HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Clinton New Era, 1914-12-03, Page 3hursadayC December 3rd, 1914.
THE CLINTON'NEW ERI►.
PAt1xE THREE
U\IIION ShOTA6[•
BCA [ASY G1i[. MOUT
'Cost ci Providing Zhelle For Guns
Not Only inconceivable, But the
Output is Unequal to the Rate
of Consunipt)Jon, According to
Very Conservative Estimate,
- Ammunition Is one of the few things
that cannot be hoarded, It seen gets
out of date. Ordnance sepp.ies made
Oven" five years L.0_have been super-
ceded by more up-to-date supplies.
The consumption of ammunition dur-
ing the present war has Neu beyond
the comprehension of most people,
and out of all proportion to the manu-
facturing facilities of the nations In-
volved; One of the main Incentives
for the tarring of Liege by the Ger-
mans was the existence in that city.
'of one of the largest ordnance fac-
tories in Europe.
What are the needs of . ordnance
.ammunition of the huge armies in the
field? To Answer this question with
accuracy would be almoatimpossible,
but a very fair and conservative cal-
culation can be mado that will bear
comparison with oliicial data.
The number placed in the field by
the warring nations is, at' the very
lowest estimate, 4,000,000 men, in-
fantry, cavalry and artillery. We will
-consider only the ammunition which
1.3 under the control of the artillery.
Small' arms ammunition is beyond
computation.
Twelve Thousand Cannon
Modern military science has estab-
lished the principle that for each
thousand men in an army there should
she three guns., For armies aggregat-
lug 4,000,000 men this would mean
12,000 pieces of ordnance of various
calibres, ranging from 3 to 12 inches,
from field guns to Held howitzers,
throwing projectiles varying from 15
,to 1,000 pounds. The smaller calibre
•ordnance pieces are semi-automatic,
:and must, under the manufacturers'
'test fire twenty shots a minute. The
,pieces of larger ordnance fire from
three: to ten projectiles in the same
:small fraction of time. One of the
nations in this war, it is said, has
:150 cannon with each corps. -
Of course, these 12,000 guns ',7111
;'never be in action all 'together. A
'computation of their!Oonsunapt1on 'of
ammunition in sucha hypothetical
case would be staggering but of no
.practical importance. llut we will
look at the real possibilities and the
figures they yield.
CMgeering Figures
Asstm,ng that the war lasts eigh-
-teen months or 547 clays, in view of
the incessant fighting that has been
going on since it started it is only
conservative to assume that 200 of
these 547 days will be Sighting' days
of twenty-four hours each, and that
•200 hours of fighting will fall to every
piece of ordnance in this army. This
would be somewhat less than IJ/z per
cent. of the t.me consumed In ,action.
So ninth for the time element in
our calc;,iiation. It is, without doubt,
conservative, Now for the percentage
of gun capacity expended. As al-
ready noted, semi-automatic guns
have a test capacity o1 20 shots a
minute, or 1,200 an hour. Will a de-
mand be made for two per cent. of
this capacity? Will such a gun fire
at least 20. shells an hour? It cer-
tainly seems a minimum at which
artillerists will smiler
Assuming that the 12;000 guns of all
calibres accompanying the armies in
tint field fire an average of 20 shells
,a minute for 200 fighting hours, we
get the sensational total requirement
of 2,880,000,000 shells, varying' front.
15 to 1,000 pounds. The lowest cost
.of a shell ,that of the three-inch gun)
Is $6, which gives the staggering
minimum figure of $17,280,000,000 for
ordnance ammunition alone.
{ At Six Dollars a Shell
How many shells would be required,
In a two hours' engagement to supply
4,000 guns- -one-third of the total—
firing at the rate of only five' shells
It minute? Answer: Five shells a
minute for 120 minutes is 600 shells
a gun, Four thousand guns times 600
shells gives a result of 2,400,000 shells
for two hours' fighting. At the mini
mum cost - of $6 a shell this means
$14,400,000.
The semi-automatic three-inch can-
non, using the h,tgh explosive shrap-
nel, is without question the piece of
ordnance that. will be in most .con-
tinuous service during ttiis .war, al-
though we read of 392. shells from the
heavy ordnance falling upon the roof
of a single one of the besieged • forts
of Namur.
