The Interallied Munitions Council, sitting in Paris and containing among its membership the best military and industrial brains at the command of the allied cause, including Gen. Pershing, Gen. Robertson, chief of the imperial general staff of Great Britain, and Gen. Foch, then chief of the general staff of the French Army, came to the same conclusion, and Gen. Bliss transmitted its findings in a memorable cable, a part of which was reproduced in the preface to this report.
Every mind was in accord. Tonnage must be saved. It could be saved and in vast amounts by calling upon the United States to supply the raw and semifinished materials, and upon the French and British war factories to utilize these raw and semifinished materials in the manufacture of the finished products.
But could this solution of the vital shipping question be dovetailed into the industrial situations of the various nations concerned? Could the United States supply the essential raw and semifinished materials in quantities equivalent to the amounts consumed in the manufacture of the finished product? Did the French and British factories, with these materials laid down in their yards, have available a sufficient manufacturing surplus to supply the needs of their own armies and also to produce in part for the armies of America?
The foreign missions were in Washington. They knew intimately the economic and industrial situations in their respective countries; they knew the military plans of their general staffs; they knew in what respects their programs of supply for their armies in the field needed assistance, and in what respects these programs could be met or exceeded. With this information available, they were prepared to furnish the answer as to the manufacturing capacities of allied Europe.
The British War Mission in Washington communicated to the War Department a cable from the British minister of armament, setting out the position of the British Government on reciprocal supply:
The British Government is willing as far as possible in matters of urgency to manufacture for use of the Americans any products necessary to the more speedy equipment of the Americans that the Americans consider they can obtain in England more promptly or better than in the United States. Furthermore, the situation as to manufacture of steel products is better than it has been. The British Government will help to its utmost ability without making actual and immediate replacement of raw material an indispensable condition when any order is given. On the other hand the general principle of replacements of raw materials as soon as possible should be observed. It has become more a question of furnishing supplies promptly to the allies than a mere question of replacing what has been furnished American troops; in other words, the needs of the allies should be considered as one, and England should manufacture for the allies anything that is necessary or best got that way, and America should in the general interest of the allies furnish as soon as convenient raw material to replace that used. * * *
Writing to Maj. Gen. Crozier, Chief of Ordnance, the French high commission urged the placement in France of orders for artillery and artillery ammunition and pointed out the existence of surplus factory capacity available for their production. The commission summarized the industrial situation in France in the following language:
Even in such remarkable technical conditions as yours, it takes time to realize such a program, to organize manufactures and to have men to direct them. You will take less time than we did in France, where the output of big guns was not adequate to our needs before the end of 1916. But time—more or less—had to be an essential factor, so that after careful consideration, it has been found that the only plan to be carried out in order to supply the first American divisions with material on their landing in France was to avail ourselves of the surplus capacity of production of the French factories, which had been since the beginning of the war very powerfully equipped and were able to turn out greater quantities than those corresponding to our supply of raw material.
The allies could deliver the artillery, artillery ammunition, and airplanes if America could deliver the raw and semifinished materials. America answered that she could and would produce and transport to Europe raw materials and semifinished products in amounts equivalent to the amounts consumed by allied factories in manufacturing the completed guns, shell, and airplanes.