year ten hundred and seventy-seven ma chine guns of various varieties. The bill for 1916 carried an appropria tion of $150,000 for machine guns, but none wr t,i T factured. LaYt yearcon " man 2.000,000 for macules T would have purchased J"om a chlno gnna of the Lewis or Colt . "" which are being used in .,, type In actual battlf by' the Zt," French Belgian, and bJUS1 ies, and now being manufacturer?' the United State. by ? The machine-gun , board recom mends the purchase of 17,283 guw in three years. - We gave X enough to buy 16,000 gyrated machine guns last year, and they actually purchased 353. Over rZl millions of last year's appropriation has been contracted for to be used in payment for 4,000 heavy machine guns, requiring four water tanks with each gun, from a company which has never yet manufactured a single gun of the kind we l&ve con tracted for, nor does anyone know when they will be able to deliver them. It is bound to be in the fu ture at the best, and no one is cer tain that a gun such as the army will accept will be gotten under this con tract. The above is our "record for tho past three years, as I have been able to obtain it, as to our achieve ments thus far in preparing for the possibility of war in the matter of securing rifles, heavy field artillery, and machine guns, the three most essential arms with which to equip men for battle. Mr. Kelley. Can the gentleman tell me how long it took the Rem ington Arms Co. to make the Eng lish rifle after they got the order? Mr.v Shallenberger. The informa tion: given.the committee was that it took about 18 months. We "talk about getting an army trained. Wo will have to have 3,000,000 men if we'go into that European war, If we do anything -worth -while. A colonel from Kentucky or New York or some other place the other evening Col. Harvey, I believe made a speech in this oity, and in it he said that he wanted to send our regular army of 100,000 men 'to that European bat tle line, and told of how those peo ple would cheer when they saw that 100,000 men coming to battle, and how their hearts would leap, and all that sort of thing; but, Mr. Chair man, England has sent 5,000,000 men to that Dattle line, France has sent 7,000,000 men to the battle line, and Russia has sent 10,000,000 men, and they have not been ablo yet to make a dent in the German line, if that is the line you are go ing to fig'ht. We will have to put millions of men into the European war if we are going to turn the tide of victory.- We will have to tram them "before they go to that battle line, but we will have plenty of time to train them. Mr. Sherley. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield? Mr. Shallenberger. I can not yield. If we finally get these guns, we will have plenty of time to have the boys trained, but we will have to train them with-something else than rifles. Mr. Sherley. If the gentleman will permit me, I think it is only fair to the record to show the truth. iue gentleman is talking about the num ber of rifles. It is true we have not been manufacturing many. w'iy. because we have many more rifles than we have men or any immeai ate prospect of getting men, ana there ivas need of other kinds of munitions.., rpcord Mr. Shallenberger. The recor shows that we have contracted for . n i, .J
