Defenseless America . have the kit of tools and the explosives all readyto breach our Navy and our coast fortifications. Our lack of field-guns for our artillery and ourlack of ammunition are very clearly put in theScientific American of February 13,1915: We have in the hands of troops, or stored, 634completed guns. We have under manufacture orcontract, 226. These guns will probably not becompleted for at least a year and a half. Inother words, the number of completed guns is alittle less than half the total number deemed neces-sary for the field force of 500,000 men, and pro-vides no guns ivh
Defenseless America . have the kit of tools and the explosives all readyto breach our Navy and our coast fortifications. Our lack of field-guns for our artillery and ourlack of ammunition are very clearly put in theScientific American of February 13,1915: We have in the hands of troops, or stored, 634completed guns. We have under manufacture orcontract, 226. These guns will probably not becompleted for at least a year and a half. Inother words, the number of completed guns is alittle less than half the total number deemed neces-sary for the field force of 500,000 men, and pro-vides no guns ivhatever for the coastguard troopsor new volunteer organizations which icill be re-quired in addition to the 500,000 field force. Ofammunition, ive have, made and under contract,approximately 30 per cent, for the entire projectof guns (1,292). Half of this is under manufactureor contract, so that there is not more than 15 percent, actually completed. For the guns on handand under manufacture we have, of ammunition [124]. TEE NEEDS OF OUR ARMY. on hand and under manufacture, about 41 percent.; actually on hand, approximately, percent. For the guns actually made (634) we have27 per cent, of the ammunition necessary. Forthe guns now in the hands of the regular army andmilitia we have about 44 per cent, of the ammuni-tion necessary. It should be remembered, how-ever, that the guns in the hands of the regulararmy and militia at the present time are less thanhalf the guns required for these forces when prop-erly equipped ivith guns, even under our schemefor the assignment of guns and ammunition, whichis in both instances far lower than in any of thegreat armies today, and the present war has indi-cated, in the case of one great power at least, thatthe consumption of ammunition has exceededtwice their maximum estimates, and that the pro-portion of artillery will, in future, be increased. At the rate of even last years appropriations,which were the largest made for field-artillerygu
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