Above are sketched some of the difficulties of the situation. In our favor we had the greatest industrial organization in the world, engineering skill to rank with any, a race of people traditionally versatile in applying the forces of machinery to the needs of mankind, inventive genius which could match its accomplishments with those of the rest of the world added together, a capacity for organization that proved to be astonishingly effective in such an effort as the nation made in 1917 and 1918, enormous stores of raw materials, the country being more nearly self-sufficient in this respect than any other nation of the globe, magnificent facilities of inland transportation, a vast body of skilled mechanics, and a selective-service law designed to take for the Army men nonessential to the Nation's industrial efforts for war and to leave in the workshops the men whose skill could not be withdrawn without subtracting somewhat from the national store of industrial ability.
It only remains to sketch in swift outlines something of the accomplishments of the American ordnance effort. In general it may be said that those projects of the ordnance program to which were assigned the shorter time limits were most successful. There never was a time when the production of smokeless powder and high explosives was not sufficient for our own requirements, with large quantities left over for both France and England.
America in 19 months of development built over 2,500,000 shoulder rifles, a quantity greater than that produced either by England or by France in the same period, although both those countries in April, 1917, at the time when we started, had their rifle production already in a high stage of development. (See fig. 4.) However, the Franco-British production of rifles dropped in rate in 1918 because there was no longer need for original rifle equipment for new troops.
In the 19 months of war American factories produced over 2,879,000,000 rounds of rifle and machine-gun ammunition. This was somewhat less than the production in Great Britain during the same period and somewhat less than that of France; but America began the effort from a standing start, and in the latter part of the war was turning out ammunition at a monthly rate twice that of France and somewhat higher than that of Great Britain. (See fig. 4.)
Between April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918, America produced as many machine guns and automatic rifles as Great Britain did in the same period and 81 per cent of the number produced by France; while at the end of the effort America was building machine guns and machine rifles nearly three times as rapidly as Great Britain and more than twice as fast as France. (Fig. 4.) When it is considered that a long time must elapse before machine-gun factories can be equipped with the necessary machine tools and fixtures, the effort of America in this respect may be fairly appreciated.
| AVERAGE MONTHLY RATE, JULY, AUGUST, AND SEPTEMBER, 1918. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Machine guns and machine rifles: | Per cent of rate for Great Britain. | |
| Great Britain | 10,947 | ██████████████ 100 |
| France | 12,126 | ████████████████ 111 |
| United States | 27,270 | ████████████████████████████████████ 249 |
| Rifles: | ||
| Great Britain | 112,821 | ██████████████ 100 |
| France | 40,522 | █████ 36 |
| United States | 233,562 | ██████████████████████████████ 207 |
| Rifle and machine-gun ammunition: | ||
| Great Britain | 259,769,000 | ██████████████ 100 |
| France | 139,845,000 | ████████ 54 |
| United States | 277,894,000 | ███████████████ 107 |
| TOTAL PRODUCTION, APRIL 6, 1917, TO NOVEMBER 11, 1918 | ||
| Machine guns and machine rifles: | Per cent of rate for Great Britain. | |
| Great Britain | 181,404 | ██████████████ 100 |
| France | 229,288 | ██████████████████ 126 |
| United States | 181,662 | ██████████████ 100 |
| Rifles: | ||
| Great Britain | 1,971,764 | ██████████████ 100 |
| France | 1,416,056 | ██████████ 72 |
| United States | 2,506,742 | ██████████████████ 127 |
| Rifle and machine-gun ammunition: | ||
| Great Britain | 3,486,127,000 | ██████████████ 100 |
| France | 2,983,675,000 | ████████████ 86 |
| United States | 2,879,148,000 | ████████████ 83 |
British and French production of rifles during 1918 was at a lower rate than had been attained because there was no longer need for original equipment of troops.
Prior to November 11, 1918, America produced in the 75-millimeter size alone about 4,250,000 high-explosive shell, over 500,000 gas shell, and over 7,250,000 shrapnel. Of the high-explosive shell produced 2,735,000 were shipped to France up to November 15, 1918. In all 8,500,000 rounds of shell of this caliber were floated—nearly two-thirds of it being shrapnel. American troops on the line expended a total of 6,250,000 rounds of 75-millimeter ammunition, largely high-explosive shell of French manufacture drawn from the Franco-American ammunition pool. American high-explosive shell were tested in France by the French ordnance experts and approved for use by the French artillery just before the armistice.
THE MUNITIONS BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D. C.