Now as to the time and labor re-
quired to manufacture these shells,
with some words regarding the plants
and their machine tools, in order to
prove, teat lack of ammunition is very
likely to bring about an early close
of this war. It takes six hours of
one skilled workingman's time to
make a shell for a three-inch gun.
a Demand, Greater Than Supply
The ordnance ammunition for these
12,000 guns, assuming 'that the war
will last eighteen months, and hat
during that time all the ordnance will
be in action ma an average. of 114,
par cent. of the time, and at not less
than two -er cent. ofits maximum
capacity, . would require'. for its manu-
facture 126,00Q man years, the man
working eight hours a day, 300 days
in the year and 40,000 machine tool
years with the machine tool running
at full speed 24 hours each day.
in other words it would take 125,000
skilled mecnaniee and 40,000 'machine
tool• to provide in one year ordnance
^.^,_munition, enough . to keep up with
the demand. , And this is nearly double
the actual equipment of the belliger-
ent nations.
RESCUED FUR COMRADES
Self-sacrificing Action of Infantryman
• • Won HIrn Victoria Cross
A vivid story of the battle of the
Aisne, and of the gallant deeds which
led to his being recommended for the.
Victoria Cross, was told to a press
representative by Private J. War
wick, of the 2nd Durham Light In-
fantry, in the, Manchester Military
Hospital. When it came to the point
of giving details of his bravery Private
Warwick was very. reticent. "I do
not wish to speak of myself," he said.
Gradually, hewever, he was led to.
enfold the following graphic story:
"The Germans were entrenched
not eighty yards away on the other
side of a hill, their trenches being
far more :ormidable than ours. We
had not very long to wait peon shells
and bullets began to fly about us .in
all directions, Our men tried to :ash:
up the hill, but first one and'then the
other fell under the hail of .fire.
"The Germa: s wore at least twelve
to one, but our men held heir own,
fighting as I have never seen men
fight before; We had a great leader
in Major. Robb. He let' the teen
splendidly. Lieutenant T one of
our nu
ttbcr tried •o�
gene with h a
company up t`?'hill, bu
t was quick-
ly shot down. I saw 12:fn Shot, and
although the shrapnel was flying and
bullets were coming like rain, 1 made
a dash and brought him back to the
trenches,
"Then I saw Private -Howson, a Dar-
lington chap, fall, and 1 succeeded in
bringing him from the firing line.
The poor chap was shot through the
neck and the shoulders, though I be-
lieve he is still living. I then went
back and succeededin bringing Pri-
vate Maughan. My last journey was
the most difficult of all. 1 had to
travel over the crest of the hill to
within thirty yards of the German
trenches, and how' 1 escaped being
killed I really do not know. I crawled
on any stomach and got along as best
1 could, and I am glad to say that 1
succeeded in !:ringing Major Robb
back right, as it were, from the very
noses of the Germans. It was a hard
job to get him, and in my effort I
was shot through the !tack and Yell."
Gigantic ltscllan Warriors
In direct contrast to the lively little
Ghurkas in Britain's Indian army are
the big Sikhe Six footers all, slow,
methodicai, ,steady under fire, the
Sikhs when once on the firing lino
will rather die in their tracks than
retreat. The Pathans are also big
men. They are on the same orders
as the Sikhs, only quicker thinkers
and livelier on their feet, Sikh and
Pathan both are fond of cold steel.
and always, give a good account of
themselves in bayonet charges,
f
AIRMEN'S MESSAGE TELLS OF ENEMY'S POSITION
..seirvsxxroenn••waeRe-r$71''•"
The drawing shows a French biplane carrying a pilot and two observers gathering information as to he
disposition of the German forces and throwing to their own friends below a written report: These mes-
sages fromaviators are of incalculable value. They are rolled up and weighted and colored streamers
are attached so that they will attract attention.
Mr. Lloyd -George Quotes Precedent
Justifyi,' g Stand Taken by ,Britain
Pages of History Show How the French Surrendered an Army,
Accepting Humiliation and Defeat Rather Than Violate Treaty
Obligations—Bismarck Took Honorable Position in
Regard to Belgium During Franco-Prussian War
Mr. Lloyd George is a speech at
the Queen's Hall, London, brought out
one point in the case against Ger-
meny. He said:
'This was not the only country to
defend' Belgium and her integrity.
Ri,ssia, France, Austria and Prussia
—;hop are all there. Why did they
not perform the obligation? It is
suggested that when you quote this
treaty, it is purely an excuse on our,
pa -t. It is our low craft and cunning,
just to cloak our jealousy of a superior
ciiilization which we are attempting
to destroy.'
