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Colonel Lewis never offered his machine gu.l1(,t.0 the 01‘ dname
.Bureau aiidtnever, to my knowledge, offered itto any other
branch of, the Government free of charge. . ‘
presentation of the gun for test. was by private Parties. W110
'- claimed full control.of it, and neither then nor since made any
'.‘intimation that they were offering .it otherwise thangas a com- .
mercial proposition; and the gun itself was of foreign manu-,
facture. There have been two tests by.boards appointed by the .
VVarp Department. Both tests resulted in reports adverse to the
V Lewis gun. x, V i
"In June, 1916, an informal test of the-gun was made at Platts-
' burg: xThe instructed man with the gun" was furnished by the
it Savage ArmsiCompany.. The Lewis guns were new ones, BUILT
ACCORDING TO BRITISH SPECIFICATIONS, USING BRIT-
‘ ‘ISH AMMUNITION. ' -‘ ” V I ‘ , 9 . ,
The Savage Arms Company's plant is situated at Utica, N. Y.
Aiticovers an area‘ of ‘several acres, and a large new. factory was re-
centlyicompleted and equipped with machinery and tools for the,
' manufacturejof Lewis machine guns for which the ‘company owns‘
exclusive patent rights in the‘ Western Hemisphere. ‘ The capacity
of.thc'co‘mpany’s machine gun plant is 300 machine gunsiper week.
i -The company’s main plant for the lastsix months has been working.
I 1 dayland night with three shifts of men,‘ turning out rifles, pistols,
ibayonets and ammunition.’ It has a contract with the British Gov-
" ‘V crnment for Lewis machine guns at a price of $1,000 per‘vgun for
delivery in Canada. .A . g I
ix-,The'estimat'ed.'net profits for the company for 1915 were $2,600,-
000,Vequal;to,260% on the'capital.stock. Dividends at -the rate of
%',per‘annum have been-paid since March 15, I909. - In 1913, an
. , xtra stock dividend .of> 25% was paid. In'December, 1915, the”
’ l Driggs-Seabury.Ordnance' Company acquired 95% of the stock of
. "the Savage:Arms Company.- . , '
" ‘V The Driggs-Seabury stock is one of the leading munitions stocks
-’ in .Wa1l Street.’ . - - '
, ‘JTIIC comlpanyhasgideclined -to have another test made by the
='United States Government UNLESS IT MADE ITS OWN CON-
DITIONS, And Adolph S..Ochs,'of ‘the Ti'mc.r, says: “THIS
- ,COUNTRY MUST HAVE LEWIS GUNS, AND IT MUST PAY
ROUNDLY,‘FOR THEM." -- , i . , J p '
The leading experts of the War Department have twice rejected
, ‘the Lewis gun as unfit, and as serviceable only withythe inferior
- , ‘Britishammunition. But if thewcountry desiresto liavewaiiy such‘,
‘ guns, Tm: FATBERLAND will point out a way in which it can obtain
them WITHOUT MEETING THE CONDITIONS insolently laid
fdown by the Driggs-Seabury Company, or by PAYING ROUNDLY
'FOR THEM, as Mr.,Qchs demands. , ‘ I -
4 We haveseen that in the original statement of the Tinws, it said
that’ “For many months the Germans have been making frantic
efforts to duplicate thegun for use intlieir own armies." And it
l has attemptedltovcreate the impression that the gun was just being
‘used by the British, who werelgaining “glorious victories'with
them." - i , . 1 V, ‘V V L .
“It is proved,,howcvcr, from the oihcial records of the War De-
partment, that these guns were used by the British from the very
w
beginning of the European war. ' ’
. July 30, the German Government issued an official sta-tement
‘ (by wireless to Sayvi1le): “The war booty brought to Germany,
.. in addition to that utilized immediately at the front, comprised 11,036
Iggcannon, 4,700,000 shells, 3,450 machine guns, and 1,556,000 rifles."
. I 5 Tlicvgrcatcr part of these machine guns were Lewis guns.
, 9. L‘5;Vi’I‘urkey.captured from the British at the Dardanclles and from
' the -surrender of General Townsliend’s British army in Mesopo-
-’ j:.tamia,.several thousands of the same Lewis guns. '
" Neither the'Germans nor the Turks are using these guns, which
‘ . canfbe utilized only for-the inferior British ammunition, and are
' J‘ not adapted to the greatly superior German ammunition.
V Here is a. chance for Mr. Ochs and the other members of the
,. -"machinegun propaganda." Before making any further attempts
!to foist this gun upon.the United States War Department, let them
cntleriintoi negotiations with the German Government and the Im-
1', perial Ottoman Bank. ' They will be able ‘to get these unused Lewis
'. machine guns at less thanihalf price.
