In addition, and for use in the artillery ammunition received from French factories, America manufactured and supplied to France in a finished state all the principal materials used in loading all shell delivered to the American Army. These materials consisted of smokeless powder, used as a propellant to drive the shell from the guns, and of picric acid, used as a high-powered detonative to burst over the enemy lines. The French used 12,000 tons of smokeless powder in our shell. America delivered an equivalent amount of finished powder. The French consumed 18,000 tons of picric acid in loading shell for American use. America supplied 18,500 tons.
In exchange for the finished airplanes, again America supplied the raw materials and component parts. For the framework of the French planes driven by American aviators, America furnished 34,500,000 feet of spruce, fir, and cedar, enough to manufacture over 16,000 finished planes; for the propellors, America furnished 7,000,000 feet of mahogany and walnut, enough for 40,000 propellors; 4,000 tons of aluminum, enough for thousands of planes; and dopes for painting airplane wings, and miscellaneous aircraft materials and supplies far in excess of the number of finished planes delivered to Gen. Pershing. Under special contract made in August, 1917, and in addition to the above, America furnished to France all materials for 5,000 finished planes and all parts for 8,500 finished airplane engines, which were to be assembled in France for the American Expeditionary Forces. The engine parts were in forgings and needed only to be machined. For the use of the French Government in machining these engine parts, America built and delivered the necessary equipment and machinery.
Thousands of additional smaller items of all kinds were supplied by the various governments to each other from day to day. No deficiency in the military programs of any of them was permitted to exist, if it could be made good by any of the others.
All of America's vast contribution to the allied program of supply was not only produced in America, but it was taken to France in army transports. From August, 1917, to November 11, 1918, an average of 2,000 tons of American materials for French factories left American ports every day aboard American army transports. Through a submarine-infested ocean, in which the Germans sank over 21,000,000 tons of dead-weight shipping, these materials were carried in army transports manned by American crews, and laid down at the doors of French factories.
By February, 1918, Gen. Pershing estimated that 2,000,000 tons of cargo space had been saved by the adoption of this program of international and reciprocal supply, a saving of more tonnage than was then available for the use of the American Expeditionary Forces. The Franco-American commission on explosives estimated a reduction of 75 per cent in cargo space in the shipment of explosives alone.
So the silent drama of international cooperation was carried out. The story of British and American mutual aid during the war is the same story in substance as that of Franco-American cooperation, with changes only in the figures. Economy of shipping was effected. British and French factory capacity was utilized. The vast reservoir of American raw materials and explosives was thrown against the enemy. International cooperation on a scale and in a spirit of cordial, mutual helpfulness, such as the world had never dreamed of, helped to equip 2,000,000 American soldiers in France.
And it was done, all of it, without curtailment of the huge stream of material which was flowing from America to the allies when the United States entered the war. France and England received ever-increasing quantities to the last day. The more than 800,000 tons of replacement materials for artillery, artillery ammunition, and airplanes delivered to America was over and above the millions of tons secured by the allies for their own use directly from American producers.
It was partly by reason of the adoption of this program and its complete performance that Gen. Pershing, after the armistice, could say:
During active operations extending from January, 1918, when our first division entered the line, until the close of hostilities on November 11, our troops were supplied with the equipment and ammunition necessary to carry their work to a successful conclusion.
Beyond all this, our Government, as part of the interallied program, created vast faculties for the manufacture of supplies which England, France, and Italy still required for their own needs and which a comprehensive consideration of the entire program, with particular reference to shipping, showed could be best produced in this country. Factories for the production of immense additional quantities of picric acid, powder, and other materials were built by our War Department to fill the deficiencies in the military programs of our associates in the war.