,'Our answer is the action we took
In 1870. What was that? Mr. Glad-
stane, was then Prime Minister. Lord
Grenville, I think was then Foreign
Secretary. I have never heard it
alleged to their charge that they
were ever Jingo. What did they do
in 1870? We called upon the bel-
ligerent powers to respect that treaty.
Wq called upon France, we called
npgn Germany. At that time, bear
in mind, the greatest danger to Bel-
gium ,came from France and not from
Germany. We intervened to protect
Belgium against , France exactly in
the same way. We invited both the
belligerent powers to state that they
had no intention of violating Belgian
territory. What was the answer given
by Bismarck? He said it was super•
fiuous to ask Prussia such a question
in view of the treaties in force.
France gave a similar answer.
We received the thanks at that
time of the Belgian people for our
intervention in a very remarkable
document. This is in a document ad-
dressed ley the municipality of Brute
sels to Queen Victoria after that inter-
vention:
"'The great and noble people over
whose destinies you preside have
just given a further proof of its
benevolent sentiments towards this
country. Tho voice of the English
nation has been heard above the
din of arms. It has asserted the
principles of justice and right. Next
to the unalterable attachment of the
Belgian people to their indepen-
dence the strongest sentiment which
1111s their hearts is that of an im-
perishable gratitude to the people
of Great Britain.'
"That was in 1810. Mark what
follows. Three or four days after
that document of thanks the French
army was wedged up against the Bel-
gian frontier. Every means of escape
shut up by a ring of flame from Prus-
sian cannon. There was one way of
escape. What was that? By violat-
ing the neutrality of Belgium. What
did they do?
"The French l0mperor, French mar-
shals, 100,000 gallant Frenchmenin
arms preferred to be carried captive
to the strange land of their enemy
rather than dishonor the name of their
country. It was the last French
army defeat. Had they violated Bel-
gian neutrality the whole hietory of
that war would have been changed.
And yet it was the interest of France
to break the treaty. She did not do it.
"It was the interest of Prussia to
break the treaty, and she has done
it. Well, why? She avowed it with
cynical contempt for every principle
of justice. She says treaties only
bind you when it is to your interest
to keep . them. 'What is a treaty?'
says the German Chancellor; 'a scrap
of paper.'" •
r?
a\ at' agg
.`^_.,moi n 0 cry _ 43 lCr• fY+ `��y(✓
Mrs. Henpeck: - "Is there any differenj;e, Theodore, do you know; between a fort and a fortress?"
Mr. Henpeck: `"I should imagine a fortr-ess, my love, would be harder to silence!"—London Opinion.
THE CALLOUS KAISER
The German Kaiser, with an almost
incredible callousness, has had the
leisure of mind and the want of sense
of decency and compassion to com-
mission a painter to paint the fields
of blood which he has created!
Pt
t the world turns from such
scenes with loathing. :f he wants
subjects for his painters let him look
at that long line of terror-stricken.
and woe -begone refugees who fly from
his presence had that of his soldiery
an from a ,pestilence, Let them be
painted in all their anguish. And one
could wish n more terrible punish-
ment• for the Kaiser than that they
should haunt his soul forever, or till
remorse has purged his soul. -Public
Opinion.
GERMAN TREACHERY
Feign Surrender and Then Resort to
Murderous Tactics
Corporal W. Hastings, of the Guards,
in a letter which he sent home, told.
a friend at Merstham of the treachery
of the Germans,
"It's an insult to Zulus to' compare
these squareheads to them for treach-
ery," he wrote. "Some of them fight
fair and square, but there are thou-
sands of othere who are devoid of all
human feeling. What do you think
of this? Near the banks of the River
Aisne they had attacked and been
driven back, and they came again
and again, but they were brought.
down by rifles and machine-guns. A
small' detachment of the Northamp-
tons were in a trench when 400 or
600 of the Germans held up their
hands, The 'Cobblers' were, ordered
not to fire, and an officer asked in
French and English if they stamen
dered. They came on in skulking
manner, and some threw down their
rifles. In every way they showed
they were giving themselves up as
prisoners.
"The 'Cobblers' were priding them-
selves on the capture;. but when the
Germans were three or four yards
away they poured a murderous fire.
at the poor fellows. They had not 'a
dog's chance, and nearly all were,
knocked over. The devils then tried
to get back, and ran for their lives,
but our battalion was soon after them.
