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THE FATHERLAND 9 A
“From the VVinchester Arms Company, England is getting 200,-
000 rities, 303-calibre, and 200 million cartridges, besides 500,000
rifles of 22-calibre, with ammunition to fit, which small rifles
are to be used for drilling purposes. The Colt Works, where
even larger orders are said to be pending, have sold 1,500 ma-
chine guns and 50,000 revolvers to England; the Autocar Com-
pany has sold to the British, 200 armored motor-cars, with ma-
chine guns; and the DuPont Powder Company, four million
pounds of powder. ,
“Besides the 900 six-inch howitzers which the Bethlehem Steel
Company is to deliver to France within eighteen months, shell
cases for these guns will be supplied to the French by the same
concern. In addition, France is to receive from the du Pont
Powder Company seven million pounds of powder. She has
ordered 100,000 Remington rifles of 7-millimetre calibre, and
thirteen million cartridges.
“Russia has orders with the Bethlehem Steel Company for
from forty to fifty 9.2-inch guns, of which eight were shipped
via Vancouver on the steamship Novgorod to Vladivostok, with
which cargo was also shipped part of the order for shell cases
for the entire lot. Russian orders for artillery ammunition with
the Crucible Steel Company are estimated to amount to $12,000,-
000, and from the Vtlinchester Repeating Arms Company she has
ordered 100,000 carbines, calibre 30-40, and one hundred million
cartridges for the same.
"From the Du Pont Powder Company for artillery and infan-
try cartridges, Russia has ordered two thousand tons of powder.
VVith various firms she has contracted for aeroplanes, ten car-
loads of which, sold by the lVright Company, were shipped on the
Novgorod.
For Aeroplane Arrows
"In connection with the aeroplanes, 4,000,000 aerial arrows were
ordered by Russia. In trade circles the rumor is current that the
Union Twist Reel Company and the Union Twist Drill Company,
with other concerns, are endeavoring to secure an order from the
Allies for the delivery of 1,000,000 arrows per day.
“The orders for artillery ammunition cover the whole output
of the combined American factories for the next two and one-
half years. This seems to show that the Allies are determined
10 carry on the war beyond this period, with the help of the
American industries. The question, then, is, Is the United States,
‘hrollgh the furnishing of guns, ammunition, and powder, pro-
longing the war? And is the benefit derived by 8 f9‘V families
ffom these war-material orders an equivalent to the losses caused
‘-0 trade in general by the prolongation of the war? And at the
C110 of the war will the United States he in a 1905500“ ‘0 take
the role of an arbiter? Will not the German people, as well as
other neutrals, whose trade has suffered through the P1’010“ga'
‘ion of the war, righteously object?
“Then, too, those who oppose the increase of the armaments of
the United States and the enlarging of the army should consider
what will happen after this war when ammunition and P0Wdel'
factories which have built new plants see the dangtfr Of 3 Com‘
Dlete standstill, In order to keep these factories busy when the
war is over, the American people will be called uP0n for 3ddf'
lional activity in the direction of larger armaments. And It
should be remembered that not without reason has it been stated
that Europe was forced to this war by powerful ammunition and
gun works."
Mr. Viereck has in his possession material like that Presented
‘O the State Department by Count von Bernstorff, the German
Ambassador, upon which he bases charges that the British sol-
diers have used dum-dum bullets. And he reiterates the Ambas-
sador’s assertion that of the cartridges sold by the Union Metallit
aniidge Company to the British, some eight mmb“ c"”t3"""g
dum-dum bullets have already been shipped-
“GERMANY’S HOUR OF DESTINY” ..
By Col. H. F. Frobenius
HIS little book, retailed at 25 cents and published in
English by THE FATIIERLAND, first appeared last
March and has already entered upon its twelfth edition.
It is the German answer to a work written some years
ago by Homer Lea, an American soldier who won fame
at the time of the Boxer outberak in China’. ‘Frank,
earnest, genuine in tone and in statement, it offers a clear-
cut study of the international situation that brought on
the present war. It possesses, also, the great merit of
brevity.
In this book one finds naught of the “mailed fist,” of
“sabre-rattling” or any of the other bogies which the
opponents of Germany and her ally conjure up. It
strives, instead, to explain, calmly and logically, what "a
German patriot’ believes to be.his country’s viewpoint.
It is just the sort of document that should appeal to the
American reader of open mind who refuses to allow the
quantity, rather than the quality, of informationwto-aid
him in framing his judgment. It serves not to shake our
neutrality, but to strengthen it.
The author describes the motives and aims of the chief
powers now engaged in the struggle across the seas. For
many years they have been playing a gigantic game. The
moves and counter-moves, indeed, can be traced "for con-
turies on the map of the world. Diplomatically they
have reached a deadlock. Choosing, then, to ignore the
fact that Germany has spent far less on armaments than
they have, and accusing her of a “militarism,” which,
-however, has kept the peace for more than forty years,
her three great antagonists have been preparing to break
the peace and to use the armaments: Russia-to throw
down the walls of Berlin and Vienna, which bar the way
to Constantinople and the North Atlantic; England-to
dismantle the fleet that guards a growing merchant
marine, and France-to regain the territories lost in an
earlier war.
From a national standpoint, as nations are constituted
to-day, the desires of Russia, England and France are
perfectly legitimate; but so also are the interests of Ger-
many and Austria-Hungary. It is only fair, therefore,
that the American who loves his country and hates hypo-
crisy should "‘hear the other side,” especially when it is
presented in so candid and straightforward a fashion.
. VVILLIAM R. Snzrrrmm, Columbia University.
The erstwhile American chum of the Kaiser, Poultney
Bigelow, is now contributing his little mite to villify the
people and country which he once glorified in his feeble
history of the German War of Liberation,‘ long since for-
gotten along with its author. It would make mighty in-
teresting reading why Poultney is no longer singing the
praises of the Kaiser. Wouldn’t it though!