3 r‘Thc‘. $12,000,000 macl1inc'gui1"grali is only tliclbeginniiig
i'..'
of the
f-TiL:iii ii-rt-isnLttAim>.ii tvi‘ --;;
Th‘? 5”‘ f‘”ma1' " " bread is buttered:
I, l
‘British Government," said Mr. Baker.
‘OF THE TRACTORS BEFORE THE WAR BEGAN. IBE-
I , . ,
“M. i. . . ‘ -‘
munitilonsr propaganda. .0 ‘Again’ We 3F0:t10'n1P6llCdtt> refer to the
publications of the astute Mr. Ochs, who knows on which side his
' . f‘ r ‘ I
New York “Times," London, September 17.-‘-Reference
to-day‘ in the ofiicial communication to.a new type of
armored car is the first official mention of a dcyclopmcnt
which has been‘much whispered about recently in'army
circles. There has been nothing more wonderful in this war
‘than the spectacle of its advance toward.theuGcrinan line.
Prisoners Shiver Seeing Armored Autos. Germans Quake
in Fear of Weird Looking Machines Even After the Battle.
I A column of German prisoners spread out their hands and
‘ shook their heads, cxclaimingjn a chorus: “Mein ott in
Himmel, it is under control; it won't break out‘ and begin.
‘ , firing again; will we ever forget our first sight of the thing
to
as it came at us out of the morning mist? , g .. p ‘
New York “T113653: London, ’September 18.--Amazing
Deeds of British ‘Willies’; One Climbs Redoubt, Kills Men
in It: New armored motor monsters in their first test also
knock down houses, snap off trees and leap trenches like
- kangaroos. < '
New York “Times,” September 20.-Our Army to Have
Tractor Batteries. Plans have been perfectediby the United .
- States Army for the formation of a horseless regiment of
' heavy field artillery. , - . .
In an‘.Associated Press story from Washington, it was stated that
the British .“-tanks," the armored motor cars used in recent assaults
on German trenches were built for the most part in Peoria, Ill.’
M. M. Baker, vice-president of the Holt Manufacturing Com-
pany, explained that this machine was made by his company at its
Peoria plant. “We have sold about 1,000 caterpillar tractors to the
LIEVE SHE MAY HAVE GOT OTHERS SINCE THEN. WE
HAVE SENT SOME TO FRANCE AND SOME TO RUSSIA"
Anyone who has followed the war knows that the Germans hrst
introduced these armored cars, and the photographs of them as used
in the German army are familiar to everyone, including the humor-
ous Mr.” Ochs. The portrayal of the ludicrous fear in which
mythical Germans indulge at the sight of engines of warfare which
they invented and first introduced, has probably been copied by
English correspondents from the real fright of the British when
they first encountered them- = ‘F '
However, the following facts stand forth prominently in this
campaign for $12,000,000 in plunder: -
. First, the petty subterfuges adopted by pro-Wall Street news-
papers to minimize German successes and play up small local gains
of the Allies. .
Second, in attempting to show that the British are winning, it is
cleverly. sought‘ to ascribe these fabled “victorics" to the use of the
Lewisgun. L 1
Third, this gun having been rejected as unlit, vicious attacks are
made upon experts of the War Department, in order to compel a
reconsideration of the weapon. ‘T i
Fourth, recordsiof the VVar Department show that England has
been using the Lewis gun in all her losing battles since she entered
the war, as in her defeats at the Dardancllcs, in Mesopotamia and in
Flanders. :
Fifth, it is shown that, so far from working franticallylto dupli-
cate the Lewis guns, the Germans and even Turks have captured
thousands of them, and do not even use their booty, owing to the
inability of the weapon to stand high power explosives.
Sixth, similarly unscrupulous methods are being adoptediwitli re-
gard to the armored cars which were first introduced by Germany.
Efforts are made to lioodwiiik the Government into the-belief that
they are an English innovation, that England is winning great vic-
tories with them, and that, therefore, the United States Army must
adopt them. ‘
A Federal inquiry into this propaganda is urgently needed. The
Munition Trust and its sponsors should not be permitted to suc-
CeCd U! imposing on this country the inferior weapons of war with
which Britain and her Allies have so far achieved nothing.‘ If the
United States must arm in her own defense, it must not be with
British armament. Private munition manufacturers must step asidt.
The defense, of this country is not to be made the medium of
Pllmdering its revenues. American genius and Ameri'caii.skill can
find ample P13)’ in the Government arsenals for the production of
weapons of warfare to protectptheland. ' ‘ ‘
ac.
1 .
.,
“GERMANY HAD sons‘ if