Before they got many yards amachine-
gun ripped them up, and scores of
them rolled over. Some got away,
but our battalion got them in the rear.
Our lads were simply furious at such
treachery."
Prodigious Valor
More like a passage from a war
novel reads the story of the gallantry
of a certain trooper at ,Marne, With
his shirt in ribbons he stooped from
his saddle during a charge and snatch-
ed a wounded comrade from death
at the hands of a powerful German.
Then, having swung the man right
round to the near side, he made him
hang on to the stirrup -leather while
he lunged his ,sword clean through the
German's neck, killing him instantly.
The 'Triple Alliance between Ger-
many, Austria, and Italy was, formed
in 1888. The Triple Entente dates
back to 1907.
E )RDQ�
4>00s40C®90*A®464r^WO^vA0'4*f.<f.0.4.0.•0'G604i0+94®.
Fifty-four linvasions
of ritain i ,' the Past!
A0404440Qm4 00deo.344 04' 444e004440.000s0om40449000004 0
Some time . ago -long before the
great war cloud couldeven be dis-
cerned on the horizon, Hon. Charles
Russell prepared a map showing that,.
instead of the "right' little, r tight
little island" being invasion -proof, it
has been invaded :no,less than fifty-
four times since 1066.
The record is as follows:
1066 --William the Conqueror landed
at Hastings.
1069 -The Danisu invasion' up the
Humber;' York sacked:
1101—Robert of Normandy landed at
Portsmouth.
1139—Matilda, granddaughter of Wil-
liam the Conqueror, landed at
Portsmouth at took King
Stephen prisoner.
1215—Louis VII. of France landed at
Sandwich, in Kent; " marched
on London; King John com-
pelled to fly.
1315—Edward Bruce, with 6,000 men,.
landed at Olderfleet, Ireland;
crowned king at Dundalk.'
1336—Isabe'.le, ueen of Edward IL,
landed at Orwell, , Suffolk;
deposed Ring Edward.
1377—French attacked Dartmouth.
1377—French attacked Rye.
1377—French attacked Portsmouth.
1399—Henry Bolingbroke, afterward
Henry IV., landed at Raven -
seer, ii! Yorkshire, and de-
pusatl irichard" --e-
1405—Twelve thousand French land
ed at Milford Havenand took
Carmarthen.
1470—Warwick, the "king -maker,"
landed at Dartmouth and
drove 'iidward IV, out of Eng-
land.
1471—Margaret, queen of Henry 71.,
landed at Weymouth.
1471—Edward IV. attacked Raven -
spur. •
1485—Henry Tudor (Henry VII.) with
3,000 Frenchmen, landed at
Milford Haven; 'defeated and
slew Richard III. at Bosworth.
1486—Lambert Simnel landed in Dub-
lin. Two thousand "German
troops, under Marshall Swartz
crossed to Lancashire.
1487—Simnel landed at Foudray.
1492—Warbeek landed in Cork.
1495—Warbeck landed In Deal with
600 men,
1495—Warbeck 'besieged Waterford.
for seven days.
1497—Warbeck landed at Whitesand
Bay, Cornwall; besieged Ex-
eter with 3,000 men.
1513—The Earl of Arran, with 3,000
men, lauded at Carrickfergus
and burned the town.
1557—Thomas Stafford landed at
Scarborough and seized the
castle.
1559—One thousand eerenchmen laud-
ed at Leith and fortified the
town.
1579—Philip II, of Spain despatched
a force which landed at
Smerthwick, in Ireland.
1580—Philip :II, and Pope Gregory'
XIII, sent a larger expedition
of 8,000 soldiers, who landed
at •Snierthwick.
1C01—Spanish fleet, fifty ships, 3,000
nten, landed" and captured
Kinsale:
1601—Six other ships of. 'Spanish
troops land near Cape Clear.
1630—Montrose landed at Orkney, 111
Scotland,
1050—Charles 11. landed at the mouth
of tae Spey, Scotland, with
the Dutch goet; crowned king
at Scone.
1607—Dutch fleet under De Witt took
Sheerness; sailed up the '
' Thames and burned Chatham
Dockyard; sack several ships
of war in the Thames.
1667—Dutch fleet attacked Burnt Is-
land, in Fifeshire; Scotland.
1'685—Argyll landed at Cantyre.
1685 -Monmouth landed at Lynn, De-.
vonshire, with 6,000 men.
1688—William of Orange, with 600
transports, fifty mon-of-war,
arrived at Tor 'Bay, Devon-
shire; entered Exeter with
13,000 men; afterward crown-
1639-3
TII.
1639—James 11, Janded at Kinsale
with 1,300 French and Irish
followers.
1690—Lauzon Tended in Ireland with
7,300 French troops.
1690—De Tourvil.e's French fleet de-
stroyed Teignmouth, Devon-
shire.
1601—General St. Ruth landed with
French forces at Limerick.
1715—T8' Pl•eiender landed at Peter-
heath
eterhead:
1719—Spanish troops 'ended at Glen.
shiel in Ross -shire.
1746—The Pretender landed "1n the
Hebrides.
1745—French force landed at Mont-
rose.
ontrose.
1760-Thurot, otherwise O'Farrell,
commodore in the French
navy landed with 1,000 men
at Liarrickfergus.
1778—Paul Jones landod at White -
sand.
1778—Paul Jo• es landed at Kirkcud-
bright and destroyed the resi-
dence o1 Lord Selkirk.
1778—Paul Jones arrived at Carrick-
fergus; captured and destroy-
ed the war -ship Drake,
1779—Paul Jones- attempted to get
possession of Leith.
1706—Generals Hoche, Grouchy and
Wolfe Tone entered Bantry
Bay with 15,000 French troops.
1797 -One thousand four hundred
French troops landed at Fish -
guard. taw
1798—General Humbert and 1,000 men
landed, at Killala Bay; defeat-
ed the English under General
Lake at Castiebar; marched
on Dublin.
1798—General Savary, with 2,000
French troops, anchored .in.
Killala Bay.
1798—General I3ardie and Wolfe
Tone, with a large body of
French troops, arrived at
Loch Swilly.
The .1,;YAI. , :., . r. Premier
t
-
Is High-minded P
tri
Count Okulna's Far-sightedness Greatly Responsible For His Coun-
try's Advancement—Helped Destroy Barrier Between Ancient
Nobility to Which He Belonged and the Commoners
Among the statesmen of the great
powers now occupied with the heavy
responsibilities connected with tear
there is none whose personal history
is more romantic or whose ability
more remarkable than the Prime
Minister: of Japan, Count Okuma.
Okuma, now 77 years of age, was
born of a ruling caste, trained to war
for 700 years, to participate in the
aristocratic privilege of defending- the
country. He was `wrought up to en-
joy the immunities' of feudalism. His
family was steeped in the ideas of
national ,seclusion; by war if neces-
sary, in blind hatred' -of all foreigners,
and fanatical condemnation of their'
religion. Okuma threw overboard'the'
aristocratic principles of his child-
hood training, his benefits of class,
his instinctive distrust of the alien—
everything but patriotism. As soon
as he was old enough to be admitted
into the Government he: accepted a
minor office. He had a sacred mis-
sion to perform, and: took his training
for it. He was inspired by the homely
Japanese proverb: "The timid rat will
find 'courage to bite the' eat before
submitting to death,"' His sacred .mis
sloe. was to rescue Japan from the
death sentence of the foreigner.
He saw the effect upon his country
of the enterprising and insolent Wes-
terner, locating his .legations in the
ancient temples if he took the fancy,
scoffing at the venerable religion as
"heathenism," ignoring, the cere-
monious etiquette which was the sym-
bol of centuries of ideals, and pre-
paring to appropriate whatever wealth
the country possessed to milk it dry.
He saw the fire of native resentment
break into flame with attacks upon
the foreigner for which the people
had to pay exorbitantly $3,000,000
tribute' to England, France, America
and Holland in 1864; $500,000 yin ad-
dition for the life of one British
trader.
That Japan was saved to herself,
that the powers her Emperor un-
wittingly signed away to the foreigner
were regained through a revision of
the rights and privileges enumerated
above the signature on those first
scraps of paper, that the people of
Japan have learned to defend the
sovereignty they so nearly Lost, and
change their position among the na-
tions from one of condescending
toleration to one of admiration -and
commanding respect is due to a small
band of high-mittded??oatriots of whom
Okuma takes a pre-eminent place:'
He helped to eliminate feudalism;
he used his rare gifts of eloquence
to persuade the aristocracy to give
up its 'privilege of alone defending
their land, to admit the commoner
and the peasant into the army.
Of giant physique and strong, ath-
letic build, Okuma is quite unlike the,.,
typical Japanese. \
615
9,
IT